Effective: 2024-05-01

Course Description

The course outline below was developed as part of a statewide standardization process.

General Course Purpose

This course instructs future chemical engineers in integrating knowledge of chemistry, math, and physics to address real-world problems, tackling complex issues by understanding the physical context and formulating the necessary equations.

Course Prerequisites/Corequisites

Prerequisites: MTH 264, EGR 121, CHM 112 (grade of C or higher in these courses)

Course Objectives

• Civic Engagement
• Relate chemical engineering concepts to the development and manufacturing of products highly valued by society
• Critical Thinking
• Break complex processes into component parts
• Establish relationships between known and unknown variables
• Professional Readiness
• Integrate knowledge of chemistry, math, and physics to address real-world chemical engineering problems
• Quantitative Literacy
• Analyze material and energy balances in chemical processes
• Gather essential chemical process data and solve balances using computational methods

Major Topics to be Included

• Introduction to Chemical Engineering
• Discuss and appreciate the variety and complexity of problems that chemical, biochemical, and process engineers are asked to solve
• Introduction to Chemical Engineering Calculations
• Perform basic engineering calculations including converting quantities from one set of units to another
• Processes and Process Variables
• Define, calculate and estimate properties of process materials including fluid density, flow rate, chemical composition (mass and mole fractions, concentrations), fluid pressure, and temperature
• Fundamentals of Material Balances
• Perform material balance calculations by drawing and labeling process flowcharts from verbal process descriptions and completing degree-of-freedom analyses
• Write and solve material and energy balance equations for single-unit and multiple-unit processes, processes with recycle and bypass, and reactive processes
• Single-Phase Systems
• Apply the principles of physical chemistry and thermodynamics to perform pressure-volume-temperature calculations for ideal and non-ideal gasses
• Multi-phase Systems
• Perform vapor-liquid equilibrium calculations for systems containing one condensable component and for ideal multi-component solutions
• Energy and Energy Balances
• Use physical properties of chemical compounds e.g., melting temperature, vapor pressure, heat capacity together with materials and energy balances to solve chemical process problems
• Balances on Non-reactive Systems
• Write and solve material and energy balance equations for non-reactive processes
• Balances on Reactive Systems
• Write and solve material and energy balance equations for reactive processes