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Basic Chemical Engineering

Code: 102492 ECTS Credits: 6
2024/2025
Degree Type Year
2502444 Chemistry OB 2

Contact

Name:
Julio Octavio Perez Caņestro
Email:
julio.perez@uab.cat

Teachers

Meilyn Gonzalez Cortes

Teaching groups languages

You can view this information at the end of this document.


Prerequisites

No official requirements are defined for this course. However, we strongly recommend that the student has passed the first year courses Chemistry Fundamentals and Mathematics.


Objectives and Contextualisation

The general aim in this course is that the student gains skills allowing for identification, mathematical formulation and problem solving of basic problems in Chemical Engineering. Specifically, the student has to be able of:

  • Building and solving mass and energy balances in systems with and without chemical reaction under diverse conditions of operation (continuous/batch, steady state/transient state)

  • Conducting basic design of chemical reactors operating in continuous and batch mode, under isothermal or adiabatic conditions

  • Acquiring basic notions of the unit operations in chemical engineering and their application at industrial level


Competences

  • "Interpret data obtained by means of experimental measures, including the use of IT tools; identify their meaning and relate the data with appropriate chemistry, physics or biology theories."
  • Apply knowledge of chemistry to problem solving of a quantitative or qualitative nature in familiar and professional fields.
  • Be ethically committed.
  • Communicate orally and in writing in one's own language.
  • Evaluate the health risks and environmental and socioeconomic impact associated to chemical substances and the chemistry industry.
  • Handle chemical products safely.
  • Handle standard instruments and material in analytic and synthetic chemical laboratories.
  • Have numerical calculation skills.
  • Learn autonomously.
  • Manage the organisation and planning of tasks.
  • Manage, analyse and synthesise information.
  • Propose creative ideas and solutions.
  • Reason in a critical manner
  • Resolve problems and make decisions.
  • Show an understanding of the basic concepts, principles, theories and facts of the different areas of chemistry.
  • Show initiative and an enterprising spirit.
  • Use IT to treat and present information.
  • Use the English language properly in the field of chemistry.
  • Work in a team and show concern for interpersonal relations at work.

Learning Outcomes

  1. Analyse equations representing experimental measurements made in the laboratory.
  2. Be ethically committed.
  3. Calculate matter and energy balances.
  4. Communicate orally and in writing in one's own language.
  5. Define the concepts and principles of the industrial chemical processes.
  6. Describe the concepts and principles of transport mechanisms.
  7. Describe the principles for operating chemistry reactors and the basic operations.
  8. Design a distillation system.
  9. Design chemical reactors.
  10. Establish the principles of matter and energy balance.
  11. Handle equipment and materials applied to the experimental study of matter and energy balances.
  12. Have numerical calculation skills.
  13. Identify and evaluate the environmental impact associated to industrial chemistry processes.
  14. Interpret experimental measurements made in the laboratory.
  15. Learn autonomously.
  16. Manage the organisation and planning of tasks.
  17. Manage, analyse and synthesise information.
  18. Propose creative ideas and solutions.
  19. Reason in a critical manner
  20. Resolve problems and make decisions.
  21. Safely handle the experimental facilities used in chemical engineering.
  22. Show initiative and an enterprising spirit.
  23. Use English terminology in industrial chemistry processes.
  24. Use IT to treat and present information.
  25. Work in a team and show concern for interpersonal relations at work.

Content

1. Chemical process and chemical industry. Introduction to Chemical Engineering.

2. Mass and energy balances. Total mass balance. Mass balance without chemical reaction at steady state. Mass balance without chemical reaction in transient state. Mass balance with chemical reaction. Total energy balance. Mechanical energy balance. Heat energy balance.

3. Chemical reactor design. Reaction rate. Stirred batch reactor. Continuous stirred tank reactor. Plug flow reactor. Comparing ideal reactors. Adiabatic conversion for steady state systems.

4. Unit operations. Operations based on movement transport. Operations based on energy transport. Operations based on mass transport.


Activities and Methodology

Title Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Type: Directed      
Lectures 30 1.2 5, 6, 7, 9, 8, 23, 10, 13, 19
Problems whorkshop 12 0.48 15, 9, 8, 23, 3, 17, 18, 19, 20, 12, 24
Type: Supervised      
Laboratory practicals 26 1.04 1, 23, 14, 21, 18, 20, 25
Practicals report writing 20 0.8 15, 4, 7, 3, 10, 17, 14, 19, 20, 12, 25, 24
Type: Autonomous      
Problem solving 40 1.6 15, 16, 17, 19, 20, 12, 24
Team working 13 0.52 15, 4, 9, 23, 3, 16, 17, 19, 20, 12, 25, 24

Lectures: students receive a set of, on one hand, theoretical concepts, and on the other hand practical skills for solving examples or easy problems. This learning will provide the basics for understanding the course, problem solving and laboratory practicals.

Workshops: In these sessions the students will practice the concepts and skills acquired during the lectures. Small groups will easy the participation of the students in the problem solving process.

Laboratory practicals: familiarization with the experimental methods used in Chemical Engineering to learn how to operate equipment of industrial application.

Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.


Assessment

Continous Assessment Activities

Title Weighting Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Final Test 0.9 3 0.12 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 23, 3, 10, 19, 20, 12
Partial Exam II 0.5*0.9 3 0.12 4, 5, 6, 7, 23, 10, 19
Partial Test I 0.5*0.9 3 0.12 9, 8, 3, 10, 17, 19, 20, 12
Practicals report Multiplicative factor [0.9-1.1] 0 0 1, 15, 4, 23, 13, 14, 11, 21, 18, 19, 12, 25, 24
Team working 0.1 0 0 15, 22, 9, 3, 16, 17, 2, 19, 20, 12, 25, 24

1. Individual grade: in this part the acquired skills will be evaluated for both theoretical concepts and problem solving.  
The student can choose between obtaining the final grade from the marks of the partial exams or from the final test. In case the final test is chosen, the student must have been previously evaluated with a fraction of the activities of at least 2/3 of the final mark.

1.1. Two partial exams:  each partial exam will contain problem solving and theoretical questions.

1.2. Final test: it consists of problem solving and theoretical questions covering the whole course.

2. Grading assigned problems: Problem solving for some specific problems will be graded as 10 % of the final course mark.

3. Practical grading:  The laboratory practicals are of mandatory attendance. They will be grade with a written report derived from the laboratory experiments and it will consist of a multiplicative factor applied to the final course score. This coefficient ranges from 0.9 to 1.1.

Student passing the course: Students will pass the course with a final score of 5/10.

The qualification Not gradable will be given to students who did not pass the course with the partial exams and not attending to the final test.

Single evaluation process

Students who have accepted the single assessment modality must take a final test that will consist of an examination of the entire theoretical syllabus and problems of the course/subject. This test will be carried out on the day that the students of the continuous evaluation take the second partial exam. The student's grade will be:

 Course mark = Final test mark *Laboratory practice coefficient

  If the final mark does not reach 5, the student has another opportunity to pass the subject through the recovery exam that will be held on the date set by the coordination of the degree. In this test it will be possible to recover the mark corresponding to the mark of the final test. The laboratory practical part is not recoverable.

 


Bibliography

AUTHOR   Aucejo A., Benaiges D., Berna, A., Sanchotello M., Solà C.

TITTLE     Introducció a l'Enginyeria Química

PUBLISHED  Pòrtic. Biblioteca Universitària. 1ª ed. Barcelona (1999).

 

AUTHOR   Himmelblau D.M.

TITTLE     Balances de materia y energía

PUBLISHED   Prentice-Hall Hispanoamericana. 4ª ed. México (1988).


Software

There is not specific software in this course.


Language list

Name Group Language Semester Turn
(PAUL) Classroom practices 1 Catalan first semester morning-mixed
(PAUL) Classroom practices 2 Catalan first semester morning-mixed
(PAUL) Classroom practices 3 Catalan first semester afternoon
(PAUL) Classroom practices 4 Catalan first semester afternoon
(PLAB) Practical laboratories 1 Catalan first semester afternoon
(PLAB) Practical laboratories 2 Catalan first semester afternoon
(PLAB) Practical laboratories 3 Catalan first semester morning-mixed
(PLAB) Practical laboratories 4 Catalan first semester morning-mixed
(SEM) Seminars 1 Spanish first semester morning-mixed
(SEM) Seminars 2 Catalan first semester afternoon
(TE) Theory 1 Spanish first semester morning-mixed
(TE) Theory 2 Catalan first semester afternoon