MEng Chemical Engineering with Energy and Environment / Course details

Year of entry: 2023

Course unit details:
Design Project 3 - Part 1

Course unit fact file
Unit code CHEN30012
Credit rating 15
Unit level Level 3
Teaching period(s) Semester 2
Offered by Department of Chemical Engineering & Analytical Science
Available as a free choice unit? No

Overview

Students, working in design teams, undertake an open-ended advanced project to design a process to produce a specified product. Teams are supervised by academic ‘project managers’ who assist in definition of the task(s) to be carried out.

Prior to the start of the project, teams work to prepare Product Proposal Business Cases, the best of which are selected to form the basis of the Design Project topics.

Part 1 (CHEN30012) of the design project is performed by all members of the team, who work together to undertake a detailed design appraisal (including preliminary economic evaluation) and produce mass and energy balances for their preferred process.

Part 2 (CHEN30022) is then carried out by team members individually, to establish the detailed design of agreed plant items, co-ordinated by the team as a whole.

Part 3 (CHEN30032) is the final activity, where the team puts together the complete design and considers plant-wide process aspects such as safety, health and environment, as well as plant layout, overall process integration, economics and sustainability.

 

Pre/co-requisites

Unit title Unit code Requirement type Description
Process Synthesis CHEN30031 Co-Requisite Compulsory

 

 

Aims

The unit aims to:

• Give a detailed knowledge of the design of a process from concept to detailed design.

• Apply advanced chemical engineering skills acquired from other courses.

• Develop a creative approach to design.

• Provide experience of working in a team.

• Provide experience of the presentation of technical material in extended written reports.

• Meet the IChemE requirements for accreditation at M-standard.

 

 

Learning outcomes

 

Category of outcome

Students should be able to:

Knowledge and understanding
  • Know the principles of advanced process evaluation
  • Understand the sensitivity of designs to operational parameters
  • Understand how to synthesise a complex unit operation or subsystem, taking into account uncertainties

Intellectual skills
  • Synthesise a flowsheet for the manufacture of a defined quantity of specified product(s) via a chosen overall route
  • Evaluate the consequences of uncertainty of data, equipment performance and applicability of rigorous calculation procedures
  • Evaluate alternatives on an economic basis and sensitivity
  • Evaluate process safety and revise accordingly a P&ID
  • Evaluate process sustainability

Practical skills
  • Report results against a deadline
  • Produce realistic drawings and sketches of process and equipment

Transferable skills and personal qualities
  • Work and communicate effectively within a group and as a group
  • Present the results to an assessment panel orally
  • Defend the chosen design in oral examination.

 

Teaching and learning methods

The Design Project is a major piece of group work, carried out under minimal supervision, which enables students to demonstrate the skills and knowledge gained elsewhere in the degree programme. As such, the main learning process is activity based and associated with the undertaking of an open-ended, minimally defined, project.

 

E-resources such as discussion forums and both individual and group submissions through Turnitin, will be used. There will also be an element of peer assessment, which will be carried out online and considered as part of the teamwork assessment.

 

 

Assessment methods

CHEN 30012 (Part 1)                
Group Report (Design Appraisal & Preliminary Process Design) 60 pages   60%
Supervisor’s Assessment (for all 3 modules)     20%
Group Presentation (based on all 3 modules) 20 + 10 minutes   20%

 

Recommended reading

 

Core Reading

 

  • Sinnot RK and G Towler. Chemical Engineering Design, 5th edition, Butterworth-Heinemann, 2009 (ISBN 978-0750685511)
  • Smith R. Chemical Process Design and Integration,  2nd  edition, Wiley, 2016 (ISBN 978-1118699096)
  • Seider WD, Seader JD, Lewin DR and S Widagdo. Product and Process Design Principles: Synthesis, Analysis and Design, 3rd edition, Wiley, 2010 (ISBN 978-0470414415)
  • Dimian AC, Bildea CS and AA Kiss, Integrated design and simulation of chemical processes, 2nd Edition, Elsevier, 2014 (ISBN 978-0-444-62700-1)
  • Towler G and RK Sinnott. Chemical Engineering Design: Principles, Practice and Economics of Plant and Process Design, B-H, 2012 (ISBN 978-0080966595)
  • Peters M, Timmerhaus K and R West. Plant Design and Economics for Chemical Engineers, McGraw-Hill, 2003 (ISBN 978-0072392661)

 

Essential Reading

 

  • Kiss AA and C Webb, Chemical Engineering Design Project 3 (handbook), CEAS, The University of Manchester

 

Recommended Reading

 

  • Dimian AC, Bildea CS and AA Kiss. Applications in design and simulation of sustainable chemical processes, Elsevier, 2019 (ISBN 978-0-444-63876-2)
  • Murphy RM. Introduction to Chemical Processes: Principles, Analysis and Synthesis, International ed., McGraw-Hill, 2007 (ISBN 0071254293)
  • Douglas JM. Conceptual Design of Chemical Engineering Processes, McGraw Hill, 1988 (ISBN 00701775627)

 

Further Reading

 

  • Green D and R Perry. Perry's Chemical Engineers' Handbook, 8th Edition, McGraw-Hill, 2007 (ISBN 978-0071422949)
  • Kirk RE and Othmer DF. Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology, Wiley, 2007 (ISBN: 978-0-471-48496-7)
  • Ullmann's Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry, Wiley, 2000 (ISBN: 9783527303854, DOI: 10.1002/14356007)
  • Rumble J. CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics, 99th Edition, CRC Publishing (ISBN 9781138561632)
  • Scott D and Crawley F. Process Plant Design and Operation, IChemE, 1992 (ISBN 0852952783)
  • Biegler LT, Grossmann IE and Westerberg AW. Systematic Methods of Chemical Process Design, Prentice Hall, 1997 (ISBN 0134924223)
  • Reid RC, Prausnitz JM and Poling BE, The Properties of Gases and Liquids, 5th Edition, McGraw-Hill, 2000 (ISBN: 978-0070116825)

 

 

Study hours

Scheduled activity hours
Lectures 20
Independent study hours
Independent study 130

Teaching staff

Staff member Role
Anton Kiss Unit coordinator

Additional notes

This course unit detail provides the framework for delivery in 20/21 and may be subject to change due to any additional Covid-19 impact.  Please see Blackboard / course unit related emails for any further updates.

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