Daizo Kunii, Kunii-Levenspiel and the Historical Meaning of His Work

For decades “Fluidization Engineering” (1st ed.: 1969; 2nd ed.: 1991) has been the leading monograph/textbook worldwide for students, researchers and engineers. Its first edition was based on Daizo Kunii (1923-2019)’s book “Fluidization Methods” published in 1962 in Japanese, which was later found by his lifelong friend Octave Levenspiel (1926-2017) and they worked together to write their comprehensive book.

Daizo was a person of strong mission shouldering the responsibility of constructing the edifice of modern chemical engineering in the post war Japan.

In this presentation I am revisiting the background of their mission, the value of their work in the history of fluidization science and engineering and the lessons we should absorb from them.