The Inclusion Of Design Content In The Unit Operations Laboratory

There has been an emphasis to include design throughout the chemical engineering curriculum. Open-ended projects with design content are commonly included in core courses. The unit operations lab offers another opportunity through the use and extension of experimental data. The range of student learning goals in the typical unit operations laboratory, including the planning and execution of experiments, the interpretation of experimental data, and gaining familiarity with process equipment, make a design task a natural extension. Examples of how these data can be utilized are (i) to determine if the equipment can accomplish a different task; (ii) to design a larger piece of equipment; or (iii) to develop a model which is then used for large-scale design. At Ohio University we have instituted a design objective that each laboratory experiment is centered around. The design objective forces students to consider what data they need to collect, and analysis they need to employ. Examples for four experiments are presented here to demonstrate how the different aspects of design can be incorporated. Student response to this approach has been generally favorable.