Y.A. Liu, the Alumni Distinguised Professor and the Frank C. Vilbrandt Endowed Professor of Chemical Engineering at Virginia Tech, received his B.S. (1967), M.S. (1970), and Ph.D. (1974) degrees from National Taiwan University, Tufts University and Princeton University, respectively. Professor Liu devoted his school breaks helping petrochemical industries in developing countries and chemical industries in Virginia with technology development and engineering training. He has taught intensive training courses on computer-aided design, advanced process control, energy and water savings, and refinery and polymerization process modeling to over 7,000 practicing engineers in China, Taiwan and United States. Kevin Wood received his Ph.D. in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (?Virginia Tech?) in June, 2016. He received his B.S. in chemical engineering from Purdue University in 2010. He completed his doctoral dissertation on the development of computational tools for the design of SMB systems, and design of software to enable Aspen simulations to be run in parallel. The tools he developed, and simulations he ran using them, form the basis of this textbook. He has worked on industrial modeling projects, including biodiesel, CO2 capture, and xylene separation. These projects were collaborative efforts between Virginia Tech, Aspen Technology, and industrial partners. Yueying Yu received her Ph.D. in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Virginia Tech in December, 2015. She received her B.S. in chemical engineering from Dalian University of Technology in China in 2009. She completed her doctoral dissertation on the simulation and comparison of operational modes in simulated moving bed (SMB) chromatography and gas-phase adsorptive separation. This is a part of the basis of this book.
