Process engineering is playing an increasingly vital role in meeting the current and future needs of both Society and the planet Earth, from carbon capture to sustainable energy generation, from water supply to waste management, and from food agrochemicals to pharmaceutical products. Meeting the exponentially growing energy and water demands that are required to improve the Quality of Life, and securing sustainable energy and water supplies, are important challenges for todays process engineers.The School of Engineering, Design and Technology at the University of Bradford hosted the Computer Aided Process Engineering Forum (CAPE FORUM) 2011 on 21st and 22nd March 2011. The event was organised on behalf of the CAPE Working Party of the European Federation of Chemical Engineering. Its aim is to encourage young academic and industrial researchers to present their stimulating research and knowledge transfer ideas in energy, water, and other areas.Over the two days the event saw keynote speakers from Imperial College London, Oxford University and Nottingham University, together with 19 presentations from the University of Bradford, the University of Leeds, Sheffield University, Cranfield University, the University of Newcastle, the Denmark Technical University, and the University of Maribor.This special issue includes 8 contributions from the event that cover a number of important areas: energy, water, nano-materials, refinery planning and risk management, the application of knowledge based and artificial intelligence systems in manufacturing processes, and scheduling and optimisation.
