A Unit Operations Laboratory (UOL) is fundamental to undergraduate chemical engineering education. This article discusses a new course structure for the University of Kansas UOL and details for three new experiments covering the fundamentals of vapor-liquid equilibrium, fluid mechanics, and kinetics. Students apply knowledge from these courses as…

An open-source electrochemistry simulation package has been developed that simulates the electrode processes of four reaction mechanisms and two typical electroanalysis techniques: cyclic voltammetry and chronoamperometry. Unlike other open-source simulation software, this package balances the features with ease of learning and implementation and…

An integrative laboratory study addressing fundamentals of enzyme catalysis and their application to reactors operation and modeling is presented. Invertase, a ß-fructofuranosidase that catalyses the hydrolysis of sucrose, is used as the model enzyme at optimal conditions (pH 4.5 and 45 °C). The experimental work involves 3 h of laboratory time…

A community outreach project was integrated in a District of Columbia public schools summer internship program for students from underrepresented minorities in STEM. The project introduced these students to fundamental engineering principles by leveraging a smartphone application (App) so readily accessible and attractive to them that it boosted…

A novel approach to the Chemical Engineering curriculum sequence of courses at West Point enabled our students to experience a much more realistic design process, which more closely replicated a real world scenario. Students conduct the synthesis in the organic chemistry lab, then conduct computer modeling of the reaction with ChemCad and…

A reactor to convert waste rubber tires to useful products such as CO and H2, was investigated in a university undergraduate design project. The student worked individually with mentorship from a faculty professor who aided the student with professional critique. The student was able to research the background of the field and conceive of a novel…

A reaction kinetics experiment for the chemical engineering undergraduate laboratory course was developed in which in-situ Fourier Transfer Infrared spectroscopy was used to measure reactant and product concentrations. The kinetics of the hydrolysis of acetic anhydride was determined by experiments carried out in a batch reactor. The results…

Provides an overview of an experiment on reaction kinetics of the anthracene-hydrogen system. Includes a description of the laboratory equipment, procedures, and data analysis requirements. Points out the advantages of the recommended technique. (ML)

Follows the increase of the pH in a solution of vinegar during neutralization with commercial antacid tablets. Provided are background information, equipment details, procedures, and details of the data analysis. (MVL)