scope:

FOREWORD

In 1961, the American Petroleum Institute initiated the sponsorship of a project to make a critical review and evaluation of the published data on the properties of hydrocarbons. The purpose of this project is to furnish the chemical engineer with the best data and correlations available for use in the design of equipment and processes for refining petroleum. The project has been conducted at the Chemical Engineering Department of The Pennsylvania State University and initially culminated in the publication of the first edition of "Technical Data Book - Petroleum Refining" by the Institute in 1966.

Much of the effort of the original project and the continuing work is devoted to the selection of the contents of the Book as summarized in a series of reports prepared by the investigators at The Pennsylvania State University. This series documents the critical review and evaluation of available data and correlations, and explains the selections made by the staff for inclusion in the Book. It is hoped that this and the other reports of the series will be of value to all chemical engineers who have an interest in examining the precision of the correlations used in design and operations.

The chemical engineer is, or should be, wholesomely skeptical of all data and all correlations of data. While it is believed that the correlations published in each revised chapter of the Data Book are the most precise available at present, new data and correlations will become available to modify these evaluations and conclusions. Criticism and comment are invited in order that the Data Book can be expanded and improved. These comments should be directed to the investigators at the Department of Chemical Engineering of The Pennsylvania State University