CHEME 4620 - Chemical Engineering Design

Spring. 5 credits. Letter grades only.

Prerequisite: CHEME 4320.

A. Woltornist, Staff.

Students work in teams to address a chemical plant or chemical product design challenge. Teams will prepare, depending on the project type, a full-scale feasibility study of a chemical process including product supply and demand forecasts, assess product functionality through prototyping, scale-up risks, identify energy and waste minimization opportunities, develop mass and energy balances that results in a process flow sheet sufficient for estimating the capital and operating costs of the process facilities. Students also define off-plot support facilities and estimate the capital and operating costs of those facilities to develop an economic analysis of the facilities and to provide an ultimate recommendation as to the project’s viability. Some teams will engage company sponsors for key process/product data and design constraints.

Students develop presentation and teamwork skills through weekly presentations of their work culminating in a final presentation to a panel of internal and external appraisers.

Outcome 1: By simulating a corporate work environment the students are introduced to the demands and expectations that they will face when they enter the workforce, and are thus better prepared to function in either the academic or the corporate environment. (c)

Outcome 2: Each system design within the overall plant design requires the identification of relevant process design parameters and the solution of chemical engineering calculations to arrive at a design recommendation. The students are also taught an in house capital cost estimating algorithm, which they must use in determining the capital cost of their recommended designs. (e) The students use Aspen Tech Process Simulator and the ASPEN cost estimating system to first simulate and then determine the capital and operating cost of their design solutions. (k)

Outcome 3: The students work in either three or four member teams and learn by experience and by instruction how to manage team dynamics to complete the work in a timely fashion. (d)

Outcome 4: The students prepare power point presentations describing the results of their work for the week and present them to professors and TA’s who critically evaluate both content and presentation. Written clarification memos for points arising from the presentation are also required. (g)

Outcome 5: Stress is placed on the concept of designing to minimize environmental footprint and good corporate stewardship in design. (f)