The chemical reactor lies at the heart of most chemical processes. The 
design and operation of the reactor often determine the success or fail
 ure of the entire process. In the overall process, feedstocks are deliv
 ered to the chemical reactor at the appropriate temperature, pressure, 
and concentrations of species. The chemical reactor is that essential 
component in which the feed is converted into the desired products. 
The chemical reactor is the place in the process where the most value 
is added: lower-value feeds are converted into higher-value products. 
The reactor is normally followed by separation processes that sep
 arate the products from the unreacted feed and the reactor byprod
 ucts. The modern chemical processing plant, whether processing fine 
or commodity chemicals, manufacturing pharmaceuticals, refining pet
 roleum, or fabricating microelectronic devices, is a highiy integrated 
operation.