Research

Two Course Capstone Design Sequence: ENCH 444/ENCH 446

(Fall 2019: ENCH 444; Spring 2020: ENCH 446)

(Gold Experience)

The chemical engineering degree consists of two design courses that are to be taken during senior year. The first course, Process Engineering Economics and Design (ENCH 444) introduces the topic of fully designing a chemical engineering process and all that goes into it. During the course, the seniors work in groups of five to design a process for the chemical of their choice. Our design focused on the production of methanol from the synthesis of carbon dioxide and hydrogen gas. This route is known as the direct hydrogenation route. Throughout the course of this class, the process was designed, sized, optimized, and analyzed for cost. Every unit operation within the process was sized and priced based on the material needed for safe operation and the labor associated with the operation.

The second course taken is Process Engineering Economics and Design II, ENCH 446. In this course a group of five people work together to design a chemical process for a chemical given to the group in the beginning of the semester. The project tasked to our group was to design a sodium cyanide production facility that is profitable, safe for operation, and produces as little to zero waste and pollution as possible. This course consists of seven technical presentations including the final presentation. Each presentation is aimed at delivering the group's work on a certain topic, such as material and energy balances, thermodynamics and kinetics, simulation and optimization, separation units, process controls and safety, and environment and society, to the class and professors. The final design presentation focuses heavily on one of the topics listed previously.

Reflecting on this Experience

This experience has strengthened my public speaking and presentation skills through the numerous presentations required. This experience has also strengthened my teamwork skills. In ENCH 444 my team and I all had similar personalities and working together was very fluid and effortless. In ENCH 446 my team and I had different personalities, which made the learning curve of how to work together efficiently and effectively difficult. Throughout the course of ENCH 446, I was able to learn that everyone has something different to offer and that even though personalities may be different, the team can still produce great work and have a good time doing it. This experience also brought to my attention how difficult it is to reduce waste and emissions contributing to things such as the nitrogen cycle. Newer technologies that may work extremely well at lab scale, are not ready to be scaled up or are too expensive to put into operation. It also became clear to me that by removing waste or pollutants from one stream exiting the facility, just means relocating that pollutant and disposing of it in a new way, reacting the pollutant to form a less harmful substance, or purifying it enough that it can be recycled into the main process to be used again. This experience has shown me that processes that can affect natural systems are just as delicate to manage as the natural systems themselves, finding a balance between economics and profit and environmental impact can be a tricky thing to manage.

Research Learning Objectives

Effective Communication: Express ideas in an organized, clear, concise, and accurate manner.
- Working with a group that are all pursuing the same goal has shown me the importance of expressing ideas in a concise way. Keeping the ideas and work organized can help ensure that topics are not being overlooked.

Disciplinary Communication: Write clearly and effectively in discipline-specific formats.
- The final reports for this experience showed me how important it is to concisely present the information discovered from the research.

Creativity: Effectively connect multiple ideas and approaches.
- Multiple presentations have shown me there are many different ways to express ideas and work, some are better than others for certain topics.

Practice and Process of Inquiry: Demonstrate the ability to formulate questions and hypotheses within their discipline.
- In order to start a large project, the end goal must be decided upon. Once the goal is confirmed, research must take place to help get there. Researching the correct information can only be done by asking questions about the topic.

Nature of Disciplinary Knowledge: Show understanding of the way practitioners think within the discipline and view the world around them.
- With so much information out there on every topic, it is important to have a moderate understanding of the material. This will lead to asking questions that help shape the view of the material at hand.

Understanding Ethical Conduct: predict, recognize, and weigh the risks and benefits of the project for others.
- Working with others in research it is important to respect others opinions and ideas.

Program Wide Objectives

Being a team member: Identify strengths and weaknesses of all members of a partnership or collaboration; empower group members to use their strengths, and support weaker team members. Both assign and accept duties and roles intelligently and flexibly.
- Group members must work together to achieve the common goal of the course research. It is important to all work together effectively due to the amount of work that goes into designing a chemical production facility. The work that needs to be done cannot be done by one person alone.

Integrity: Identify and be able to elaborate on and justify core beliefs and values; act consistently in accordance with those beliefs and values across contexts; regard themselves as accountable for those actions.
- Group members all have different ways of completing tasks, and although they might not reflect with how I would go about doing something, it is important to recognize that everyone works differently and to trust them.

Perspectivism: Seek out and fairly consider ethical perspectives and concepts other than own, and ensures these perspectives and concepts appropriately inform their own actions and views.
- When designing a chemical plant, there are many decisions that need to be made about how to do it. There are many different routes that all have pros and cons. It is important to view each option and decide which one works best for the process. (i.e. which one is the cleanest, which one requires the most energy, etc.).

Realistic vision: Be imaginative in thinking about alternatives to the way things are, while being sensitive to the constraints of the real world.
- There are many different options that come up during research, and there are times that it seems the group could have done so much more to effectively design the best facility. This is not always true due to time constraints and availability of research, and it is important to recognize this.

Persistence: Confront difficulties resolutely, and persevere in trying to manage them. Reframe failures and mistakes as learning opportunities, and does not allow them to become disabling or discouraging. Follow through on commitments.
- Working on such a long project with so many deadlines can be overwhelming at times. It is important to communicate with each other and to evaluate what needs to be done and what did not work. Then one by one, the tasks can be completed.

Flexibility: Adapt quickly and thoughtfully to unexpected changes and developments and accommodate them fluidly in plans and projects. Incorporate new information to progress toward intended outcomes.
- There are always ideas present, sometimes there is a wall blocking the first idea that was not expected. Working around these problems quickly can help ensure the work gets done on time and to an exceptional quality.

Personal Learning Objective

Personal Accountability: Internalize obligations to fulfill project goals, and holds themselves responsible to meet/exceed expectations.
- Working on something of this scale with other group members, it is extremely important to do the tasks that were assigned to each role. Everyone needs to have some personal accountability or else the group dynamic does not work.

“Grand Challenge Scholars Program.” Research - Grand Challenge Scholars Program - UMBC, gcsp.umbc.edu/research/.

Experiences