Education for Chemical Engineers最新文献

In 2020, the Conference of Chemical Engineering Directors and Deans (CODDIQ) proposed the creation of an observatory to monitor chemical engineering degrees in Spain. This representative radiography of Chemical Engineering studies offers an initial point to observe the future changes when Royal Decree 822/2021 and proposed challenges in the last Ministerial Conference on the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) will be implanted. The survey data from CODDIQ partners allow us to know important data such as (i) the 24 international quality accreditations at Spanish universities, (ii) the high demand and the required marks, an average of 7.25, for the Chemical Engineering Bachelor’s degree, (iii) 9560 undergraduate students in this degree in Spain and their gender profile which is around 43% of women, similar than women lectures, (iv) the difficulty of this Bachelor’s degree through some indicators like duration of studies (5.25 years), graduation rate (41%) and drop-out rate (26%), (v) the employability after obtaining the Bachelor's degree is very high (>70%). In addition, Chemical engineering undergraduate and graduate students indicate their expectations are covered. In this paper, some consequences of the pandemic on students' performance (lower than before COVID-19) are analyzed, despite lectures tried to innovate in their classes and the university provided adequate tools for online teaching.

Since emerging more than a century ago, petroleum engineering (PE) education has increasingly kept its popularity despite significant downturns in the industry. During these downturn periods, observed at least four times since the 1973 oil crisis, structural changes in university programs have been considered. While experiencing the fifth downturn period over the last five decades, it is time again to ask the same question: “Shall we continue with the same PE education model or radically shift to a new model?” In this paper, after reviewing more than fifty articles published over the last 85 years reporting the attempts made towards reshaping PE education, an option of restructuring PE programs is discussed. This option is less oil industry (and oil prices) dependent and more of a “general” engineering education program with an emphasis on the “geoscience” or “subsurface” engineering aspects of the PE discipline. The viability of the proposed program was discussed from industry, academia, and students’ perspective. Fundamentals are essential in this new program similar to other general (or major) engineering disciplines such as mechanical, civil, chemical, and electrical engineering. The critical elements of engineering skills such as creative design, decision making, problem description and solving, management under high degree of uncertainty, and data collection and processing for optimization are to be included in the new model.

The aim of this work was to try to implement a new laboratory class for Chemical Engineering students in which they could analyze how it is possible to revalue some organic residues. Concretely, the objective was to show them how to revalue olive leaves by extracting their polyphenols, since these leaves, being an abundant organic waste in Spain, were well-known by the students to whom this study was addressed. With the aim of improving student understanding of the basic Chemical Engineering concepts, two extraction techniques (solvent extraction process and ultrasound-assisted extraction) as well as their combination were investigated during the class. In addition, the effect that different pre-treatments had on polyphenol extraction efficiency was also studied to show students how important research is before fine-tuning an industrial process. To do this, students were divided into working groups to carry out polyphenol extraction under different experimental conditions. Ultimately, student groups compared and discussed the efficiency of the different employed extraction techniques. Likewise, students were surveyed to evaluate the suitability and training-usefulness of the proposed class. Obtained assignments revealed that it could be an interesting option to improve students’ hands-on experience while strengthening some theoretical concepts explained in the degree lectures.

Less solvent solid state reactions are reactions of solids with help of a little amount of solvent in ordinary stirring reactors. Due to the limited amount of solvent, only part of the substances can dissolve in the solvent, and the solvent can be regarded as a transport agent that makes the reactants contact easily. Here, we present an experiment about less solvent solid state reaction that enables students to use β-PbO and PbSO₄ to produce 3PbO·PbSO₄·H₂O (tribasic lead sulfate, usually short as 3BS) in 2 h with its reaction monitored and product characterized with X-ray diffraction. By combining their experiment data with the thermodynamic analysis in the pre-lab lecture, students can understand why solution reactions reach equilibriums eventually while solid state reactions reach 100% completion, and how to get rid of the diffusion difficulty of solid state reactions. Meanwhile, exposure to this experiment can stimulate students to explore techniques for greener chemical processes other than solution reactions.

Professional accreditation criteria around sustainability are an important consideration in the delivery of accredited (chemical) engineering programmes. This paper looks at the sustainability related criteria required by a number of professional bodies, while considering the evolution of such criteria over the past decades. It is seen that the scope and breadth of sustainability criteria has expanded among many accreditation bodies, including the Institution of Chemical Engineers, in line with institutional and professional imperatives. This has promoted the incorporation of a far broader range of sustainability related attributes than was previously envisaged. There are nevertheless large differences between the requirements of the various professional bodies considered, and in programmes across the world. The impact of societal imperatives and norms, including those of employers is reflected upon, as is the awareness and concerns of young people, who as graduates will be working through mid-century, directly engaging with sustainability related imperatives. IChemE accredited programmes are increasingly obliged to actively engage with contemporary sustainability related requirements more broadly, requiring increased integration of sustainability attributes across the curriculum, in terms of knowledge, skills and values. This evolution is important in remaining relevant as a profession, and in playing a key role in addressing societal challenges.

Accreditation of chemical engineering degrees remains an important tool for IChemE in providing efficient and robust routes to membership for the majority of its applicants. It is likely that the required criteria for programmes will continue to evolve to reflect the needs of the various stakeholders – students and universities, members of IChemE, employers of chemical engineering graduates, and wider society. Accreditation processes will also continue to adapt as institutions seek to balance the conflicting priorities of combating climate change with operating robust assessment processes.

This critique evaluates the use of the P-HENS software for developing recommended heat exchanger network designs compared to the commercial simulator Aspen Energy Analyzer. The similarities between the two software when carrying out an energy integration are discussed, as well as their advantages and possible improvements to be implemented in the tool.

The need for autonomous engineering graduates who demonstrate hands-on skills has increased in the industry. Computer programming helps engineering students solve real-world problems systematically and accurately by applying governing physical and mathematical models into a format that a computer can read and execute. This study describes the pedagogical approach of incorporating programming workshops and assessments into a second-year chemical engineering course. The impact of this intervention on experiential learning amongst the students was then evaluated by analysing the feedback provided by voluntary participants during several focus group sessions. The feedback gave further insight into teaching pedagogy with respect to Kolb's experiential learning cycle. It was found the programming background of an individual clearly affects the phase of the learning cycle they predominantly experience during the workshops. Furthermore, programming background affected an individual's critical thinking while approaching an engineering problem. Constructive feedback provided by the student participants offered an invaluable opportunity for the teaching team to reflect on what went well and the areas for improvement in future iterations. The findings of this study can advance knowledge around design and implementation of a programming module within an engineering course.

One of the most in-demand skills for engineers is working effectively in a team. However, divergences inside the group often lead to the unsuccessful progress of the task. Therefore, creating a methodology that allows overcoming this obstacle and promotes successful teamwork seems fundamental. In this work, we present a novel questionnaire that we have designed and implemented to form balanced work teams based on the behaviour and personality of the group members. Concretely, the roles selected were Leader, Collaborative, Thoughtful and Creative. The role assignment was performed using a questionary and applied to different subjects and degrees. The role of Leader was predominant, but when analysing the group mates' opinions, a relevant decrease was observed, indicating that the students answered the questionary as a leader but did not show leadership capacities. The second role majority was Collaborator, and Creative and Thoughtful roles obtained the fewest percentages. Finally, the academic results of different courses and the students' feedback experience have been analysed, getting an upbeat assessment of the new methodology for forming groups, and it has also been observed an improvement in the average marks of the subjects.

Active learning methods are known to improve motivation, engagement, and student performance in traditional classrooms. However, the COVID-19 pandemic compelled students to continue their studies through an online setting wherein teaching is undertaken remotely and on digital platforms. In this study, the design and implementation of flipped classrooms supported with collaborative learning was evaluated for the remote instruction of Analytical Chemistry. The flipped classroom was designed to include pre-recorded lectures, individual self-assessment questions and in-class group activities (polls and quiz bee). Word problems were given as collaborative tasks to improve the students’ interactions on the learning content. The impact on learning of these instructional practices was evaluated based on students’ learning experience and academic performance, and the instructors’ reflection. The survey at the end of the term gathered quantitative and qualitative data regarding students’ experiences with flipped classroom and peer collaboration methods. The students’ feedback indicated that participation in group collaborative activities had a positive impact on their comprehension of Analytical Chemistry concepts and calculations. Majority of the students indicated that group collaboration was immensely helpful in enhancing communication skills and improving their ability to apply what they had learned in class to solving difficult word problems. In addition, students underscored the importance of pre-recorded videos for their self-paced learning, and synchronous sessions to increase their engagement and motivation. On the other hand, several students perceived flipped classrooms as very demanding and challenging in terms of the required output submissions given the short 6-week term. Overall, the combination of these active-learning methods had a positive impact on the remote-learning environment, but potential drawbacks of online active learning interventions on student attitudes were also present. Therefore, careful integration of these instructional practices into online courses will help improve the students’ learning experience.