Molecular-, fluid- and field-dynamics simulation are becoming more mainstream tools for practicing process engineers; here, the academic community needs to pay close attention to "upskilling" demands from industry, where remote working/training emphasizes the need for sophisticated computational-engineering design tools with molecular…

A practical for students to experience a process plant is presented, based on operating a solvent absorption plant for carbon dioxide capture. The student must operate the plant in assigned roles that closely identify with a chemical plant environment, to achieve specific performance targets. Students must overcome technical challenges that…

A sample class project utilizing Excel spreadsheets to develop a flash drum simulator is demonstrated. In addition to solving equations for mole and enthalpy balances, students are trained to carry out vapor-liquid equilibrium calculations. More importantly, students gain a solid understanding of the link between hand calculations and simulator…

The objective of this work is to present a spreadsheet tool that illustrates an ideal case of dynamic matrix control (DMC) calculations. The ideal case presented in this work is a hypothetical single- input-single-output DMC control system for setpoint tracking, in the absence of disturbance and mismatch between the measured and predicted process…

More than 40 interactive "Mathematica" simulations were prepared for chemical engineering thermodynamics, screencasts were prepared that explain how to use each simulation, and more than 100 ConcepTests were prepared that utilize the simulations. They are located on www.LearnChemE.com. The purposes of these simulations are to clarify…

This experiment and analysis offer an effective experience in greenhouse gas reduction. Ammoniated water is flowed counter-current to a simulated flue gas of air and CO2 in a packed column. The gaseous CO2 concentrations are measured with an on-line, non- dispersive, infrared analyzer. Column operating parameters include total gas flux, dissolved…

An overview of a course on modeling and simulation offered at the Nanotechnology Engineering undergraduate program at the University of Waterloo. The motivation for having this course in the undergraduate nanotechnology curriculum, the course structure, and its learning objectives are discussed. Further, one of the computational laboratories…

This experiment and analysis offer an economic yet challenging semi-batch reactor experience. Household bleach is pumped at a controlled rate into a batch reactor containing pharmaceutical hydrogen peroxide solution. Batch temperature, product molecular oxygen, and the overall change in solution conductivity are metered. The reactor simulation…

This paper deals with the use of commercial CFD software in teaching graduate level computational fluid dynamics. FLUENT 6.3.26 was chosen as the CFD software to teach students the entire CFD process in a single course. The course objective is to help students to learn CFD, use it in some practical problems and analyze as well as validate the…

Laboratory experiments and computer models for studying the mass transfer process of removing CO2 from air using water or dilute NaOH solution as absorbent are presented. Models tie experiment to theory and give a visual representation of concentration profiles and also illustrate the two-film theory and the relative importance of various…

In this study, performance of a hydrogen-peroxide-driven car has been simulated using basic conservation laws and a few numbers of auxiliary equations. A numerical method was implemented to solve sets of highly non-linear ordinary differential equations. Transient pressure and the corresponding traveled distance for three different car weights are…

This paper describes a heat-transfer experiment that combines steady-state analysis and dynamic control. A process-water stream is circulated through two tube-in-shell heat exchangers in series. In the first, the process water is heated by steam. In the second, it is cooled by cooling water. The equipment is pilot-plant size: heat-transfer areas…

Computer-simulated experiments offer many benefits to engineering curricula in the areas of safety, cost, and flexibility. We report our experience in developing and deploying a computer-simulated unit operations laboratory, driven by the guiding principle of maximum fidelity to the physical lab. We find that, while the up-front investment in…

In this paper, we discuss a simple liquid level experiment that can be used to teach nonlinear phenomena in process control through stiction in control valves. This experiment can be used to introduce the undergraduate students to the area of Controller Performance Assessment (CPA). The experiment is very easy to set-up and demonstrate. While…

Cell signaling pathways often contain feedback loops where proteins are produced that regulate signaling. While feedback regulatory mechanisms are commonly found in signaling pathways, there is no example available in the literature that is simple enough to be presented in an undergraduate control class. This paper presents a simulation study of…