Chemical engineering in an unsustainable world: Obligations and opportunities

Human society faces a set of unprecedented challenges emanating from the unsustainable nature of the current societal model. The creation of a new sustainable societal construct is required, essentially adopting a needs based approach over one based on ever increasing consumption. Failure to achieve this will result in the widespread destruction of our increasingly stressed environment followed quickly by inevitable collapse of society as we know it, both socially and economically.Technology alone is insufficient to meet the challenges at hand; ecological, social and economic considerations must be incorporated through a multi-faceted and multi-disciplinary approach. Because chemical engineers possess a core set of threshold concepts which are central to a sustainable society, and because engineers will ultimately help design any new society, they bear a moral and ethical responsibility to play an active and indeed central role in its development. A new engineering paradigm is required therefore, whereby sustainability becomes the context of engineering practice. To achieve this, a sustainability informed ethos must prevail throughout engineering curricula. Both professional institutions and educators bear responsibility in ensuring this happens without delay. Some key threshold concepts are presented here to demonstrate how this can be advanced through the chemical engineering curriculum.     

Engaging students to shape their own learning: Driving curriculum re-design using a theory of change approach

Curriculum review is challenging, although if carried out strategically can be less so. The adoption of a theory of change approach for reviewing a chemical engineering curriculum at a research-intensive university in the UK is discussed. The curriculum review was undertaken as part of an institutional drive to modularise the curricula and align the number of contact and independent study hours for all undergraduate students in the institution. At the heart of our curriculum review is the student experience, which is often ignored in favour of the views of institutional management. The curriculum has been redesigned using a theory of change approach, which has enabled us to establish short and long-term plans based on our efforts to create a less burdensome, student-centred curriculum that incorporates our institutional learning and teaching strategy. As part of the process, assumptions needed to be surfaced, meaningful evidence collated, and a central end-goal identified These plans are evidence-based and include: the provision of a departmental wellbeing advisor, the application and development of interactive pedagogies, appropriate mechanisms that support slow learning through formative assessment and less of an assessment burden, and nurturing links with industry-based partners ensuring a greater emphasis on students’ professional development and their exposure to chemical engineering industries.     

化学工程与工艺(煤化工方向)专业课程体系改革与实践

文章针对化学工程与工艺(煤化工方向)专业的特点,以培养学生的创新意识和创新能力及提高工程技术能力为目标,对其课程体系和教学内容进行建设和改革,以满足贵州省及西部地区对煤化工专业人才的需求。     

Migrating from subject-based to competency-based training in Higher National Diploma Chemical Engineering: The case of Kumasi Polytechnic

Chemical engineering education is currently run in only two institutions in Ghana using the traditional, subject-based approach. The subject-based curriculum currently being used is seen as deficient in preparing students adequately to meet expectations of industry as well as the demands of globalization. Under the National Board for Professional and Technician Examinations of Ghana, competency-based curricula is being developed for Higher National Diploma (HND) engineering programmes in all polytechnics in Ghana, with the support of World Bank and Netherlands Organization for International Cooperation in Higher Education. This paper provides an insight to tertiary education in Ghana and highlights milestones in chemical engineering training. This paper describes the methodology used in developing a competency-based training curriculum for HND chemical engineering. Functional area competency standards expected of HND chemical engineering graduates in Ghana were developed in close collaboration with personnel from industry. In addition, generic competencies expected of all HND engineering graduates in Ghana are outlined in this paper. As is the case in all CBT programmes, there is the need to train and adapt coaches to the CBT concept, in addition to building strong partnerships with industry for the successful implementation of the programme.     

适应教改形势,培育精品教材,打造化工复合型人才——浅谈化工自动化及仪表课程设置的重要性及配套教材建设

化学工业出版社配合我国高校化学工程与工艺专业的发展战略,出版和修订了一系列与化工自动化及仪表等相关课程配套的教材和教学参考书.本文从化学工业发展的趋势、培养复合型人才拓宽学生就业面的需求以及目前教改的需要出发,阐述了高校设置化工自动化及仪表课程的重要性.     

The Influences of Global Trends in Teaching and Learning Chemistry on the Chemistry Curriculum in Israel

I this paper, we survey and focus on developments in the chemistry curriculum in Israel over the past 70 years, as influenced by changes and reforms in the curricula around the world and specifically in the United States, by political, cultural and socio‐economic factors, scientific and technological innovations, and theories and studies in learning and teaching. The mentioned studies refer also to the influence of the learners, the teachers, the content, the pedagogy of teaching and learning both in and out of school, and the assessment of students’ achievement on the curriculum changes. Three periods of changes are discussed in the chemistry curriculum in Israel, from the 1960s to the beginning of the 21^st century, as influenced by the above factors.     

Chemical engineering for the Anthropocene

The environmental and resource crises that confront human life on earth demand changes to the whole socio-economic metabolic system. The changes will affect all aspects of life, including the practice of chemical engineering. The historical association of the profession with the fossil carbon economy means that the expertise that makes up chemical engineering must be re-examined and repurposed urgently if the discipline is to play a full role in the socio-economic transition. In this article, we review the historical development of chemical engineering to identify its unique features and find ways in which it can change to meet the challenge. A pattern of 30-year cycles in the development of the discipline is revealed, showing the way it has built up by incorporating approaches from other disciplines and also developing a unique set of skills and knowledge. Chemical engineering as taught needs to prepare graduates to operate under the kind of social contract embodied in declarations by professional bodies. We propose ways in which the expertise comprising chemical engineering can be applied in the ‘just transition’ to a less unsustainable society, including new approaches to plant and process design and also applications ‘outside the pipe’ to environmental modelling and industrial ecology. The unsustainability crisis results from a history of poor public and private decisions, so examination of the different types of decisions is timely. Specific roles for chemical engineers in deliberative decision processes are identified, including enhanced emphasis on risk and precaution.     

浅谈化工设备机械基础教学

结合化工设备机械基础课程特点,在培养学生学习兴趣、提炼教学内容、强化实践环节、体现应用,培养学生解决问题的能力和工程意识等方面进行教学改革和尝试,以满足培养复合应用型人才的要求。     

制药工程专业实验课程的改革期望

制药工程专业是一门具有较强工程技术特点的学科,专业实验是学生实践培养的一个重要环节,考虑到社会对制药工程复合型人才的需求,及我国化学合成药和传统中药并存的国情,我们对实验项目和教学内容进行了一个规划与改革,力求符合“卓越计划”的培养目标.     

The development of chemical engineering in german industry and universities

Chemical engineering is taught at German universities in three different types of curricula: chemical engineering proper, process engineering (“Verfahrenstechnik”), and industrial chemistry (“Technische Chemie”). Independent departments resp. faculties of chemical engineering exist at four universities. At other universities process engineering is offered as a complete curriculum with a smaller amount of chemistry than chemical engineering curricula, mostly by the departments of mechanical engineering. Industrial chemistry is an essential component of chemistry courses at most technical universities and optional subject at several classical universities. The cause of this diversity of approaches to chemical engineering can be traced back to the beginning of the production of high-value organics (dyes, pharmaceuticals) in Germany in the second half of the 19th century.     

化学工程在低碳发展转型中的关键作用探讨——从物质资源利用与碳排放关联的视角

当前物质资源利用模式迫切需要向低碳发展转型。化学工程的科研人员及流程工业领域的利益相关者,有必要以资源利用模式的系统视角,重新审视物质资源利用与碳排放的复杂关系。基于本研究团队近年来对资源效率模式及低碳转型的研究成果,结合国内外相关研究进展,针对化学工程与低碳转型发展的关系进行深入分析,总结提出三个主要观点：（1）低碳转型中提升资源效率与碳减排存在正向协同,即物质资源利用与碳排放存在强关联,需要提升资源效率促进低碳发展转型;（2）低碳转型中碳减排和物质资源利用存在反向协同,低碳转型将拉动大量物质资源需求,需要通过技术创新和发展循环经济来对冲;（3）气候目标下化石资源利用模式将发生深刻变革,化石资源将更多地发挥“材料属性”而不是“能源属性”;“可持续的能源”和“可持续的碳源”将成为低碳流程工业的未来发展方向。化学工程作为研究物质资源转化的核心学科,将在人类向低碳社会过渡中发挥重要的和不可替代的作用。     

Evaluating the problem-solving skills of graduating chemical engineering students

Research has shown that engineering students may not be learning to solve the kinds of complex problems they will be required to solve as practicing engineers (“authentic problems”). Though it is widely believed that we teach engineering problem-solving throughout the undergraduate chemical engineering curriculum, this has not been tested. In this study we use a new instrument for measuring the authentic problem-solving skills of graduating seniors in chemical engineering at two different universities in the context of chemical process design. We find large variations across different areas of process design problem solving as to how expert-like students are in general, and variations between the two institutions. Students were able to identify the same safety issues as experts, but they were conspicuously “nonexpert” in other areas, such as in identifying the important features of a design problem. By examining the respective curricula at the two institutions, we are able to show how the variations both within and across institutions in the specific problem-solving skills students master matches with the practice they get during their undergraduate careers. The results imply that more thoroughly integrating practice in authentic design and problem-solving decisions into the undergraduate curriculum would result in students graduating with capabilities more comparable to those of skilled engineers.     

化学工业的转型升级和过程系统工程（PSE）

针对我国化学工业的转型升级问题,本文首先介绍了此次转型升级的时代背景,即国际上第四次工业革命正在迅猛展开,而国内正面临经济结构的第二次转型,由传统的工业化社会向现代服务型社会转变。其次,文中简要介绍了我国化学工业"大而不强"的问题,在此基础上论证转型的主要方向,即未来十年我国化学工业应具备的主要特征。最后从过程系统工程（process systems engineering,PSE）学科角度,说明可以在以下一些方面为化学工业转型升级做出贡献：以客户为中心的新产品开发;新工艺过程的多尺度开发放大;为化工制造的智能化转型升级提供理论指导;为化工企业的节能、节水和生态文明建设提供理论指导等。     

工程教育背景下石油加工工程课程体系的优化与实践

石油加工工程相关课程是石油高校化工专业的重要专业课程,石油特色鲜明,理论与实践结合紧密,对培养大学生的工程概念、工程意识与工程能力起着举足轻重的作用。本文介绍了中国石油大学(北京)石油加工工程课程体系的特点与现状,分析了课程体系存在的问题,提出了"理论—实践—理论"的"学中实践"教学模式,并依此进行改革实践,强化了教学过程中学生工程意识与工程综合能力的培养,取得了良好的效果。     

由教学实践充分认识化工热力学的桥梁作用

化工热力学兼有理论性和工程性,是一门实用性很强的课程。教学过程中宜强调和突出化工热力学在课程内容、课程体系、课程目标三个层面上的桥梁作用,引导学生掌握本课程的基本原理和应用方法,学会将热力学原理和模型应用到具体实践中,进而能够运用化工热力学的理论知识分析、解决化工生产和设计中有关实际问题。     

可持续发展的挑战与过程系统工程的机遇

可持续系统是一种全局性的系统工程,按规模大小可分为4个层次:全球性的系统,地理边界为特征的系统,局部的或分布的业务系统,可持续发展技术。本文从这4个层次上探讨了可持续发展带来的挑战。今后任何工业过程,包括化学工程,不可能再作为一个孤立的对象来对待,必须考虑工业过程、人类社会及生态环境的交互作用。过程系统工程处于独特位置,最适合把各学科的成果汇集到一个系统工程框架中,来应对这种挑战。     

高职化工原理教材建设刍议

化工原理乃制药、化工及相近专业一门必不可少的技术基础课,在高职教学体系中占有十分重要的课程地位。为进一步提升与完善高职化工原理教材的建设质量,在文献调研的基础上,我们初步提出了三方面的改进建议:宜针对生源质量的宽分布特点,对所编内容进行多层次地难度选材;教材建设依托具体的学科专业及所在地区的行业背景深化展开;进一步加强课后习题及配套实验教材的建设。     

A systems engineering perspective on process integration in industrial biotechnology

Biotechnology has many applications in health care, agriculture, industry and the environment. By using renewable raw materials, biotechnology contributes to lowering greenhouse gas emissions and moving away from a petro‐based towards a circular sustainable economy. However, major developments are still needed to make industrial biotechnology an economic alternative to conventional processes for fuels, specialty and/or bulk chemicals production. Process integration is a holistic approach to process design, which emphasizes the unity of the process and considers the interactions between different unit operations from the outset, rather than optimizing them separately. Furthermore, it also involves the substitution of two or more unit operations by one single novel unit capable of achieving the same process goal. Conversely, process systems engineering (PSE) deals with the analysis, design, optimization, operation and control of complex process systems, as well as the development of model‐based methods and tools that allow the systematic development of processes and products across a wide range of systems involving physical and chemical change. Mature tools and applications are available for chemical technology and steps have been taken to apply PSE principles also to bioprocess technology. This perspective paper argues that an interdisciplinary approach is needed towards integrated bio‐processing in order to link basic developments in biosciences with possible industrial applications. PSE can foster the application of existing and the development of new methods and tools for bioprocess integration that could promote the sustainable production of bio‐/chemical products. The inclusion of PSE principles and methods in biochemical engineering curricula and research is essential to achieve such goals. © 2014 Society of Chemical Industry     

深化文献检索课程改革促进高素质工程人才培养

当今是一个信息化的时代,信息对于经济社会的发展和科技文化的进步都起着非常重要的作用.在高等工程教育面临短学时的条件下,文献检索课程应该如何深化改革、全面提高大学生的信息素养,文章从合理安排教学内容、加强课堂教学改革,强化实战训练、合理利用网上资源、开发网络教学平台等方面,介绍了本校化学化工文献检索课程教学的改革与实践.     

The triplet “molecular processes–product–process” engineering: the future of chemical engineering ?

Today chemical engineering has to answer to the changing needs of the chemical and related process industries and to meet the market demands. Being a key to survival in globalization of trade and competition, the evolution of chemical engineering is thus necessary. Its ability to cope with the scientific and technological problems encountered will be appraised in this paper. To satisfy both the markets requirements for specific end-use properties of products and the social and environmental constraints of the industrial-scale processes, it is shown that a necessary progress is coming via a multidisciplinary and a time and length multiscale approach. This will be obtained due to breakthroughs in molecular modelling, scientific instrumentation and related signal processing and powerful computational tools. For the future of chemical engineering four main objectives are concerned: (a) to increase productivity and selectivity through intelligent operations via intensification and multiscale control of processes; (b) to design novel equipment based on scientific principles and new methods of production: process intensification; (c) to extend chemical engineering methodology to product focussed engineering, i.e. manufacturing and synthesizing end-use properties required by the customer, which needs a triplet “molecular processes–product–process” engineering; (d) to implement multiscale application of computational chemical engineering modelling and simulation to real-life situations, from the molecular scale to the overall complex production scale.