CJCE September Issue: Special Issue Honouring Professor Archie E. Hamielec
It’s time to fête a true pioneer. This month, the Canadian Journal of Chemical Engineering (CJCE) is all about polymer reaction engineering, in celebration of none other than Professor Archie E. Hamielec.
The editor’s choice article for this very special issue is “A unified polymer reaction engineering methodology for catalytic olefin polymerization: From reaction conditions and catalyst reaction performance to molecular and rheological properties for forward, reverse engineering and deconvolution applications,” written by Vasileios Touloupidis, in which, for the first time, “the constraint of the actual reaction performance of the polymerization catalyst in the inverse rheology and microstructural deconvolution problem is introduced, limiting the solution to the most realistic molecular weight distributions (MWDs) that a specific catalyst can produce.”
In September’s first highlight, José M. Asua critically reviews the “achievements, challenges, and opportunities” of hard and soft sensors in “On-line control of emulsion polymerization reactors: A perspective.” According to Asua, “emulsion polymerization is the method of choice to produce a wide range of specialty waterborne polymer dispersions,” but “on-line control is hindered by the lack of sensors able to monitor most of the characteristics of the emulsion polymer.”
The second issue highlight turns its attention towards the math of polymer reaction engineering. In “Mathematical modelling of coalescence of viscous particles: An overview,” Nickolas D. Polychronopoulos, Lefteris Benos, and John Vlachopoulos model how “viscous particles of polymer melts and glasses coalesce under the action of surface tension” by building on the work of Russian physicist Yakov Frenkel, which modelled “neck growth during the initial stage of the merging process of two spherical particles, assuming uniform biaxial extensional flow.” The article explores the prediction of “neck size as a function of time to the completion of coalescence, expressed by an ordinary differential equation.”
Finally, the third issue highlight opens the door for new polymer reaction engineers with “The method of moments used in polymerization reaction engineering for 70 years: An overview, tutorial, and minilibrary.” In this invaluable primer, Iván Zapata-González and Enrique Saldívar-Guerra explain “the basis of the method and its application to basic and more challenging kinetic mechanisms.” Don’t miss out on learning how to “model, in a compact and efficient way, the averages and main features of the molecular weight distribution (MWD) generated in polymerization reactions.”
But the celebration doesn’t end with the September issue. The CJCE is also sponsoring a Symposium in Honour of Professor Archie E. Hamielec at the upcoming CSChE 2023 conference in Calgary. Join us in honouring the many achievements of Prof. Hamielec, with “more than 30 speakers from different parts of the globe, giving talks on diverse areas of polymerization reaction engineering.” Sign up today.
New to the CJCE: Freeform Submissions
The Canadian Journal of Chemical Engineering (CJCE) is excited to announce that we have implemented freeform submissions to our journal. This means that you can now submit your manuscript more easily than ever, without the stress of formatting your manuscript or reference list to a certain rigid style. Instead, “you can submit your manuscript in the format of your choice, and Wiley will update the formatting for you into journal style when your manuscript is accepted for publication.” All you need to do is choose a style you are comfortable with and keep it consistent throughout the manuscript. For more information on the style that the CJCE uses for its articles, you can check out our Author Guidelines.
This change comes on the heels of the CJCE’s introduction of a new submissions platform, Wiley’s Research Exchange (ReX), which makes it simple to submit your freeform article to the CJCE. With ReX, your submission is scanned automatically when you upload it, and all you have to do is check that the system has correctly extracted your relevant details. This means that submitting your manuscript to the CJCE will now take a fraction of the time! Even better, the new ReX system works with your existing Wiley log-in, so if you use Wiley Author Services or subscribe to any journal in the Wiley Online Library, you won’t have to create a new log-in.
When you use the new ReX system, you will be able to submit your article in 4 easy steps:
- Upload your manuscript files
- Verify that your details were identified and extracted correctly
- Confirm any additional details
- Submit your manuscript for editorial and peer review
With ReX and freeform submissions paving the way, why not submit your article to the CJCE today.