Unit Operations Laboratory Research Articles

Strengthening the Attainment of Major Competencies of Program Outcomes through Open-ended Experiment using Statistical Designs

Abstract—Unit operations are very essential part of the chemical engineering and allied disciplines; and hence, basic knowledge about the principles and equipment used for various unit operations is mandatory for process engineer. Unit operations course introduces the foundation of process engineering concepts at the second year of undergraduate program of Bachelor of Engineering in Biotechnology. This course mainly focuses on the most essential unit operations utilized in Chemical and allied process industries such as mass transfer, heat transfer, momentum transfer and mechanical operations. The conventional teaching approach practiced so far in Unit Operations Laboratory course was not so effective in the attainment of certain specific core competencies of Program Outcomes (POs). To tackle this challenge, we introduced a system of classifying laboratory experiments into four distinct categories: Demonstration, Exercise, Structural Inquiry, and Open-ended experiments. These categorized experiments were thoughtfully crafted to target various significant technical and professional outcomes such as Investigations of Complex Engineering Problems, Communication, Life-long learning, Follow of Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) and Good Laboratory Practices (GLP). The evaluation criteria for each type of experiment were aligned with program outcomes, competencies, and performance indicators. This alignment proved highly beneficial in achieving a more precise assessment of program outcomes. This study focuses on implementing an interactive and collaborative learning approach in the Unit Operations laboratory course. of Experiments. More precisely, the study employs Central Composite Design (CCD) and Response Surface Methodology (RSM) concepts to examine how various factors influence the Leaching (Solid-Liquid Extraction) process. The leaching process is most important unit operations used in the extraction of substances from solids. The study helped in addressing several important competencies pertaining to the Program Outcomes- PO-4: Demonstrating the capacity to design, execute experiments, and analyze data; PO-10: Exhibiting effective communication skills; PO-12: Embracing lifelong learning; PSO-13: Adhering to Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) and Good Laboratory Practices (GLP). The assessment of student performance employed a rubric-based approach, and the attainment of program outcomes was documented. It was observed that, open-ended experimental approach, led to the improvements in the attainment of PO’s in terms of competencies and performance indicators. To enhance the teaching-learning process, formal and anonymous feedback was gathered from students to identify areas of improvement and deficiencies. Keywords—Central Composite Design; Collaborative learning; Design of experiments; Open-ended experiment; Program outcome; Response Surface Methodology;

Active and collaborative learning approach in Unit Operations laboratory by Open-ended experiments using the concept of Design of Experiments (DOE)

Unit Operations is the hallmark course of Chemical Engineering and allied disciplines. This involves the separation of products by physical means such as Distillation, Extraction, Gas absorption, Crystallization, Evaporation, Filtration, etc. Unit Operations course is usually offered in the second year of the undergraduate program in Biotechnology. The conventional pedagogy practiced to date was not so effective in the attainment of certain Program Outcomes (PO). To address this issue, categorization of the laboratory was done into four types: Demonstration, Exercise, Structural inquiry, and Open-ended experiments was made. The experiments were carefully designed to address some of the major Technical and Professional outcomes. Assessment criteria for each kind of experiment were mapped to Program outcomes, Outcome elements, and Performance Indicators. This helps in the evaluation of the attainment of Program Outcomes more accurately. The present study deals with an active and collaborative learning approach in the Unit Operations laboratory by framing Open-ended experiments using the concept of Design of Experiments (DoE). Full Factorial Design(FFD) and Response Surface Methodology(RSM) concepts were used to study the effect of various parameters on Liquid-Liquid Extraction operation. The study helped in addressing the Program Outcome-4 defined by the National Board of Accreditation, which is related to conducting investigations of complex problems. The evaluation of the students’ performance was done using rubrics-based methodology, and attainment of the graduate attributes addressed were documented. Quality students’s feedback was taken to identify scope for further improvement in the teaching-learning process. Keywords—Collaborative learning; Design of experiments; Open-ended experiment; Program outcome

Fostering Engineering Laboratory Course Teaching by Embedding an Inquiry-Guided Learning Approach Using Computer-Aided Learning Packages: Evaluation of Learning Outcomes in a Cooling Tower Experiment in the Unit Operations Lab

A Computer-Aided Learning Package as Inquiry-Guided Learning (CALP/IGL) was implemented in a cooling tower experiment for 43 students enrolled in four sections of the Unit Operations Laboratory course in the chemical engineering program at Qatar University. The impact of this approach on the attainment of learning outcomes was evaluated. Results show that CALP/IGL helped improve the attainment level of course learning outcomes by ~35%. The skills improved were mainly those aiming for the students' ability to interpret and discuss the experimental data. The criteria for improvement were mainly the students' ability to explain the chart trends according to the relevant theoretical principles, leading to addressing misconceptual mistakes. It also helped mitigate educational logical fallacies and reduce the academic gap among students of different learning styles and capabilities.

Hybrid online-flipped learning pedagogy for teaching laboratory courses to mitigate the pandemic COVID-19 confinement and enable effective sustainable delivery: investigation of attaining course learning outcome

Since the early spring of 2020, the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) outbreak has hindered traditional face-to-face teaching and hands-on, traditional delivery of laboratory courses, forcing universities to migrate from the traditional way of teaching to a remote online approach. Although few studies addressed the pandemic's impact on educational outcomes, no studies are found to investigate the impact of the remote online teaching approach on laboratory courses. This paper highlights the impact of the online teaching approach, coupled with flipped learning pedagogy, as a substitute for traditional laboratories. The course learning outcomes and assessment tools are analyzed and discussed for 46 students enrolled in the Unit Operations Laboratory course in the chemical engineering program at Qatar University. Results show that the course learning outcomes are achieved effectively using the hybrid online-flipped learning pedagogy, which can be considered for computerized traditional laboratories as a moderation solution to alleviate pandemic COVID-19 confinement on learning outcome. This methodology can also be sustained in the future to facilitate the teaching of such lab courses, even in normal conditions, to optimize the resources and avail the delivery of such courses to a larger audience who may have various obstacles to attending traditional lab courses.

Implementing EML in the Unit Operations Laboratory through Community Engagement

Implementing EML in the Unit Operations Laboratory through Community Engagement

What's Happening in Lab? Multi-Dimensional Assessment Tools to Track Student Experience through a Unit Operations Laboratory Sequence

Unit operations laboratory courses culminate many topics from the curriculum and are often the first time students apply their knowledge in hands-on settings. However, many instructors do not directly assess key learning objectives, creating a disparity between desired and actual learning. Using multiple assessment tools, we analyzed student survey and test data throughout a unit operations laboratory sequence to reveal student attitudes and perceptions of their learning experience alongside their actual knowledge and abilities gained.

A Novel Chemical Engineering Laboratory Model at the University of Kansas

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 well as learn about safety, statistical data analysis, ASPEN Plus™ modeling, oral communication, report writing, referencing and comparing results with literature, leadership, ethics, and (most importantly) time-management.

Integrating Hands-on Battery Design into a Chemical Engineering Unit Operations Laboratory

Though electrochemistry and electrochemical engineering play significant roles in the behavior of many engineered systems – either through their fundamental operation (i.e. batteries) or secondary effects (i.e. corrosion) – engineering undergraduates typically do not graduate with appreciable fundamental knowledge in these area. It is important for our community to reach out to these students and develop coursework modules that build both fundamental and applied knowledge related to electrochemical systems. In this talk, integration of electrochemical science and engineering principles into a Junior Laboratory course will be discussed. The battery module in this course was offered for over a two-year period. In this laboratory, teams of four students are provided with a problem statement: Design a battery pack that can seamlessly REPLACE the AA batteries in a child’s toy. Students are allowed to choose their own platform. They must determine the power requirements for the toy under various operational conditions. Of course, on day 1, undergraduates do not know almost anything about how to design a battery. Therefore, the students systematically step them through a series of tasks and lectures to build their knowledge and competency – covering thermodynamics, polarization (kinetics and mass transfer), cell design, etc. These lectures and iteration of their battery design occurs over the course of an entire semester. The details around these will be discussed in the talk. The lab culminates with a demonstration day where teams show off their home-made batteries, operating a wide range of toys.

Imparting Industrially Relevant Process Control Skills in Chemical Engineering Students with LOOP-PRO TRAINER

Abstract In this paper and demonstration we showcase an effective way to bridge the gap between Process Control theory and industrial practice for Chemical Engineers. A process dynamics and control training simulator, LOOP-PRO TRAINER, has been incorporated in the Chemical Engineering curriculum at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology for more than 20 years, successfully imparting industrially relevant skills to students. The training simulator integrates seamlessly with all elements of the Chemical Engineering curriculum where Process Control concepts are addressed, such as introductory courses, advanced project-based courses, and Unit Operations laboratory courses. The use of LOOP-PRO TRAINER in associate degree and continuing education programs is also discussed.

Distributed Wireless Liquid Level Control of a Process Simulator Over a Network

In a process simulator, the distributed wireless liquid level control experiments have been performed by using the generalized predictive control algorithm. The wireless local area network was established with antennas between process simulator in Unit Operations Laboratory and the computer in Process Control Laboratory. We performed the online wireless experiments with MATLAB/Simulink program. Data transfer during the wireless experiments were carried out using radio waves at a frequency of 2.4 GHz. Experiments on the same conditions were achieved by three certain values of control weighting factor in the controller algorithm, whilst the changes in valve opening and liquid level with time were monitored. In all experiments performed with the distributed control system, the control valve opening is fixed with very small oscillations after a sudden increase in the beginning. We obtained the best liquid level control response to different set point changes for the same set of controller tuning values. The Integrated Square of the Error and the Integrated Absolute of the Error values were chosen as performance criteria. The distributed wireless liquid level control was effectively realized to the process simulator and it is recommended for industrial applications.

Pressure Swing Adsorption in the Unit Operations Laboratory

This paper describes a student laboratory in the Unit Operations Laboratory at the Colorado School of Mines: air separation by pressure swing adsorption. The flexibility of the system enables students to study the production of enriched nitrogen or oxygen streams. Automatic data acquisition permits the study of cycle steps and performance. Information from the experiment is readily used extract mass transfer and equilibrium information, providing a basis for system scale up, and in efficiency analysis.

Automation of a Distillation Column of Packed Bed for an Alcohol Solution using Arduino

This study demonstrates the use of Arduino to automate the operation of a distillation column binary ethanol - water as learning material used by students in the career of Chemical Engineering at the Escuela Superior Politecnica del Litoral. The main objective was to build an automated computer with the technology of arduino, in which thermocouples were used to offer students the convenience of taking temperature readings on a LCD display and in turn it allowed us to observe the level of the solution to control ignition resistance. So they were able to identify the processes that occur during the distillation unit operation automatically and manually in the Unit Operations Laboratory.

SISTEMA DE AUTOMATIZACIÓN DE UN CALDERO DE 30 BHP PARA EL MEJORAMIENTO DE LA EFICIENCIA ENERGÉTICA UTILIZANDO VARIABLES TERMODINÁMICAS

Se realizó la implementación de un sistema de control automático en el caldero pirotubular del Laboratorio de Operaciones Unitarias de la Facultad de Ingeniería Química y Textil para mejorar el aprovechamiento del vapor generado por este. Los puntos implementados fueron, un sistema de purga automático empleando un lenguaje de programación ladder establecido en un relé programable. Este sistema permite la purga automática, mediante una válvula neumática; el segundo punto fue la implementación de un sistema de monitoreo, supervisión y registro de datos de la temperatura de gases de combustión y como último punto, la implementación de una analizador portátil de gases de combustión y el aislamiento total de conductos de vapor para minimizar las pérdidas de energía. Los mejores resultados de esta investigación podrán ser aplicados, bajo el mismo procedimiento, a nivel industrial en industrias que usen las calderas como su corazón para sus diversos procesos con el fin de obtener mejoras en sus procesos y en sus costos de operación Palabras clave.- Ladder, Purga, Caldera, Relé programable, Sólidos disueltos. ABSTRACTThe implementation of an automatic control system in the fire-tube boiler of the Unit Operations Laboratory of the FIQT-UNI was performed to improve the utilization of the steam generated by it. The first point implemented had been an automatic purge using a ladder programming language established in a relay. This system allows the automatic purge by using a pneumatic valve; the second point was the implementation of a monitoring system, supervision and data logging of the temperature flue gas and as a last point, the implementation of a portable flue gas analyzer and the total steam duct insulation in order to minimize energy losses.The best results of this research could be applied ,through the same process, on an industrial level in industries which use boilers as their heart for their various processes in order to obtain improvements in their processes and in their operation costs. Keywords.- Ladder, Purge, Boiler, Programmable relay, Dissolved solids.

University-Industry Co-Operation to Promote Industrial Relevance in the Field Instrumentation Component of Control Education

In every manufacturing process field instruments establish the foundation for control. As a result, field instrumentation is an integral part of the control curriculum for engineering disciplines that support process manufacturing. In the Chemical Engineering curriculum most of the hands-on interactions with field instruments occur in the Unit Operations (UO) laboratory. In order to make these interactions industrially relevant, dialogue and active engagement with industry are essential. In this paper we present eight features of our co-operation with industry that have significantly expanded the breadth of the UO laboratory experiences for the Chemical Engineering students and faculty. In addition to providing financial help for state-of-the-art field instruments, our industrial partners have also shared technical resources and know-how that have enabled us to integrate the technology into the curriculum in an industrially relevant way. The most notable elements that distinguish our UO laboratory are the large number of installed field instruments (173), the distributed control system (DSC), the asset management system (AMS), and the high level of active interaction with field instruments. The end result is that our students are developing a marketable skill set directly applicable to the industrial practice of control. Our faculty are benefitting from the co-operation with industry as well by being provided with various opportunities for professional development.

HOW STUDENTS PERCEIVE THE MANY ROLES THEY MUST PLAY IN AN ENGINEERING LABORATORY COURSE

This work focuses on the unit operations laboratory course given by the Chemical and Biotechnological Engineering Department at Université de Sherbrooke. In order to help students develop their organisation skills, our department developed a formula based on "directive teams" and "operative teams" in which each team is put in charge of one of 9 experimental setups for the duration of the semester. A team is said to be "directive" when they are working on their assigned unit operation and "operative" when they are working on the other unit operations. As part of a directive team, the students must elaborate an experimental plan and protocol that they will ask the other teams to carry out. The success of this formula depends both on the ability of the teaching team as well as on the student-student work environment. The present project seeks to better understand the work environment in which the students carry out this task by polling them about their experience in the unit operations laboratory course given by our department.

A NEW APPROACH TO THE UNIT OPERATIONS LABORATORY

Unit operations laboratories are a standard feature of most chemical engineering programs. Students spend long hours running distillation columns, gas absorbers, and work with pumps, valves and heat exchangers. This provides much of the hands-on learning that they take into industry after graduation. Process control laboratories are often integrated into the unit operations laboratory. The most common control laboratory involves heating a tank with a steady inflow of cold water. Our laboratory has all of these features. Our approach can be described as using 20th century technology to control 19th century type processes in an 18th century learning environment while educating engineers for the 21st century. A different way to say it is that our approach is nothing like what a new graduate engineer sees when they arrive at a chemical facility. Several years ago, our department created a team tasked with upgrading the approach to the unit operations laboratory, and several guiding principles were created. It is important to retain a "hands-on" operational component – students need to open and close valves, read gauges, as well as start and stop pumps. It is equally important to introduce students to a proper distributed control system. It is also important that the DCS is not seen as a "black box" that does everything – the link between the equipment, the P&ID and the DCS needs to be reinforced.The equipment is now in regular operation, and we continue to expand its capabilities. This submission describes the genesis of the system and the staged approach that has been taken to manage the time and budget pressures.

Simulación dinámica de una columna de destilación de bioetanol en régimen batch

La destilación batch es un proceso bastante empleado en numerosos procesos industriales a mediana y pequeña escala, por lo tanto de gran importancia comercial. En el contexto de la simulación de procesos, presenta retos ya que el sistema presenta mucha complejidad, especialmente en la etapa de startup donde existe variación de muchas variables simultáneamente. El presente trabajo simula el proceso de destilación de la planta piloto que se encuentra instalada en el Laboratorio de Operaciones Unitarias de la FIQT de la UNI. Para ello se hace uso del software simulación comercial ASPEN Batch Distillation V7.1. Los resultados nos sirven para establecer un protocolo de operación que nos permite obtener una alta pureza de bioetanol y mejorar el proceso.

Problem-Based Learning Biotechnology Courses in Chemical Engineering

We have developed a series of upper undergraduate/graduate lecture and laboratory courses on biotechnological topics to supplement existing biochemical engineering, bioseparations, and biomedical engineering lecture courses. The laboratory courses are based on problem-based learning techniques, featuring two- and three-person teams, journaling, and performance rubrics for guidance and assessment. Participants initially have found them to be difficult, since they had little experience with problem-based learning. To increase enrollment, we are combining the laboratory courses into 2-credit groupings and allowing students to substitute one of them for the second of our 2-credit chemical engineering unit operations laboratory courses.

An Experimental Design Approach to Chemical Engineering Unit Operations Laboratories

This paper describes a strategy used to improve the learning process of a senior level undergraduate chemical engineering unit operations laboratory course. Course lectures cover experimental design, applied statistics, fundamental measurement principles and the basics of instrumentation. Students are asked to devise and carry out their own experiments to evaluate the performance characteristics of a particular unit operation and associated equipment, to critically analyse the results of the experiments and to properly report such results. Experimental work is not limited to performing a parametric study and, depending on the unit, students are asked to variously determine optimal processing conditions for given product specifications, evaluate the stability of the unit to processing perturbations, use data to propose kinetic and hydrodynamic models, and propose approaches for the scale up of the unit. As a result students were exposed to a more industrially relevant plant performance test integrating design of experiments material. The results after 6 years are discussed.

Mid-Semester Student Feedback Enhances Student Learning

Student feedback can facilitate teaching improvements. The most common form of student feedback is obtained from end of semester student evaluations. Unfortunately this feedback does not benefit the students who provided the feedback. Mid-semester student feedback overcomes this limitation. The feedback obtained may be used by the instructor to make adjustments to the course in progress. Mid-semester evaluations have been conducted in a third-year fluid mechanics course and the sequel unit operations laboratory course over a four-year period. The results of this study indicate that soliciting mid-semester student feedback encourages a more responsible attitude by the students as they reflect upon the course. Making use of a third party facilitator to obtain this feedback results in constructive suggestions by the students. Implementation of some of these suggestions results in an improved learning environment and can lead to improved end of semester evaluations.