Chemical Engineering

A3 Advanced module in Chemical Engineering (KE431-3)

Person in charge: Professor Ville Alopaeus

Compulsory courses:

Unit Operations of Environmental Technology 5 cr

Learning Outcomes: Applying chemical engineering techniques in environmental applications

Content: Selected topics of unit operations that are used in environmental techniques. Membrane separations, separations of liquid/gas and solid/gas mixtures, chemical and biochemical methods, modelling. Number of participants limited to 25.

Assessment Methods and Criteria: Literature exercise and examination.

 

Chemical Engineering, laboratory course 3 cr

Learning Outcomes: Understanding of operation of unit operations in practice.

Content: Laboratory exercises to get familiar with the equipment in chemical engineering and a short literature survey to get familiar with the periodicals in the discipline.

Assessment Methods and Criteria: 6 laboratory exercises with reports and literature survey. Reports and literature survey must be approved.

 

Chemical Engineering, advanced lab. course 3 cr

Learning Outcomes: Understanding of operation of unit operations in practice.

Content: Laboratory exercises to get familiar with the equipment in chemical engineering.

Assessment Methods and Criteria: 5 laboratory exercises with extended reports. Reports must be accepted.

 

Elective courses:

Process Development 4 cr

Learning Outcomes: Understanding the steps of process development.

Content: Nowadays the same time scale of process development must be short to be competitive. The stops of process development from idea to product or process are taught to find innovative solutions to technical problems and process configurations. Case based learning.

Assessment Methods and Criteria: Lectures, exercises and exam.

 

Distillation Design P 4 cr

Learning Outcomes: Extending knowledge of distillation.

Content: One-week intensive course with lecturers and exercises and home work case studies. The course will give an overview of practical aspects of distillation simulation and design. Thermodynamic models, both predictive and experimental are presented. Design of plate and packed columns and the auxiliary equipment are considered. Modeling of distillation by equilibrium, non-equilibrium and rate-based approach are presented. Control and costing of distillation systems are also included. The course consists of some 30 hours of lectures and exercises. A simulation program is used in the exercises. There will be no final examination, but case studies and its reporting and presentation will be held instead. Pre-examination to check prerequisites if needed.

Assessment Methods and Criteria: Case studies, group work and its seminar presentation

 

Physical Properties in Chemical Engineering P 5 cr

Learning Outcomes: Extending the knowledge and understanding the importance of physical properties in chemical engineering.

Content: Phase diagrams of pure components and mixtures, databanks, thermophysical properties of mixtures, equations of state and activity coefficient models, correlation of physical properties, estimation methods for pure components and mixtures, energy variables, reaction equilibrium, properties of black liquor, pulp and paper, electrolyte solutions and ionic liquids.

Assessment Methods and Criteria: Lectures, exercises, homework assignments and middle exams.

 

Process Modelling – Methods and Tools 5 cr

Learning Outcomes: Course is intended mainly for post-graduate students and those who are at later stages in their graduate studies. Special attention is given to mathematical problems appearing in students' own research, and students are also encouraged to bring their own topics to the seminars.

Content: Special topics related to mathematical modeling in chemical
engineering. Overview of various numerical methods and their
implementation.

Assessment Methods and Criteria: Participation to lectures and exercises, homework, exams (pre- and final exams)

 

Chemical Engineering, exercise course on special topics 3-8 cr

 

Process Modeling and Simulation 6 cr

After completing the course, the student

• Understands the 1.and 2. order process dynamics;

• Is able to formulate dynamic models for the unit processes based on the physical-chemical phenomena;

• Is able to solve dyn models mathematically;

• Is familiar with the Matlab/Simulink software tools and knows how to use them;

• Is able to formulate and solve dynamic models in discrete time space;

• Undestands the main principles of the model identification;

• Knows the main online identification algorithms;

• Is familiar with the identification toolbox;

• Understands Kalman filtering.

Content: The aim of the course is to give an introduction to dynamic mechanistic modelling and simulation using computer tools. The course also includes basics in experimental modelling and system identification.

Assessment Methods and Criteria: Lectures, exercises, homeworks, final exam (written and computer exam). Possibility for bonus points to the exam from the homeworks.

 

Process Simulation 3 cr

Learning Outcomes:

1. Students acquire the engineering knowledge and experience to use commercial process simulator Pro II
2. Can calculate physical and equilibrium properties of components
3. Can simulate heat exchanger, flash, columns (distillation, absorption, stripping), extraction and reactors
4. Can use calculator, controller and optimizer in simulation
5. Can carry out a detailed steady state simulation of a chemical process and analyze process flow sheets

Content: Fundamentals of steady state chemical process simulation, flowsheeting, and optimization. Course focuses on the simulation of physical properties, equilibrium properties, flash. Columns, distillation, adsorption and extraction. Reactors. Other equipment and processes. Controllers, optimization using Pro/II simulation program.

Assessment Methods and Criteria: Examination, exercise participation and accepted home work.

 

Introduction to Biorefineries and Biofuels 5 cr

After the course the student will be able to

• realise why we need biofuels
• list the most important biofuels and processes related to biofuels and their future prospects
• present the most promising new sources for biofuels
• explain what a biorefinery is and the role of biorefineries as a source of sustainable fuels

Content: Energy outlook and legislation concerning the biofuels. Raw materials for biofuels. Processes related to biofuels. Most common biofuels used in transportation and stationary energy production. Properties of biofuels and their applications and comparison with the conventional fuels. Various biorefinery concepts.

Assessment Methods and Criteria: Evaluated assignments, altoghether 11 weekly assignments

 

Biofuels P 5 cr

Learning Outcomes: The aim of the course is to give an overview of the present state of art in conversion of biomass to various fuels. After the course the student knows the different possibilities to utilise biomass as a raw material for energy, fuels and chemicals. The student is able to recognize the basic principles (processes and conditions) of different methods (e.g. gasification, pyrolysis, combustion) used to convert biomass to energy and fuels and is able to compare the different methods and knows their strong points and weak points.

Content: The course will give an overview of present state of art in conversion of biomass to various fuels. At first the global enviroment will be described and EU directives will be presented. Various raw materials and conversion processes will be introduced. Some examples of operational or designed commercial size processes will be given. The properties of bio-fuels and their applications will be presented. The comparison with the conventional fuels will be given.

Assessment Methods and Criteria: Lectures

 

Scale-up of Chemical Processes P 5 cr

Learning Outcomes: The aim of the course is to give an overview of the scale-up of chemical reactions from laboratory to industrial scale. After the course the student recognizes the various phenomenas that affect the scale-up (mixing, mass and heat transfer) of chemical processes from the reaction engineering point of view.

Content: The course gives an overview of the scale-up of chemical reactions from laboratory to industrial scale. The course will disscuss scale-up and modelling, the different stages of scale-up (laboratory->bench->pilot->production), common problems involved, environmetal aspects, process safety and economy. The emphasis is on the heat and mass transfer issues of scale-up and on reactor safety.

Assessment Methods and Criteria: Lectures, exercises and seminar presentations.

 

Total 20 cr

 

Course descriptions can be found at Noppa.