A Web Based Case Study For The Chemical Engineering Capstone Course

One of the most daunting tasks in teaching the capstone design class is to develop suitable projects. Some departments may not have faculty with industrial experience; other departments may not be located near industrial partners to provide hands-on experience to the students; and other departments may lack faculty with deep expertise in specific areas such as biotechnology. North Carolina State University is developing, testing, and disseminating case studies for use in capstone senior chemical engineering design courses. Three web-based case studies developed at North Carolina State University will be presented. The projects involve modifications to (1) a vaccine facility, (2) a citric acid/nutriceutical facility, and (3) an ammonia plant. Supporting materials have been developed for each case study, including a problem statement, a detailed solution that is considered to be exemplary by an industrial reviewer and a report by the NCSU faculty member responsible for the case study of the difficulties and typical errors that might be encountered as the students carry out the design assignment. A web site devoted to the case studies has been established which contains all of the supporting material, including tutorials covering many of the technical aspects of the projects, and a full project solution (only accessible to faculty). This paper will review the development of the case studies, and then focus on how the information can be accessed and used, as well as presentation of some exemplary results.