Principles of Chemical Engineering

Learning Outcomes

Knowledge and Understanding

Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

• Perform mass and energy balance calculations representative of chemical processes.
• Calculate the equilibrium constant for a chemical process and describe the effects of changes in conditions (temperature, pressure, and composition) on the value of the equilibrium constant.
• Determine the order of a chemical reaction and write expressions for the rate law, explaining the effects of temperature on the rate constants and outcome of the reaction.
• Use phase diagrams thermodynamic data tables to describe and analyse the properties of single and multi-component chemical systems.
• Describe and calculate the thermodynamic variables (enthalpy, entropy, internal energy, Gibbs energy, and Helmholtz energy) that describe chemical reactions and transformations.

Subject Specific Practical Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• Interpret the data obtained from an experiment, presenting the results using appropriate plots or other methods of analysis.

Chemical thermodynamics: definitions of the chemical thermodynamic variables - enthalpy, entropy, internal energy, and Gibbs and Helmholtz energies; determining the changes in thermodynamic variables that accompany expansion, formation, combustion, and reaction; phase diagrams of pure substances and thermodynamics of phase transitions.

Energy balances from chemical thermodynamics: open and closed systems, heat capacity and heat transfer.

Mixtures: the thermodynamic description of mixtures; solutions and their properties; phase diagrams of binary and ternary systems; materials balances as applied to mixtures; ideal and non-ideal behaviour; chemical potential, activity, and fugacity.

Chemical equilibria: application of the concepts of Gibbs energy; equilibrium constants; the phase rule; response of equilibrium to changes in temperature or pressure.

Chemical kinetics: reaction orders and rate laws, extent of reaction, methods of determining reaction order, effects of temperature on rate constants, kinetics of coupled reactions and determination of the rate determining step, application of the steady state approximation, kinetic vs. thermodynamic control of reactions, mass balances in relation to chemical kinetics.

Four practical exercises to illustrate:

enthalpy of reaction;

energy balances/heat transfer;

temperature dependence of vapour pressure of a liquid;

determination of reaction order.

Lectures, paper- and computer-based problem-solving sessions (workshops) and laboratory sessions, with an a emphasis on active learning techniques using design packages such as HYSIS and COMSOL

Summative

This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.