Student self-assessment: Results from a research study in a level IV elective course in an accredited bachelor of chemical engineering

A summative Mid-term Test in a level IV course of an accredited bachelor degree from a cohort of 32 (8 female, 24 male) students was both self-assessed and assessed by the experienced course tutor, using the idealized solutions and shell-form marking scheme of the lecturer. The assignment required demonstration of discipline-specific, definitions in Pinch Analysis and calculation of temperatures and heat exchanger network (HEN) designs. The grades were analyzed for accuracy, that is, agreement between student self-assessment (S-A) and tutor, marks. In 32 valid responses (100% response rate) the mean mark awarded by the students and tutor was, respectively, 83.1 (stdev = 8.3) and 71.7 (stdev = 8.3) out of a possible 100. Overall student S-A was therefore about 1.16 times that of the tutor's mark (p < 0.025). There was no evidence of student collusion in solutions or “marks sharking”. Granularity in student S-A and tutor grading was, respectively, a ½ and 1. There was no evidence to show any systematic concordance between the tutor's performance ranking and that of the students. An independent Student Experience of Learning & Teaching survey (75% response rate) revealed a mixed reaction: there was 63% broad agreement that S-A was an effective way to learn; but low confidence (50%) that self-marking was correct. The provision of the idealized solutions (and marking scheme) was considered essential (71% broad agreement) for successful student S-A. Significantly, there was good agreement (63%) that S-A stimulated discussion of key concepts out of normal contact hours, indicating good student engagement with their learning and pedagogical effectiveness of S-A.     

Problem-solving and concept integration using a computational tool in first-year undergraduate chemical engineering

A computational MATLAB Tool with examples based on typical Chemical Engineering (ChE) problems has been designed. The Tool is intended to assist students with the development of problem-solving skills and to encourage cross-course learning in the first-year ChE curriculum. The Tool is module-based, with each module consisting of problems from a first-year ChE course. Each of the problems is solved with emphasis placed on the specific problem-solving methodology followed to reach the solution and includes an application of MATLAB, the programming language taught in the first-year ChE computational programming course. Extension problems for additional practice are also included. The Tool has been specifically designed for first-year students to help them develop their programming skills early in their education and to encourage connections between the first-year ChE courses. The Tool has been used by first-year ChE students and their feedback is presented. A copy of the MATLAB Tool can be obtained by contacting the corresponding author.     

Teaching mathematical modeling software for multiobjective optimization in chemical engineering courses

This paper expects to give undergraduate students some guidelines about how to incorporate environmental considerations in a chemical supply chain and how the introduction of these concerns have an important effect on the results obtained in the multiobjective optimization problem where both economic and environmental aspects are considered simultaneously.To extend the economic and environmental assessment outside the chemical plant and to identify the tradeoffs associated with the reality of chemical and petrochemical industries, a simplified problem of a chemical supply chain is proposed as a case study.The inclusion of environmental concerns to this economic problem make this new case study a good example for undergraduate students interested in implementing simultaneous economic and environmental considerations in the chemical process design incorporating mathematical modeling software for solving this multiobjective problem.Thus, the final objective of this paper is to show to undergraduate students how environmental together with economic considerations could have an important impact in the logistics of a supply chain and how multiobjective optimization could be used to make better decisions in the design of chemical processes including its supply chain.To reach our purpose, the Pareto curve of the supply chain is obtained using the ?-constraint method. In addition, the tradeoffs of this multiobjective optimization have been identified and analyzed and ultimately a good decision based on the set of ‘equivalent’ optimal solutions for this chemical supply chain problem determined.     

微型化工设备的研究与应用进展

微型化、集成化是未来科学技术的发展方向,在微化工过程中,微型化工设备的开发和应用为微化工的实现提供了强大的支持。按用途将微型化工设备分为微热交换器、微反应器、微分离器、微混合器等,分别对其特点和研究应用现状进行简单的介绍,并对其前景进行展望,同时指出了未来发展可能会遇到的难题。     

Implementation of a block-oriented model library for undergraduate process control courses in EMSO simulator

Process control courses usually have a section of the course focused on the building of block diagrams for modeling, simulation, and analysis of open and closed loop processes. For this purpose, students are often oriented to build models using SIMULINK or XCOS because of the versatility of these powerful tools in the easy construction of mathematical models using the concept of block-oriented programming. In this paper we propose a model library built in the software EMSO that allows the user to create block diagrams for process control studies. EMSO is a powerful tool for process modeling, dynamic simulation and optimization, freely available for academic purpose. With the developed library, analysis of systems responses, even for complex processes, can be carried out and PID controller tuning tasks are made easier and less time-consuming to the students, allowing them to advance in the study of more complex control strategies such as ratio, cascade, override, feedforward, among others. Students valued the developed tool as a very useful and practical one to favor a control course learning process and between equivalent and advantageous tool when compared with SIMULINK and XCOS.     

Comparison of undergraduate chemical engineering curricula between China and America Universities based on statistical analysis

In this work, we first sketched out a representative China undergraduate chemical engineering (ChE) curriculum based on statistical analysis. The derived results were further compared with those of America ChE programs adopted from literature. It’s observed that China’s ChE curriculum (180.6 ± 11.8) consisting of three course clusters requires much higher average Total Credits than that of America (129.6 ± 3.6) since a number of required courses in China are barely listed as required in America. Programs in both countries have very similar core courses in spite of different courses names used while China requires fewer credits than America for each core course. Model/Numer. is the only course that America has a significantly higher course frequency than China among all 12 core courses while topics covered within the course in two countries are also completely different. Safety course is listed by nearly 100% of China ChE curricula while only 23% of America ChE departments offer it. Finally, the rise of bio- trend in the America ChE curriculum is unlikely in China. The results presented in this work may be used by ChE educators intending to improve their curricula in the future.     

The introduction of an autumn and spring activity week into the first year of a chemical engineering undergraduate program in Malaysia

This paper outlines the design and implementation of two activity weeks in the autumn (first) and spring (second) semester of a first year Chemical Engineering program at the University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus. Part of both the Chemical and Chemical with Environmental Engineering curriculum, these week long activity weeks were developed to foster students independent learning using open ended tasks, all linked through one overarching “industrial theme”. Designed to combine topics from a number of different taught modules into single problems, the activity weeks introduced students to multimodular problems whose solutions required a student centred approach utilising enhanced student-staff interaction. Feedback is presented from both staff and students, along with problems encountered during implementation and how these were overcome. Students were generally positive about the learning experience, and student performance during the weeks was greater than in the subsequent exams. However, this performance and enhanced interaction with staff came with an associated increase in teaching time required to plan and implement such activities.     

Project-led-education experience as a partial strategy in first years of engineering courses

Recently, there has been a growing tendency to substitute or supplement teacher-centered strategies for others student-centered. These include problem-based learning or collaborative learning. In certain areas, such as engineering, project-led learning collects some of the benefits of problem-based learning and integrates others that are of interest to the formation of engineers. More recently, project-led education as an integral strategy has been demonstrated in several European universities with impressive results. Students have a lower dropout rate, a lower period of adaptation to professional practice and better soft skills. While this implementation requires a general model change, at least at the faculty level, partial strategies applied in specific courses could pick up some of the positive aspects of these methodologies. In this paper, obtained results in a second-year Unit Operations course (grade of bioengineering) by applying this type of partial strategies are discussed. The student’s acceptance was good, and both motivation and academic results improved significantly. It was observed a deeper and wider knowledge acquisition in the students. Teacher’s workload increased, although, as there was a maximum of 25 students, it was manageable. It was concluded that transition from traditional to project-led learning strategies can be done within a subject without an educational model change at faculty or university level.     

Reinforcement and chemical cross-linking in collagen-based scaffolds in cartilage tissue engineering: a comparative study

Mechanical strength and biocompatibility are issues of most concern for scaffolds in cartilage tissue engineering. Collagen modification is always used to strengthen scaffolds. There are mainly two ways for collagen modification: inclusion of reinforcing phase to form composites and chemical cross-linking. To explore an alternative approach, the collagen hydrogel modified by a reinforcement phase was compared with cross-linking. Collagen-alginate hydrogel (CAH) and collagen hydrogel cross-linked by genipin (CGH), which were different in modification methods, were chosen candidates. A comprehensive study was carried out on mechanical, structural and biological properties including swelling ratio measurement, in vitro degradation, AFM, mechanical test, thermogravimetric analysis, and in vitro cartilage tissue engineering. The results showed that mechanical strength of collagen was more enhanced for CGH than CAH, as evidenced by analysis of swelling ratio, in vitro degradation, AFM, mechanical test and thermostability. MTT and histological results showed that CGH was superior to CAH with less cytotoxicity and more chondrocytes distributed as well as more aggrecan secreted. With the increase in culture time, the cytotoxicity of cross-linker may be alleviated. CGH may provide a more favorable biomimetic environment for cartilage growth. All these indicated that selecting a cross-linker with a minimal cytotoxicity could be more promising for collagen modification, with improvements observed in both physical and biological properties. For reinforcement, it was required that the incorporated component should be equipped with better or equivalent properties compared with collagen. This study provided important implications to engineering collagen-based hydrogels for cartilage graft applications.     

Applying PBL methodologies to the chemical engineering courses: Unit operations and modeling and simulation,using a joint course project

Unit Operations and Modelling and Simulation have been for long time a staple of the academic formation of any chemical engineer. Both are integral to the analysis of any chemical process, discretizing it into smaller specific processes that can then be characterized and modelled through the solution of balance, thermodynamics and transport equations. However, students usually perceive these subjects as separate fields of knowledge, and they do not develop the ability to correlate and integrate them to solve real-world problems in their future profession. On account of this, a Project-Based Learning (PBL) methodology was proposed in the redesign of the abovementioned undergraduate courses, focusing initially in Unit Operations. This PBL method was implemented alongside a joint course project, consisting on the design, assembly and characterization of a centrifugal pump, to be analyzed experimentally and computationally. To assess the success of this methodology, a survey was conducted on the students after they finished their courses. The results were mostly positive (85%), as the students appreciated the design component of the project, considering that it benefits their learning process, as well as the challenge it presented. This difficulty forced them to resort to different sources of information and areas of knowledge, alien to those provided in the courses. The limitations of the chosen project revolved around its limited scope and lack of connection with other topics of the courses (i.e. distillation columns). These limitations will be addressed with the design of transversal projects, which can cover more of the subjects seen in both classes.     

分子模拟与化学工程

从分子水平来研究化工过程及产品的开发和设计是21世纪化学工程的一个重要方向.综述了计算机分子模拟中的MonteCarlo分子模拟和分子动力学模拟两种方法及其在化工中的应用,涉及分子模拟在建立状态方程和研究分子微观结构、相界面、扩散性质等方面的应用进展.指出分子模拟对化学工程的基础研究、工艺过程以及新产品开发将发挥巨大作用.     

用计算机编制化工工程项目可行性研究报告

在一些中小型建设项目的经济预分析中,用手工计算繁琐、复杂且易出错,用大型可行性研究研究软件价格昂忠。针对这一情况,介绍一种利用ＦｏｘＢＡＳＥ编制的折现现金流量软件以及编制此类应用程序的方法。     

Trends in chemical engineering education: Process, product and sustainable chemical engineering challenges

Teaching chemical engineering has always been faced with a dilemma: either keep in touch with industry needs or incorporate new scientific concepts into the curriculum. In this paper, a short historical analysis of the evolution of chemical engineering teaching is presented and the recent trends of the two previous facets (industry and science) are briefly reviewed. The process vs product engineering concept is proposed as one of the means to achieve a better alignment between the curriculum and industry needs. A chemical engineering teaching framework, based in part on a product and a process oriented component, which has been in place in our department 5 years ago, is described and discussed. The concept of sustainable chemistry, including process and product considerations, which can be seen as the next frontier in chemical engineering education, is finally analysed from the education point of view.     

Managing the evolution of a chemical engineering system

The problem of synthesizing a mechanism of managing the evolution of a chemical engineering system with the use of its capability for self-organization was formulated. A hardware-oriented model of the operation of a chemical engineering system was developed. The behavior of active agents (managers, process engineers, equipment technicians, etc.) in the management of the modernization and development of a chemical plant and the algorithm of constructing a set of preferable states for the long-term sustainable development of a chemical engineering system were described.