Chemical Engineering Research Guide

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Find Articles, Technical Reports, Papers and Journals
• Begin your Research: Primary Reference Resources
• Physical Property and Related Data
• Chemical Prices & Industry Indicators
• Safety Information: MSDS and other Hazard Information
• Find Books Online and in the Library
• Find Dissertations
• Other Web Resources
  • Jobs and Careers
  • Professional Associations
    

FIND ARTICLES, TECHNICAL REPORTS, PAPERS AND JOURNALS

Core Databases (MU Access Only)

If you are looking for articles on a specific subject, you may want to start your search with one of our core databases.

• SciFinder Scholar (Please note that in order to use SciFinder Scholar, it must first be downloaded to your computer. Off-campus use requires a VPN connection.)
  • Contains a comprehensive database of chemical literature including patents (1907 - date, with selected coverage back to 1878) and the CAS Registry with information on 18 million substances.
• Academic Search Premier (mostly full-text; 1984-present)
  • Provides full text for nearly 4,600 scholarly publications. Although this database covers many different disciplines, it includes a large number of Chemical Engineering journals such as Chemical Engineering Research & Design, Chemical & Engineering News, and Chemical Week.
• Compendex (1980-date)

  • Indexes technical and engineering journals, conference proceedings, technical reports. Subjects include all areas of engineering; transportation; management, mathematics, and physics; electronics and communications; computers and data processing, and instruments and measurements.

• Materials Science (1965-date)
  • Covers materials science, metallurgy, ceramics, polymers and composites used in engineering applications. Everything from raw materials and refining through processing, welding, fabrication to end use, corrosion, performance and recycling is covered.
• Environmental Sciences and Pollution Management (1967-present)

  • Abstracts and citations covering environmental sciences are drawn from over 6000 serials including scientific journals, conference proceedings, reports, monographs, books and government publications.

• TRD: Technology Research Database
  • Comprised of the CSA Materials Research Database with METADEX, the CSA High Technology Research Database with Aerospace and the CSA Engineering Research Database. It indexes over 4000 periodicals, conference proceedings, technical reports, trade literature, patents, and books.
• Web of Science
  • Web of Science provides a unique search method: cited reference searching. You can start, for example, with an article that you know is relevant to your research and find all the other articles that cited that particular article.

Electronic Journals

• FindIt@MU: Locate a specific journal online. If the journal you need is not available online, follow the "Check MERLIN for paper copies" link to see if print copies are available in our collection. If there are no print copies you may use the interlibrary loan service (ILL@MU).

Return to top

BEGIN YOUR RESEARCH: PRIMARY REFERENCE SOURCES

If you are looking for a specific definition or a general overview on a topic, a dictionary, handbook or encyclopedia is a good place to start. The following resources are just a small sampling of the print and online resources available at the Engineering Library. Browse our Ebook collections online to find other titles similar to those listed below. The print reference collection is housed in the two low shelving units located in between the computers in the central area of the library.

• Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology (5th edition, 2001)
  In Print: ENGR Reference: TP9.E685 1977 (3rd Edition, 1977)

  • Presents a wide scope of articles on chemical substances—including their properties, manufacturing, and uses. Each article includes a bibliography and full list of citations.

• CRC Handbook of Chemistry & Physics (87th edition, 2005-2006)
  In Print:ENGR Ready Reference (ask at the circulation desk): QD65 .H3 (85th edition, 2004/2005)
  • Provides wide coverage of data on properties of inorganic and organic compounds. Searchable by name, formula, or CAS number. The online version includes interactive tables.

• Perry’s Chemical Engineers’ Handbook (7th edition, 1997)
  In Print: ENGR Ready Reference (ask at the circulation desk): TP151.P45 1997
  • Focuses on chemical and physical property data, the fundamentals of chemical engineering, and processes: heat transfer operations, distillation, kinetics,liquid-liquid, liquid-solid, etc. The online edition includes interactive tables and tables with equation plotter.

• Lange’s Handbook of Chemistry (15th edition, 1999)
  • Covers the entire field of chemistry with facts, figures, values, tables and formulas. Included are listings of the properties of approximately 4,300 organic and 1,400 inorganic compounds. This online edition includes several interactive tables.

Return to top

Other Useful Reference Resources

• Riegel's Handbook of Industrial Chemistry (Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1992)
  ENGR Reference: TP145 .R54 1992
  • Provides excellent overviews of the major areas of the chemical process industry. Includes chapters on waste minimization, safety considerations for chemical plant design and operations, emergency planning, statistical applications in quality control, industry economics and wastewater treatment.

• Ullmann's Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry (VCH, 1985)
  ENGR Reference: TP9 .U57 1985 (Note: The 2003 edition is available in the Ellis Library reference section.)
  • Subject areas include: inorganic and organic chemicals, advanced materials, pharmaceuticals, polymers and plastics, metals and alloys, biotechnology and biotechnological products, food chemistry, process engineering and unit operations, analytical methods, environmental protection, etc. Each article includes extensive references.

• Encyclopedia of Inorganic Chemistry (Wiley, 1994)
  ENGR Reference: QD148 .E53 1994
  • Provides a mix of short definitions and longer review articles. The articles, arranged alphabetically, cover main group elements, transition metals, organometallics, bioinorganic chemistry, solid state chemistry, and physical and theoretical methods

• Rules of Thumb for Chemical Engineers : A Manual of Quick, Accurate Solutions to Everyday Process Engineering Problems (Elsevier, 2005)
  ENGR Reserve (ask at circulation desk): TP151 .R85 2005
  • Covers equipment design, process design, plant design and operation, provides helpful problem-solving tools including practical tips, formulas, correlations, curves, charts, tables, and shortcut methods.

• Chemical Process Equipment : Selection and Design (Elsevier, 2005)
  ENGR Reserve (ask at circulation desk): TP157.C414 2005
  • Practical real-world guide to the selection and design of a wide range of chemical process equipment.

• Organic Syntheses
  • Since 1921, Organic Syntheses has provided annual collections of detailed, reliable procedures for the synthesis of organic compounds. Search by structure and keyword, or you can browse the contents.

• Whittington's Dictionary of Plastics (Technomic, 1993)
  ENGR Reference: TP1110.W46 1993
  • Offers brief definitions of more than 5,200 terms related to polymer science and technology. Topics covered include: plastics and other polymeric materials, polymer science, plastics chemicals including monomers, catalysts, fillers, colorants, lubricants, flame retardants and more.

Return to top

PHYSICAL PROPERTY AND RELATED DATA

See the Most Frequently Used Sources listed above, which are often the best place to start a search for this type of information.

Online Reference Books (MU Access Only)

• Chemical Properties Handbook: Physical, Thermodynamic, Environmental, Transport, Safety, and Health Related Properties for Organic and Inorganic Chemicals (McGraw-Hill, 1999)
  In Print: ENGR Ready Reference (ask at the circulation desk): TP200.Y35 1999
  • Information on how chemicals behave at different temperatures and under different conditions is provided for both organic (C1 to C28) and inorganic (Ag to Zn) substances. All tables in the online book are interactive.

• e-EROS:Encyclopedia of Reagents for Organic Synthesis (Wiley, 2006)
  • Contains a database of around 70,000 reactions and around 4000 of the most frequently consulted reagents. Searchable by structure and substructure, reagent, reaction type, experimental conditions and more.
    
    
• Smithsonian Physical Tables (Knovel, 2003)
  • Originally published by Smithsonian Institution Press in 1954, this classic reference source comprises 901 tables of general interest to scientists and engineers.
    
    
• International Critical Tables of Numerical Data, Physics, Chemistry and Technology (Knovel, 2003)
  • Contains an enormous amount of critical data on inorganic and organic compounds, and pure substances. Features physical, thermodynamic, mechanical, and other key properties. Seven of the most important tables are interactive for increased searchability and user-friendliness.

• Knovel Critical Tables (Knovel, 2003)
  • Includes physical properties for over 21,000 inorganic and organic compounds, and pure substances, thermodynamic properties for over 15,000 compounds and solvent properties for 385 common solvents. Several tables use interactive Equation Plotter to plot thermodynamic properties as a function of temperature.

Return to top

• NIST Chemistry WebBook
  • Provides thermochemical, thermophysical, and ion energetics data. Currently consists mostly of organic compounds along with a few small inorganic compounds. Search by name, chemical formula, CAS registry number, molecular weight, chemical structure, or ion energetics and spectral properties.
• ChemIDplus
  • Search the National Library of Medicine's ChemIDplus database of over 370,000 chemicals. Search by Chemical Name, CAS Registry Number, Molecular Formula, Classification Code, Locator Code, and Structure or Substructure. This resource also provides toxicity information.
• Thermodex
  • Created and hosted by the University of Texas at Austin, Thermodex does not contain actual data. Rather, Thermodex allows you to enter a type of compound and/or a property, and then returns a list of handbooks that might contain these data. Call numbers and locations of the books on the resulting list are for the University of Texas. Click the "Find in a Library" link or look the title up in our MERLIN catalog to find out if MU owns the book.
• Index to Physical, Chemical and other Property Data
  • The Arizona State University created this excellent listing of potential sources for this type of data. Look on the alphabetical list on the right side of the main page for the property or substance you are interested in. This list does not include actual data, rather it will point you to resources that may contain the information you need. The books listed are in the ASU library system, so you will need to look up the title in our MERLIN catalog to find out if MU owns the book.
• SOLV-DB (covers commercially available solvents)
  • Created by the National Center for Manufacturing Science. Covers health and safety considerations, chemical and physical data, regulatory information and environmental fate data. Search by name, CAS number, Sax number, chemical formula, chemical category, property range, or keyword/phrase.
• ChemFinder
  • ChemFinder provides a summary of information available on the web for approximately 75,000 compounds. The free database includes: Chemical Structures (2D structures and 3D models), Physical Properties, and links to other websites with additional information.
• Kaye & Laby Tables of Physical & Chemical Constants
  • This online version includes the entire contents of the 16th edition (published 1995) and contains tables of data, formulae, graphs and charts. This information spans topics from fundamental constants to fibre optics, superconductivity to Raman spectroscopy and many others.
• Journal of Physical and Chemical Reference Data (January 1999 - present)
  • Published by the American Institute of Physics (AIP). The objective of the Journal is to provide critically evaluated physical and chemical property data. You can search pre-1999 volumes from the NIST Data Gateway.

Return to top

Additional Print Resources Available at the Library

• NIST-JANAF Thermochemical Tables (American Chemical Society / American Institute of Physics for the National Institute of Standards and Technology, 1998)
  ENGR Reference: QD511.N57 1998
  • Contains tables of recommended temperature-dependent values for the standard enthalpy of formation, Gibbs (free) energy of formation, the logarithm of the equilibrium constant of formation, the heat capacity, entropy, enthalpy, and Gibbs energy function for 48 elements and many of their compounds.

• The Properties of Gases & Liquids (McGraw-Hill, 2001)
  ENGR Reserve (ask at the circulation desk): TP242.P62 2001
  • Survey of the most reliable estimating methods as well as a property data bank of 600+ compound constants. Areas covered include pure component constants; thermodynamic properties of ideal gases, pure components and mixtures; pressure-volume-temperature relationships; vapor pressures and enthalpies of vaporization of pure fluids; fluid phase equilibria and more.

Return to top

CHEMICAL PRICES & INDUSTRY INDICATORS

Best resource for students (although not current)

• Chemical Market Reporter (up through March 2005)
  • Replaced by ICIS Chemical Business Americas.
    
    • Click on the above link and select "Search Within this Publication", located in the upper right corner.
    • In the FIND box, add the phrase "and prices & people " to the journal title:
      
      

      JN "Chemical Market Reporter" and "prices & people"

Current Chemical Price Reports

• Chemical Week (US & Europe)
  • To find the weekly Chemical Price Reports,access the journal and select search within this publication. In the FIND box, add the phrase and TI "chemical price report" to the journal title. The text in the FIND box should look like this:
    JN "Chemical Week " and TI "price report"
    
    
• ICIS Chemical Business Americas (Asia, US and Europe; formerly Chemical Market Reporter).
• To find the monthly "Markets Trends & Data" section, which include brief analysis and a listing of bulk chemical prices for a limited list of chemicals, please use the following search strategy.
  • Click here to access the journal. In the search box, enter the phrase:
    SEC (Market Trends & Data)
    
    
• ICIS Chemical Business (Asia & Europe)
• Offers a weekly snapshot of the commodity petrochemicals markets, spot bulk chemical prices and contract bulk chemical prices in Asia and Europe. .
  • To find the charts, access the journal and select search within this publication located in the upper right corner. In the FIND box, add the phrase and "data bank" to the journal title. The text in the FIND box should look like this:
    JN "ICIS Chemical Business" and "data bank"
    
    
• ICIS Students
  • This broad list of chemical prices is taken from the 28 August 2006 issue of Chemical Market Reporter (now rebranded and incorporated into ICIS Chemical Business). The list consists of static price indications from that issue.
    
    
• ICIS Chemical Price Reports (US, Asia and Europe)
  • ICIS pricing reports offer pricing data, trends and market commentary on olefins, aromatics, plastics, solvents and intermediates. Most reports are issued weekly and you must subscribe (for a fee) to receive current information. However, free sample reports that are about seven months old are available for the 83 substances covered.
    
    
• Chemical Prices Rollyo Search
  • Searches multiple free web sources simultaneously for articles and pages relating to chemical prices.
    
    
• Chembargains.com
  Chembargains is an online chemicals marketplace where you can search for international suppliers and buyers for all kinds of chemical products. Traded products on the Chembargains platform include all kinds of chemical, pharmaceutical and plastic products.
  
  
• Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe
  From the main menu select "Industry and Market News". On the next page, for "Industry Type select Chemicals, Plastics and Rubber News (or Pharmaceuticals and Cosmetics News"), for "Topic" type in the name of the chemical or substance of interest, for "Date" select a date range, then click on the "Search" button. Adding price as a keyword in the "Additional Terms" search box may increase the specificity of your results.
  
  
• Factiva
  Full-text coverage of magazines, trade Journals and newspapers. From the homepage, click the "Publications" checkbox. In the search box enter the chemical name and any additional search terms (e.g. toluene and prices), select a date option and then click on the "Search" button.
  
  
• Sigma Aldrich
  Online catalog and information on over 85,000 biochemicals and organic chemicals. Registration required to view pricing information.
  
  
• Resin Pricing
  • Updated monthly by Plastics Technology Magazine.

Return to top

Historical Chemical Price Reports

• At ICIS Indicative Chemical Prices, you can view the last of the broad Chemical Market Reporter lists, taken from the 28 August 2006 issue.
  
  
• Chemical Market Reporter (up through March 2005)
  • Replaced by ICIS Chemical Business Americas.
    
    • Click on the above link and select "Search Within this Publication", located in the upper right corner.
    • In the FIND box, add the phrase "and prices & people " to the journal title:
      
      

      JN "Chemical Market Reporter" and "prices & people"
      
      

• Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology
  • Includes some historical economic data, including prices, consumption and capacity.
    
    
• Ullmann's Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry (VCH, 1985)
  ENGR Reference: TP9 .U57 1985 (Note: The 2003 edition is available in the Ellis Library reference section.)
  • Provides some historical economic data, such as capacity and consumption.

Return to top

Chemical Profiles

Chemical profiles offer more in-depth information about specific chemicals, often including capacity, demand, producers, and market perspective.

• Chemical Economics Handbook
  
• Chemical Week
  • To find the Product Focus articles, access the journal and search within this publication. In the FIND box, add the chemical name and the phrase and "product focus" to the journal title. For example, if you were searching for ethylene, the text in the FIND box should look like this:
    JN "Chemical Week " and TI "ethylene" and TX "product focus"

• ICIS Chemical Business Americas (also searches earlier profiles in the Chemical Market Reporter, which became ICIS Chemical Business Americas in 2006)
  • To find profiles of specific chemicals, access the journal and search for the chemical name in the article title. To search for ethylene, for example, enter the following phrase in the search box:
    TI (ethylene)

Return to top

Industry Indicators

• Chemical Economics Handbook
  
  
• Chemical & Engineering News (trade magazine)
  ENGR TP1.C35 (1991- present) Check MERLIN for earlier volumes in off-site storage.
  • Publishes an annual "Facts & Figures for the Chemical Industry" issue in late June or early July. This issue offers analysis and statistics about the current state of the industry, including employment, production, trade and finances.
    • To find the annual feature, enter "Facts & Figures" in the title search box.
    • Next, change the date field to reflect the time period you are interested in. If you do not specify a date range, the search will only retrieve the results for the last twelve months.
• Chemical Engineering (journal)
  ENGR TN1.M46
  • The last page of each issue covers several "Economic Indicators", including the Chemical Engineering Plant Cost Index (CEPCI), Current Business Indicators (i.e. CPI Output Index, CPI Operating Rate), Vatavuk Air Pollution Control Cost Indexes (VAPCCI), and the Marshall & Swift Equipment Cost Index.
    • The best way to find this information is to look at the print issues of the journal available in the library, since the issues available online omit this page.

Return to top

SAFETY INFORMATION: MSDS AND OTHER HAZARD INFORMATION

MSDS

• If you know the manufacturer of the substance in which you are interested, the best place to start searching for an MSDS is the company's own website. For example:
  • Sigma Aldrich
    • Use the search box in the upper right hand corner to search by product name or number. From the product page, view the MSDS by clicking on the link under "Related Information" in the upper right side of the screen.
  • Alfa Aesar
    • Use the MSDS search to locate items by catalog number, CAS number, MDL number or product description.
  • Links to other major chemical companies can be found in this list, from the Interactive Learning Paradigms page entitled "Where to Find Material Data Safety Sheets On the Internet".

• Alternatively, there are also a number of websites that compile links to MSDS from numerous manufacturers in order to allow searching for a particular product. Most of these sites also allow searching by manufacturer name.
• OHSAH MSDS Database
  • Provided by the Occupational Health and Safety Agency for Healthcare in British Columbia. Excellent resource for up-to-date MSDS. Searchable by product or manufacturer. A nice feature is the inclusion of the date of revision for each entry on the main results page.
• SIRI MSDS Archive
  • Links to over 180,000 MSDS. Use the alphabetical index to search by manufacturer or use the text search to look for words or numbers in the company, product name, or CAS number.
• MSDSXchange
  • Search over 1 million MSDS. This site offers access to an extensive collection, but it is not uncommon to come across dead links.

 

Additional Hazard Information

Freely Available Web Resources

• TOXNET (National Library of Medicine)
  • A collection of databases on toxicology, hazardous chemicals, environmental health, and toxic releases. Search all databases at once from the main page, or select individual databases by choosing from the list that appears on the left of the search box. Search for any combination of words, chemical names, and numbers. The databases include:
    • Hazardous Substances Data Bank (HSDB): Offers comprehensive, peer-reviewed toxicology data for about 5,000 chemicals
    • TOXLINE: Contains references to the toxicology literature
    • International Toxicity Estimates for Risk (ITER): Provides risk information for over 600 chemicals.

• CAMEO Chemicals (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration- NOAA)

  • Contains more than 6,000 data sheets containing response-related information and recommendations for commonly-used hazardous materials. Also offers a Chemical Reactivity Worksheet (in the Predict Reactivity section of the site).

• NIOSH Pocket Guide to Chemical Hazards
  • General industrial hygiene information on several hundred chemicals/classes. Search by terms or CAS number. Includes exposure limits, immediately dangerous to life or health concentrations, incompatibilities and reactivities, recommendations for respirator selection, exposure route, symptoms, and target organs.

• ATSDR Toxicological Profiles (Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry)
  • In-depth toxicological profiles for more than 250 hazardous substances. Profiles are available as pdf documents and are listed alphabetically.

• IPCS INCHEM:Chemical Safety Information from Intergovernmental Organizations
  • Contains thousands of searchable full-text documents on chemical risks and the sound management of chemicals.

Print Resources Available in the Library

• Sax's Dangerous Properties of Industrial Materials (Wiley-Interscience, 2004)
  ENGR Reference: T55.3.H3 S3 2004
  • Contains extensive data on approximately 26,000 substances. Includes Immediately Dangerous Life or Health (IDHL) levels, as well as data on toxicological, fire, reactivity, explosive potential, and regulatory information. Regulatory data covers exposure level classifications for various agencies.

• Bretherick's Handbook of Reactive Chemical Hazards (Academic Press, 2007)
  T55.3.H3 B73 2007
  • Volume 1 contains information on instability of individual compounds and hazardous interactions. Compounds in this volume are arranged in order by empirical molecular formula. Locate compounds using the Index of Chemical Names or the Index of CAS Registry Numbers, both of which are found at the end of Volume 1. Each description gives reference to the original literature. Volume 2 contains general information relating to classes or groups of hazardous compounds.

• Hazardous Chemicals Desk Reference (Wiley, 2002)
  ENGR Reference: T55.3.H3 l49 2002
  • Contains safety profiles, synonyms, physical properties, standards, and recommendations of government agencies for approximately 5,000 chemicals deemed both important and potentially hazardous.

• The Sigma-Aldrich Library of Regulatory and Safety Data (Sigma Aldrich Chemical Co., 1993)
  ENGR Reference: T55.3.H3 S54 1993
  • International safety and regulatory information for hazard evaluation, labeling, transportation, regulatory reporting, storage, and handling for more than 20,000 pure chemicals. Arranged by chemical class and structure. Indexed alphabetically by chemical name, CAS number, molecular formula, and Aldrich, Fluka, and Sigma catalog numbers.

FIND BOOKS ONLINE AND IN THE LIBRARY

Ebooks

eBooks are electronic versions of print books. Through Ebrary the library offers access to thousands of titles online, right from your computer. One of the nice features of ebooks is that you can easily search for a specific keyword or phrase in the full-text of a title or in the entire collection.

• Over 4,000 computer science and engineering books are available online through Ebrary. You may search the full-text of Ebrary books by keyword, or you may search by author, title or subject by clicking on the advanced search tab. In order to view books, you must install the free Ebrary Reader on your computer.

MERLIN Catalog - Searching for Topics

• Search the Merlin Catalog for a specific title, author or keyword.

Chemical Engineering Call Numbers

• Sometimes the easiest ways to find books of interest is to simply browse the shelves directly. Books on similar topics are generally grouped together in the same call number area.

Return to top

FIND DISSERTATIONS

• Search all MU dissertations from 1995 to present online (full text)
• Browse MU Chemical Engineering dissertations in Merlin
• Search for Non-MU dissertations through Dissertation Abstracts (some full text)

OTHER WEB RESOURCES

Jobs and Careers

• Summer Research Opportunities for Undergraduate Chemical Engineering Students
• EPiC: Experiential Programs in Chemistry, 2007 Directory (American Chemical Society; Search for internships, fellowships, co-op positions)
• Tech-Interns.com: The Source for Undergraduate and Graduate Science and Engineering Internships (a partnership between the American Society for Engineering Education and NASA; Make sure to search both active and inactive opportunities-although some of the postings have not been updated, most of the companies/agencies listed continue to offer internship opportunities.)
• Chemjobs (American Chemical Society; including classified ads from the 4 most recent weeks of Chemical & Engineering News)
• AIChE Careers and Employment
• ACS Directory of Graduate Education

Professional Associations

• American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChe)
• American Chemical Society
• DECHEMA (German Society for Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology)
• The Chemical Institute of Canada
• Institution of Chemical Engineers (Great Britain)

Return to top

Last updated: May 6, 2008