CHEME 4840 - Microchemical and Microfluidic Systems

Fall. 3 credits. Letter grades only.

Prerequisite: CHEME 3900 or permission of instructor.

J.R. Engstrom.

Principles of chemical kinetics, thermodynamics, and transport phenomena applied to microchemical and microfluidic systems. Applications in distributed chemical production, portable power, micromixing, separations, and chemical and biological sensing and analysis. Fabrication approaches (contrasted with microelectronics), transport phenomena at small dimensions, modeling challenges, system integration, case studies.

Outcome 1: Students learn about the use of a variety of fabrication techniques used for both microelectronics and microchemical systems. In a number of cases the fabrication techniques involve chemical processes, and the students apply their knowledge in transport phenomena, thermodynamics and kinetics to model these processes. In addition, microchemical systems involve virtually every unit operation conducted in traditional macro chemical processing (a,c,e,h,i,j,k).

Outcome 2: Students complete all problem sets in groups of 2 people. The final exam is an oral presentation (Power Point, typically) that is also done in groups of 2 people, although individual presentations are permitted. Students are given the opportunity to select the topic of their final presentation. Often, this involves the selection of a topic that is of current interest, such as ink jets, micro-total analytical systems, miniature fuel cells, etc. Since the presentation must be centered around patents and intellectual property, the topics selected are clearly of industrial and practical interest (d,g,j,k).

Outcome 3: Students conduct a laboratory experiment involving fabrication of a number of micromixers, followed by characterization of these devices. The experiment is done in teams, and a laboratory report is required (a,b,d,k).