ChE 401ChE 401
Chemical Engineering Practice I
Instructor Classroom - Lederle 119 Laboratory - Goessman 61 Teaching Assistants Ramon Gonzales Ramaswami Sankaranarayanan |
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ChE 401, Chemical Engineering Practice I, is a three-credit laboratory course in which four projects of eight scheduled are to be completed during the fall semester: The course meets from 12:30 to 4:45 pm on Mondays and Wednesdays. Most classes are held in Goessmann 61, but for lectures and oral presentations the class will meee in Lederle 119. Experimental stations in the laboratory should be prepared to be shut down at 4:30 pm, allowing 15 minutes for clean-up.
Time may be scheduled to work on laboratory experiments on Friday afternoons, but only after scheduling in advance with and receiving permisssion from Dr. Laurence and Paul Garbin in Chemical Engineering Shop. The experiments to be run in the laboratory are taken from nine laboratory stations :
- Distillation
- Polymerization
- Polymer processing
- single screw extruder
- injection molding
- Packed Column
- Permeation
- Heat exchanger
- Methanation
- Ion Exchange
- Drying
A series of four projects will be assigned on the equipment during the semester. Each project involves preparatory research, a preliminary report presented orally, several laboratory sessions, and a written final report along with its oral presentation. Some projects will also require design calculations.
There is one section of this course, each with a maximum capacity of 32 students. The class has been organized into a maximum of 8 groups of four (4) students. All group members will participate in the preparation, execution, and reporting of a project, rotating their roles within the group. For example, during an experiment the group leader will manage operation; a second group member might operate the computer, valving, and controls; while a third person might log the steps that are being taken as well as any data which need to be recorded in the lab notebook. These roles must be rotated evenly among group members. The assignment of group leaders will be done by the instructor following discussion with the class.
Safety is of paramount importance in this Laboratory. Safety First is not just a buzz word. It is part of the laboratory course. Safety is discussed on a series of web pages. See Safety.
Attendance at all meetings and labs is mandatory and the roll will be taken. We expect all students to take an active part in the oral presentations - not just those students making presentations. Absences may be excused a priori with a reasonable request. No absences will be excused a posteriori , save in the most extreme circumstances.
It is expected that all preparatory work will have been done before the scheduled laboratory sessions and that all students will be in the laboratory during scheduled laboratory sessions unless they have written permission from the instructor.
There is a Department of Chemical Engineering Home Page on the Engineering Computer Services nodes. Communication on the course will be available on WWW. E-Mail may be sent to Professor Laurence regarding the course at rlaurence@ecs.umass.edu .
last updated 11 October 2000
