Applications of Markov Chains in Chemical Engineering

Markov chains make it possible to predict the future state of a system from its present state ignoring its past history. Surprisingly, despite the widespread use of Markov chains in many areas of science and technology, their applications in chemical engineering have been relatively meager. A possible reason for this phenomenon might be that books containing material on this subject have been written in such a way that the simplicity of Markov chains has been shadowed by the tedious mathematical derivations. Thus, the major objective of writing this book has been to try to change this situation. There are many advantages, detailed in Chapter 1, of using the discrete Markov-chain model in chemical engineering. Probably, the most important advantage is that physical models can be presented in a unified description via state vector and a one-step transition probability matrix. Consequently, a process is demonstrated solely by the probability of a system to occupy or not occupy a state. The book has been written in an easy and understandable form, where complex mathematical derivations are abandoned. The fundamentals of Markov chains are presented in Chapter 2 with examples from the bible, art and real life problems. An extremely wide collection is given of examples viz., reactions, reactors, reactions and reactors as well as combined processes, including their solution and a graphical presentation of it, all of which demonstrates the usefulness of applying Markov chains in chemical engineering.