A post-graduate study in Process Design: An Innovative Model in the Netherlands (original) (raw)

The Vertical Integration of Design in Chemical Engineering

The purpose of this project is to better prepare chemical engineering students for their senior design course and for industry by exposing them to more design-oriented problems much earlier in their undergraduate careers. The feature that distinguishes engineering from the purely theoretical sciences is that of synthesis. Any meaningful synthesis requires two basic components, one that arises from the order of our scientific knowledge and another that arises from the spontaneous thought of the individual performing the synthesis. Until now, the undergraduate chemical engineering curriculum at Penn State University has focused almost entirely on the former; this project requires students to recognize the latter. Two entire chemical process plants have been divided into several design projects to be used in the core undergraduate chemical engineering courses, and each design project requires that the students use concepts learned in a given chemical engineering course (e.g. heat trans...

CHEMICAL PROCESS ENGINEERING Design and Economics

Chemical engineers are essential for developing, designing, and operating processes crucial to society. According to Hardigg, engineering can be made understandable to the public by discussing four major concepts: structures, machines, networks, and processes. The focus on processes is what sets chemical engineering apart from other engineering fields. However, designing chemical plants also requires input from other engineering disciplines. Students transitioning to process design need to think more globally, moving beyond their compartmentalized education, which can be challenging. One student noted that process design was a completely new way of thinking for him. To stay updated on the skills needed for process engineers, the author reads job ads. For instance, General Dynamics in San Diego seeks chemical engineers with experience in plant operations or process engineering because they bring a comprehensive process perspective and strong problem-solving abilities.

Continuous Improvements in Third Year Chemical Engineering Design

Proceedings of the Canadian Engineering Education Association (CEEA)

An impending retirement has led us to reevaluate the course: should we keep it - and if so who teaches it, or should we look to change it? The course was co-taught with a new faculty member, coupled with internal reviews and discussions. Ultimately, we decided to keep the course, and also to work to broaden its base. Historically, the design problems have been petrochemical in nature. Each team gets a reaction, with a first order rate law, as well as a production rate and fractional conversion. From this, they do the design calculations for a reactor and separator, and also generate the base engineering drawings. This past year, the project types were expanded to include environmental remediation and hydrometallurgical extraction. The environmental remediation problems involved wastewater processing (eg., BOD oxidation) which can be treated as a first order reaction. The hydrometallurgical problem (Li leaching from spodumene) also was set up as first order. Additionally, we prov...

Conceptual design of chemical processes

1988

Explaining the concepts behind process design, this book uses a case study approach, guiding readers through realistic design problems, and referring back to these cases at the end of each chapter. It also uses shortcut techniques that help engineers to obtain the ...

Process Design and Sustainable Development—A European Perspective

Processes, 2021

This paper describes the state of the art and future opportunities for process design and sustainable development. In the Introduction, the main global megatrends and the European Union’s response to two of them, the European Green Deal, are presented. The organization of professionals in the field, their conferences, and their publications support the two topics. A brief analysis of the published documents in the two most popular databases shows that the environmental dimension predominates, followed by the economic one, while the social pillar of sustainable development is undervalued. The main design tools for sustainability are described. As an important practical case, the European chemical and process industries are analyzed, and their achievements in sustainable development are highlighted; in particular, their strategies are presented in more detail. The conclusions cover the most urgent future development areas of (i) process industries and carbon capture with utilization o...

Chemical Product Design as Foundation for Education as Sustainable Development

2014

This paper shares the experience of the Diploma in Chemical Engineering (DCHE) of Singapore Polytechnic (SP) in using chemical product design which was integrated into all 3 years of its curriculum, to achieve the CDIO goal of “Conceive – Design — Implement — Operate complex value-added engineering systems in a modern team-based engineering environment to create systems and products”. In particular it focuses on the Year 2 module Chemical Product Design and Development which serves an important role as a “bridge” that connects together the initial product conceptualization in year 1 until its eventual realization in year 3 Final Year Projects (FYPs), i.e. capstone project. The paper first briefly introduces the DCHE model of Education for Sustainable Development that is built on chemical product design. It explains the emergence of chemical product design in chemical engineering education and the increasing importance of including sustainability principles in product design and deve...