Numerical Methods for Chemical Engineering with MATLAB

Chemical engineering problems often involve complex, non-linear systems that are impossible to solve by hand. To design efficient reactors, model heat transfer, or optimize chemical processes, you need a robust toolkit of numerical methods. This written course guides you through translating chemical engineering principles into precise MATLAB code, starting with foundational mathematical concepts and moving step-by-step toward practical optimization. You will learn how to analyze cost functions, visualize multi-variable systems, and solve transport equations systematically. What you'll learn: Understand the core mathematical theory behind numerical integration, root-finding, and differential equations; Write structured MATLAB scripts using modern programming practices like vectorization and type-consistent variables; Solve multi-variable optimization problems and interpret cost function contour plots; Model chemical kinetics, mass transfer, and reactor design equations numerically; Set up and solve systems of linear and non-linear algebraic equations. The course begins with essential definitions of numerical errors and basic matrix operations, then transitions into solving ordinary differential equations, and concludes with optimization and visualization techniques. This course is designed for undergraduate students, research assistants, and early-career engineers who have a basic understanding of chemistry and calculus but are new to numerical computation in MATLAB. Start building your computational toolkit and master the numerical methods that drive chemical engineering design today.