Material and Energy Balances Taught in a Multidisciplinary Course

This paper will describe the challenges and rewards associated with introducing Chemical Engineering students to material and energy balance concepts using an accounting principles approach in a multidisciplinary course. All engineering students (Chemical, Civil, Electrical, Computer, Fire Protection, and Mechanical Engineering) take a sophomore engineering course, Introduction to Modeling of Engineering Systems, which includes topics drawn from electric circuits, mass and energy balances and force balances. The course is designed to help students develop an organized approach to solving problems and uses a conservation and accounting approach to provide a broad framework for the diverse topics. The paper will consider the common challenges associated with the first major course in any engineering discipline, particularly focusing on common stumbling blocks. There are some significant challenges with using the multidisciplinary approach to material and energy balances. One of the primary challenges is that it is difficult to include reactive systems with coverage limited to areas of common interest, such as combustion reactions and fuel cell reactions. Students often appear to be resistant to materials that they perceive as being outside of their declared major area of study. For the Chemical Engineering student, the challenges are balanced with a broader exposure to other balances not typically seen in the major courses. Using the accounting principles approach, the students explore force balances (such as structures) and charge balances (circuits) in addition to the typical mass and energy balances. The approach taken in this course applies the recurring themes of flows into and out of a system and generation and accumulation within a system for a wide variety of properties. This broader exposure should help to limit the compartmentalization of information that is typical of engineering students. Within the context of this course two questions will be considered. First, does the chemical engineering student learn material and energy balances as well as in a traditional M&E course. Of course, the students in this curriculum take a follow-up course in the major the following semester to build on the background. Second, does the significant focus on force balances, linear momentum, and energy better prepare the chemical engineering student for subsequent transport phenomena courses.