Coordinating Equilibrium Based And Rate Based Separations Courses With The Senior Process Design Course

Abstract

The undergraduate education of a chemical engineer has, for more than half a century, included a senior course in design. In early years, as exemplified in the textbook, Chemical Engineering Design, by Vilbrandt, emphasis was placed not on process design, i.e. design of the process structure and the equipment, but on plant design, including consideration of foundations, drainage, piping installation, buildings, power transmission, plant location, plant layout, and preconstruction cost estimates. Some attention was given to selection and arrangement of equipment. The textbook, Plant Design and Economics for Chemical Engineers, which first appeared in 1958 and now, under the authorship of Peters and Timmerhaus is in its fourth edition, took a much different approach, greatly emphasizing the economic aspects of plant design, including cost estimation and profitability analysis. In addition, extensive chapters were provided on design and costing of equipment for materials transfer and handling, heat transfer, mass transfer, and chemical reactions. In Peters and Timmerhaus, emphasis shifted from plant design to process design, but little attention was given to the synthesis of a process structure.