gelatin. This is the case for drugs that can also be encapsulated with alginates to reach the right target at the right time. The story of Aspirin®, first synthesized by Bayer in 1897, is remarkable. Its survival is due, in part, to sophisticated formulations. Another example of the development of drinkable formulations is coffee. The formulation of environment-friendly “smart” products in the field of textiles or fertilizers, for example, is a science with a bright future.
Chapter 4: Chemical Engineering: Introduction and Fundamentals (Marie Debacq, Alain Gaunand and Céline Houriez): chemical engineering, although omnipresent, is almost unknown to the general public. The beginning of this chapter therefore endeavors to give some definitions and historical benchmarks about this young applied science. The fundamentals of chemical engineering are then presented: starting with thermodynamics, then transfers, and finally chemical kinetics and catalysis. The last part of the chapter presents the “system-balancesperformance” approach for process design using two simple examples. A box presents the very first level of calculation on processes, namely material balances.
Chapter 5: Chemical Engineering: Unit Operations (Marie Debacq): the concept of a unit operation has made it possible to bring together, in large categories, the innumerable equipment used by the process industries. There are numerous unit operations and there is no a question of giving an exhaustive presentation here. This chapter therefore covers some of them, chosen because they are particularly symbolic or representative of one type of operation or another. Thus, the following are presented: distillation, the most important separation operation and also certainly the most scientifically mature; some fluid/solid mechanical separation operations, very widespread industrially but still relatively empirical today; agitation, as a symbol of the importance of hydrodynamics (that is to say, the study of fluid movements) in chemical engineering; heat exchangers, the main representatives of transfer operations (heat exchangers dealing with the process of heat transfer); and, finally, reactors, which are at the heart of processes and responsible for the transformation of matter on the scale of the molecules themselves.
Volume 2: Industrial Management and the Digital Revolution
Chapter 1: Bio-industry in the Age of the Transition to Digital Technology: Significance and Recent Advances (Philippe Jacques): the digital revolution is profoundly changing the profession of engineers involved in bio-industries. This chapter describes the main stages of development of a product of microbial origin and how approaches related to bioinformatics, synthetic biology, systems biology and microfluidics will make it possible to amplify the development of this growing economic sector.
Chapter 2: Hydrogen Production by Steam Reforming (Marie Basin, Diana Tudorache, Matthieu Flin, Raphaël Faure and Philippe Arpentinier): this chapter presents the most widely used hydrogen production process in the world: steam reforming of natural gas. All the technological elements of this process are described, as are the problems of industrial operation of these units. Current and future developments, including those aimed at minimizing carbon dioxide emissions, are also discussed.
Chapter 3: Industrialization: From Research to Final Product (Jean-Pierre Dal Pont): the process includes all the technologies that plants and factories use to manufacture a product or a set of products. Very generally, this is a reaction followed by purification: a drug or a product to protect plants, often complex molecules, are the result of several reactions and several separations or purifications called “unit operations”, described elsewhere.
The purpose of this chapter is to describe the industrialization process, which, starting from research, will define the production tool. At the end of the chapter, two boxes describe the increasingly sought-after modular construction and the constraints and advantages of a multi-workshop platform.
Chapter 4: Operations (Jean-Pierre Dal Pont): operations, or manufacturing, designate the implementation of industrial facilities (plants or factories). They are an essential function of the process industries, the source of their products and related services, and, therefore, of their profit.
This chapter studies production, its flows (financial, information, materials), and the increasingly sophisticated IT tools that make it possible to manage them such as ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning). It also discusses the bases for calculating the cost price of products and margins. Finally, special thought is given to change management: to last is also to change.
Chapter 5: The Enterprise and The Plant of the Future at the Age of the Transition to Digital Technology (Jean-Pierre Dal Pont): Chapter 5 recalls the industrial revolutions that have followed one another since the invention of the steam engine, a source of energy at the beginning of the 18th Century, to the present day. It analyzes their impact on society and on the capital-intensive business as we know it today. Emphasis is placed on information technology, which took off after the Second World War. The emergence of the Internet around 1990, that of the smartphone around 2000, and the beginnings of artificial intelligence initiated the digital revolution, whose unprecedented impact we are already seeing on society and industry. Many boxes give examples of the use of AI in fields as varied as autonomous cars, underwater exploration, robotics and industrial management.
Chapter 6: And Tomorrow... (Jean-Pierre Dal Pont): this last chapter is a reflection on the digital revolution as it is perceived today and, more particularly, on artificial intelligence, which is its standard-bearing media. AI is increasingly affecting the city which wants to be smart. The water sector is taken as an example of economic activity whose digital aspect modifies the processes, the management of the distribution networks and the trades.
While the various applications of this emerging technology can hold out hope for many advances and improvements, the use of AI raises many questions. The very functioning of the industrial business is turned upside down. Will Teslism, synonymous with, among other things, the “hybridization” of computer systems, supplant Fordism? Isn’t the robot assisting the operator a threat to his job? The citizen, meanwhile, questions the intrusion of GAFA in his private life and governments about their supranationality. The “fully connected” raises fears for the fragility of administrative and industrial systems, while cybercrime is a ubiquitous threat. The fundamental question is whether human beings are at the heart of the system and... for how long.
In the current period of upheaval where “the only certainty is uncertainty”, perhaps we must take one of the thoughts of the great manager of the 20th Century, Peter Drucker: “The best way to predict the future is to create it.” One of the ambitions of this book is to help the readership in this research, or at least, to try to whet their curiosity.
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Industries, Businesses and People
A company, in the broadest sense, is the world of work, of employment. It transforms societies and landscapes through technological revolutions. Its modus operandi is complex and influenced by the political system, the cultures of the countries that host it, and the ways in which it is financed.
In what follows, we give a very brief description of the “upscale” enterprise of a developed country like France, using previous publications. Talking about the impact of the digital revolution on business requires a succinct description of what the latter is: this is what we have tried to do.
Behind the term “industry” is “industrious”, the quality of people who have the idea of
