ChE 2201: Reactive Process Engineering  -  Syllabus

Department of Chemical & Petroleum Engineering, University of Pittsburgh.
Lecture: Tue 4:30 - 6:55 PM, FMLC (BEH1221)
Instructor: Prof. Götz Veser
1232 Benedum Hall, gveser@pitt.edu
Office hours:  Thu 5-6PM and by appointment  (please do not hesitate to request meeting time!!).

 

Recommended Texts:
(Note:  This is a graduate course, and I will not teach from any one particular book.  All books listed below have their individual strength and weaknesses, and I recommend to pick one (or several) based on your personal preference.)

 
  • H.S. Fogler, Elements of Chemical Reaction Engineering, Prentice Hall, 3rd ed., 1999.  (The US standard text for Reaction Engineering.  Thorough, but a bit dated, in my opinion).
  • R. Missen, C. Mims, B. Saville, Introduction to Chemical Reaction Engineering and Kinetics, John Wiley, 1999.  (Another very thorough and complete text, and more up-to-date than Fogler. While each chapter is very well written, I find the book a bit disorganized, though.  A great text to complement others, though).
  • J.B. Rawlings, J.G. Ekerdt, Chemical Reactor Analysis and Design Fundamentals, Nob Hill Publishing, 2002.  
  • M.E. Davis and R.J. Davis, Fundamentals of Chemical Reaction Engineering, McGraw-Hill, 2002.  (Excellent "condensed" version of a reaction engineering book.  Very well written, but focused only on the most crucial concepts and weak on the math side.  Great book if you need to catch up on what you have missed in your undergraduate class, though! ;-))
  • M.J. Pilling and P.W. Seakins, Reaction Kinetics, Oxford University Press, 1995.  (Not a ChE reaction engineering text, but a chemist's book on kinetics.  Excellent in-depth resource for the kinetics section of our class.)
  • L.D. Schmidt: The Engineering of Chemical Reactions, Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, 2001.  (Very nicely written textbook with lots more (industrial) chemistry than the other texts, but weak on the mathematical side of things.  I use this for my undergraduate course.)
  • K.R. Westerterp, W.P.M. Van Swaaij, A.A.C.M. Beenackers, Chemical Reactor Design & Operation, John Wiley, 2nd ed., 1993.   (The best, and arguably the most complete, advanced textbook on reaction egineering, in my opinion.  Absolutely no fun at all to read - but often the best medicine is the most bitter one...! ;-))
  • M.L. Shuler and F. Kargi, Bioprocess Engineering: Basic Concepts, Prentice Hall, 2nd ed., 2002. (Very nice textbook focused on the "bio" side of things.)

 
Aim of the Course:
The aim of this course is to help students to develop an understanding for the fundamental concepts that govern the behaviour of chemical and biochemical reactions and reactors (ABET outcome a). They will learn to evaluate contributions of reaction kinetics, thermodynamics and transport phenomena (and their interplay) to the overall reactor behaviour, and to develop and apply mathematical models for the design of different basic (and some advanced) reactor types and to the evaluation of actual experimental data (ABET outcomes a & b). At the same time, the students will be introduced to a number of major existing and emerging chemical and biochemical processes (outcomes h and i).  Finally, through extensive course projects, the students will learn to identify and formulate engineering problems (outcome e), function on a team (outcome d), embed the course content into the context of contemporary issues (outcome j), and to communicate their findings both orally and in writing (outcome k).
(For a detailed compilation of specific learning goals/concepts see this page.)

 

Course Policies:

Grading

 20% Homework Assignments
20% Course Project
30% Midterm exam
30% Final exam
 
There will be no make-up exams without documented, acceptable excuses (serious illnes, family emergency).   Students caught cheating will immediately and without exception fail the class.

Homework

 Homework will be posted on the course webpage on Tuesdays, and is due the following Tuesday before class. Homework has to be submitted in electronic form by e-mail. All homework has to be submitted as attachements in a single e-mail, sent from one e-mail address.  All other homework group members should be copied on the e-mail as a sign for their agreement with this homework solution.
All Microsoft Office formats (docx, pptx, xlsx), Matlab scripts (m-files), and pdf are acceptable.  The files should be named "Name1_Name2_Name3_ChE2201_hw##.docx", where "Name1", "Name2", and "Name3" are the last names of the homework group members, and "##" should be replaced with the respective homework number. 

Homework groups:  While you should form homework teams of two or three students, it is strongly recommended that each student solve the entire homework by him/herself before meeting with the other team members to discuss solution strategies and solutions.  
Once you have formed a homework team (by handing in your first homework as a team), you need to stick to that team - no week-to-week changes are allowed!

Exams

 There will be two exams: one mid-term and one final exam.
The midterm exam will be a closed-book exam covering the class content up to (and including) the last class before the day of the midterm exam. You will be allowed to bring in one page (letter size, two sided) with look-up formulas. 
Note that you are not allowed to put solved problems (homework, in-class problems, or from any other sources) on these sheets!

The final exam will be cumulative, i.e. it will cover the complete course material. It will be an open-book exam, with the following restrictions: you are allowed to bring one (single-volume) textbook (whichever one you choose to learn from) as well as any printed hand-outs of the "official" lecture notes. You may add as many comments into the book or onto the printouts as you like. Furthermore, you are allowed to compile a 1-page cheat-sheet with formulas and any other class material that you deem particularly important. Beyond this, no additional pages, books or other materials, in particular no solved homework problems or other solved problems, are allowed. 

Failure to comply with these rules will be regarded as cheating and treated as such (see above). If you are unsure about any of these rules, see me before the day of the exam.

 
If you have a disability for which you are or may be requesting an accommodation, you are encouraged to contact both your instructor and the Office of Disability Resources and Services, 216 William Pitt Union, 412-648-7890/412-383-7355 (TTY), as early as possible in the term. DRS will verify your disability, and determine reasonable accommodations for this course.