Chemical Engineering

Overview

Bridging Fundamental Chemistry and Sustainable Process Engineering

Chemical engineering integrates chemical principles, physics, and mathematics to design, scale up, and optimize physical and chemical manufacturing processes. It underpins clean energy transition, sustainable materials production, water purification, and high-efficiency chemical synthesis.

In this program, students explore chemical process design, process development and scale-up dynamics, and advanced process optimization. Through hands-on laboratory modules, participants master reaction kinetics, mass and heat transport phenomena, continuous flow reactor design, and industrial process simulation.

Selected Topics

Chemical Process Design & Flowsheeting

Students formulate block flow diagrams and material/energy balances to design multi-stage industrial chemical manufacturing systems.

Reaction Kinetics & Reactor Design

Investigates rate laws, activation energies, and conversion performance across Continuous Stirred-Tank (CSTR) and Plug Flow Reactors (PFR).

Separation Processes & Mass Transfer

Analyzes vapor-liquid equilibria, fractional distillation, liquid extraction, and membrane separation for target product purification.

Process Development & Scale-Up Dynamics

Explores fluid hydrodynamics, dimensional scaling rules, and mixing behavior required to transition benchtop reactions to pilot-scale units.

Process Optimization & Control Engineering

Applies feedback loops, response surface methodology, and energy integration techniques to maximize product yield while minimizing operational cost.

Sustainable & Green Engineering Systems

Evaluates atom economy, waste heat recovery networks, and eco-friendly solvent alternatives to build sustainable chemical technologies.

Sample Project Design

Chemical Reactor Design & Reaction Kinetics Analysis

In this guided engineering project, students design a continuous chemical reactor system, determine reaction rate parameters, and optimize operating conditions for maximum conversion and product yield and process stability.

Research Question

How do residence time, feed flow rate, and temperature influence conversion and product yield and kinetic performance in continuous reactor systems?

Sample Project Design - Chemical Reactor Design Laboratory

Laboratory & Experimental Activities

Students execute hands-on process engineering protocols, including:

Determining reaction order and rate constants through batch reactor experiments conducted across multiple temperatures, followed by Arrhenius analysis to estimate activation energy.
Constructing and assembling a benchtop Continuous Stirred-Tank Reactor (CSTR) fluidic setup.
Measuring conversion and product yield across variable flow rates, residence times, and feed concentrations.
Conducting tracer pulse or step-response experiments to characterize residence time distribution (RTD), non-ideal flow, and mixing behavior.
Performing mass and thermal energy balances to establish safe, non-runaway operating envelopes.
Applying optimization algorithms to balance target product conversion against energy input costs.

Data Analysis & Evaluation

Transforming experimental readings into engineering models:

Visual Presentation Students construct Arrhenius plots, residence time distribution (RTD) curves, and conversion vs. space-time performance charts.

Hypothesis Testing Under mentor guidance, participants validate mathematical reactor models against empirical conversion data.

Next-Step Planning Students evaluate multi-stage reactor networks and propose feedback control loops to prevent dynamic thermal drift.

Industry Context & Industrial Scale-Up

This project reflects real-world chemical manufacturing workflows, demonstrating how reactor engineering and process optimization transform lab bench chemistry into large-scale production facilities.

Scale-Up Hydrodynamics Applying dimensionless ratios (Reynolds, Péclet numbers) to scale mixing behavior from bench to pilot scale.

Thermal Safety & Control Establishing heat exchange jacket parameters to prevent runaway thermal conditions in large volumes.

Yield & Atom Economy Maximizing product selectivity while minimizing side-reaction waste generation.

Process Economics Optimizing capital investment versus continuous raw material and utility energy requirements.

Possible Project Outputs

Depending on individual progress, deliverables may include:

➤ Process Flow Diagram (PFD) and heat/mass balance calculation sheets
➤ Empirical kinetic dataset and Arrhenius parameter determination report
➤ Comprehensive engineering report detailing reactor sizing and scale-up models
➤ Academic poster presentation on continuous process optimization
➤ Computer-simulated process control blueprint for continuous operation

Engineering Translation

Process engineering extends directly into commercial manufacturing. Through supervised mentorship, students evaluate:

❯ How continuous flow technology can complement or replace batch synthesis in suitable chemical manufacturing processes.
❯ How reaction kinetics models accelerate R&D and lower pilot plant development risk.
❯ How environmental safety standards, energy efficiency, and economic viability drive plant design.