Reflections on interdisciplinarity and teaching chemical engineering on an interdisciplinary degree programme in biotechnology

Some reflections on interdisciplinarity are presented based on the author's experience of more than twenty years teaching chemical and bioprocess engineering as a minor subject of an interdisciplinary programme in biotechnology. Key literature on interdisciplinary education is reviewed and some generic challenges faced in the delivery of interdisciplinary programmes are outlined. Finally, specific challenges faced by chemical engineers teaching chemical engineering as a minor component of an interdisciplinary programme are discussed. For an interdisciplinary programme to be successful, it needs to be designed and planned with great care, but also requires constant management and review to avoid the slide into unintended multidisciplinarity.     

Smart systems engineering contributing to an intelligent carbon-neutral future: opportunities,challenges, and prospects

This communication paper provides an overview of multi-scale smart systems engineering (SSE) approaches and their applications in crucial domains including materials discovery, intelligent manufacturing, and environmental management. A major focus of this interdisciplinary field is on the design, operation and management of multi-scale systems with enhanced economic and environmental performance. The emergence of big data analytics, internet of things, machine learning, and general artificial intelligence could revolutionize next-generation research, industry and society. A detailed discussion is provided herein on opportunities, challenges, and future directions of SSE in response to the pressing carbon-neutrality targets.     

生物化工专业实验独立设课教学体系的构建与实践

论文主要介绍了我院化学工艺专业生物化工方向在构建专业实验独立设课课程体系上的一些体会和心得,即建立一套结合地方资源开发、强调过程开发和工程实践能力培养的教学体系,从而培养熟悉地方资源特色、掌握资源绿色开发的地方急需工程人才,主动适应地方经济建设和社会发展的需要。     

素质培养在化工过程分析与合成课程教学中的实践

介绍了化工过程分析与合成课程教学实践和经验,通过对在高等院校化工类本科生教学采用了案例结合理论分析的启发式方法,阐述了教学过程中引导学生思考问题,指导学生研究问题,帮助学生解决问题的教学方法.教学实践显示,新教学模式对学生掌握基础知识,培养专业能力,提高素质具有较好的效果.     

Setting up new chemical engineering degree programmes: Exercises in design and retrofit within constraints

The rise in popularity of chemical engineering among students entering university has prompted expansion of the UK provision, through increased intake into current degree programmes and with the rise of new providers. The former entails logistical challenges of processing larger numbers through existing infrastructures whilst maintaining the student experience. The latter entails challenges of designing and introducing programmes that build harmoniously on existing non-chemical engineering provision, within the constraints of university validation procedures and physical resources, and in the face of uncertainty around student and staff recruitment, while aspiring to implement best practice in chemical engineering content and pedagogy. Following a review of the UK chemical engineering landscape and a critique of literature guidance on the appropriate content of chemical engineering curricula, this paper illustrates the issues of new programme development through the approaches and experiences of a new provider, the University of Huddersfield, which introduced new chemical engineering programmes from academic year 2013–2014. The paper addresses specifying the content of chemical engineering programmes to align with accreditation requirements and literature advice while maintaining distinctiveness. The constraints imposed by the need to specify and validate courses internally and to minimise substantive programme changes subsequently, whilst responding to the opportunities that arise as staff are recruited and to external developments and unplanned incidents, are highlighted and illustrated, in order to draw lessons that might help to guide other new entrants.     

Novel opportunities for marine hyperthermophiles in emerging biotechnology and engineering industries

Despite the increased interest in hyperthermophiles and the rate of discovery of new species, their potential within the biotechnology industry has not been fully realized to date. The physiological characterization and biochemical survival mechanisms of marine hyperthermophilic Bacteria and Archaea are currently under investigation. However, very little information on their application in bioprocess systems is available. Since only a fraction of the world's oceans has been explored, the potential for isolating novel strains of marine hyperthermophiles is significant and hence they represent an, as yet, untapped biotechnological resource. Although much research has focused on the extraction of thermoactive enzymes, whole cell applications have been relatively overlooked. Running bioprocess systems using marine hyperthermophiles poses an interesting set of objectives, such as high temperature bioreactor operation and corrosion reduction of materials, for bioreactor design and manipulation of their products. Here, we discuss the biotechnological potential of marine hyperthermophiles from a biochemical engineering perspective and their use in ‘green chemistry’ applications. Both the bioprocess intensification implications and problems associated with cultivating these microbes in industrially relevant bioreactor systems are discussed from both a microbiological and chemical engineering perspective. © 2000 Society of Chemical Industry     

Food powders engineering, between knowhow and science: Constraints, stakes and opportunities

Food powders are presented and discussed according to food sciences specificities and according to powder engineering concepts. Food powders are very present in everyday life. They are generally obtained from agricultural raw materials by different processes such as fragmentation or spray-drying processes. Amongst the food products, the food powders are easy to preserve, transport, store, weight and process. They are used to bring specific functionalities (e.g. physicochemical stability, microbiological stability, organoleptic qualities and nutritional composition). As well as food products, food powders are complex systems that can be defined by a great dispersion in their properties caused by: (i) the complexity of the chemical composition of the agricultural raw materials; (ii) the heterogeneity of the native structures of the product; (iii) the reactivity under high temperature or water addition; (iv) the variability of the agricultural raw materials behavior. Food companies, equipment suppliers, and scientists became aware of the relevance of a global approach by integrating the food powders engineering approach (particles properties, powder reactivity, and powder processing) to the classical food sciences concepts. The aim of this article is to highlight the stakes and opportunities concerning food powder processing and particles properties.     

Chemical taxonomic studies of cuticular hydrocarbons in locusts of theSchistocerca americana complex (Acrididae: Cyrtacanthacridinae): Chemical relationships between new world and old world species

Genetics studies gave an insight into the evolutionary systematics of theS. americana complex. Chemical analysis and comparison of the cuticular hydrocarbons of five species of this complex (S. gregaria, cancellata,americana, piceifrons, andpallens) confirmed the species status previously established by hybridization and also revealed new elements. We have shown the existence of two groups of species:S. gregaria andS. cancellata on one hand,S. americana andS. piceifrons on the other.S. pallens does not fit into either of these groups. These analyses thus have shed some light on the possible origins ofS. gregaria vis-à-visS. cancellata for which an explanation is proposed.     

Advancements in droplet reactor systems represent new opportunities in chemical reactor engineering: A perspective

Traditional chemical reactors, such as batch reactors, continuous reactors, and semi-batch reactors, have been extensively studied and frequently act as central components of modern chemical plants. Recently, various advances in reaction times, surface-to-volume ratios, required amounts of reagents, and throughput have led to new directions in the design of miniaturized chemical reactors. In this Perspective, we provide an overview of the progress from traditional to miniaturized chemical reactors by summarizing the characteristics and applications of different types of reactors. Furthermore, we compare classical chemical reactors and miniaturized droplet reactors to highlight advancements in the design of droplet reactor systems based on open functional surfaces. Finally, we provide an outlook on the research directions of miniaturized droplet reactors.     

化学非均一表面及其在化工中的应用

目前流体在纳微尺度下的化学非均一表面上表现出的优异性能已引起普遍关注,但是如何使其在化工中得以应用成为化学工程师们面临的难题之一。本文在分析了化学非均一表面在化工应用中已表现出优异性能的基础上,从化学非均一表面的润湿行为和受限空间下化学非均一对分子传递的影响两方面综述了其研究进展。认为化学非均一表面的表面性质受到诸多因素影响非常复杂,但利用现代表面技术和分子模拟的手段,可从微观、分子层面研究流体在化学非均一表面的作用机理,进而可改善和提高诸多化工过程,是推动现代化工发展的重要途径之一。     

3D Printing for Chemical Process Laboratories I: Materials and Connection Principles

The fabrication of milliliter‐scale test structures for chemical process laboratories with a low‐cost 3D printer operating according to the principle of fused filament fabrication is evaluated. Different polymers such as polypropylene and poly(vinylidene fluoride) were used and fabrication guidelines are provided. Furthermore, reversible and irreversible concepts for connecting 3D‐printed parts to peripherals or to other additively manufactured parts are described. After fabrication, the structures were tested for gas tightness, which was limited without subsequent finishing due to the layer‐wise fabrication process. However, gas tightness up to 600 kPa was attained by using tools like sealing tape. Finally, the developed concepts were extended to permit the insertion of thermoelements or other metallic probes.     

“化学工程与工艺专业”复合式应用型人才培养模式的研究

本文探讨了新时期“化学工程与工艺专业”培养目标,根据科技发展与市场就业需求确定我院复合式、应用型人才培养方案,并进行相应的课程体系设置;提出毕业环节新的复合循环模式“实验→设计→产品→市场→论文→答辩”,力求培养具有化工专业知识、能适应市场竞争的国际化经营人才、国际商务谈判人才、化工产品开发、应用与化工信息管理的复合实用型人才。     

Chemical engineering and industrial ecology: Remanufacturing and recycling as process systems

Climate change and resource scarcity are just two of the planetary crises that make radical socio-economic change essential if human society is to be sustainable. Chemical engineering is a skill-set that can make a unique contribution to the socio-economic transition, going beyond new technological processes to provide a system-level understanding of economic activities from the perspective of industrial ecology. This paper provides an example by applying process system analysis to the use, re-use, remanufacturing, and recycling of material products. Unlike the ‘circular economy’ approach, the analysis starts from the stock of goods and materials in use in the economy and models the flows required to build up, operate, and maintain the stock. Metrics are developed to account for the effect of stock growth on demand for materials. The significance of the analysis is illustrated for four metals whose industrial ecologies are at different levels of maturity: lead, copper, aluminium, and lithium. Extending product life through re-use and remanufacturing is crucial for resource efficiency, using labour to reduce demand for energy and non-renewable resources. If end-of-life products are processed to recover individual elements, the cost penalties increase rapidly with the decreasing concentration of valuable materials and increasing number of materials in the mixture. Thus, shifting from a linear economy (make−use−dispose) to closed-loop use of materials involves rethinking product design to reduce the number of materials used. Material substitution to reduce demand for scarce materials needs to look beyond equivalence of function to consider changing patterns of use in the regenerative economy.     

高职化工分析技术项目化课程改革的探索与实践

在高职化工分析技术项目化课程改革的实践中,我们从课程的教学目标、整体设计、单元设计、课程评价体系等方面进行了探索,以突出学生的职业能力,取得了一定的成效。     

省属高校化学工程与工艺专业培养目标定位与课程体系构建

本文结合化工高等工程教育的实际,以培养理论基础扎实、专业知识面宽、适应性强、具有创新精神和实践能力的高素质化工人才为出发点,对省属高校化学工程与工艺专业人才培养目标定位与课程体系构建进行了研究。     

提高石油化工类专业英语课程教学质量的探讨

专业英语是我院化学工程与工艺专业学生的一门限选课程,对提高学生科技论文阅读能力,掌握先进科技知识具有重要的意义。本文阐述了在课程教学过程中,我们对教学内容、教学方法和考试方式等方面的一些探索及体会。