Design acceleration in chemical engineering

Nowadays, Chemical Engineering has to face a new industrial context with for example: the gradually falling of hydrocarbon reserves after 2020-2030, relocation, emerging of new domains of application (nano-micro technologies) which necessitate new solutions and knowledges… All this tendencies and demands accelerate the need of tool for design and innovation (technically, technologically). In this context, this paper presents a tool to accelerate innovative preliminary design. This model is based on the synergy between: TRIZ (Russian acronym for Theory of Inventive Problem Solving) and Case Based Reasoning (CBR). The proposed model offers a structure to solve problem, and also to store and make available past experiences in problems solving. A tool dedicated to chemical engineering problems, is created on this model and a simple example is treated to explain the possibilities of this tool

Heat-resistant concrete based on alumina cement from substandard raw material

Results are provided for development of refractory concrete based on modified alumina cement using chemical industry waste. A quantitative ratio for mixed filler fractions, the effect of production factors on concrete strength, the dependence of its strength properties on form of filler, and solidification conditions are established. It is shown that with respect to physical mechanical and engineering properties the concretes developed is no worse than those existing in the market.With respect to all engineering properties this form of refractory product may be recommended as lining for high-temperature units

Heat-resistant concrete based on alumina cement from substandard raw material

Results are provided for development of refractory concrete based on modified alumina cement using chemical industry waste. A quantitative ratio for mixed filler fractions, the effect of production factors on concrete strength, the dependence of its strength properties on form of filler, and solidification conditions are established. It is shown that with respect to physical mechanical and engineering properties the concretes developed is no worse than those existing in the market.With respect to all engineering properties this form of refractory product may be recommended as lining for high-temperature units

Chemical research projects office: An overview and bibliography, 1975-1980

The activities of the Chemical Research Projects Office at Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California are reported. The office conducts basic and applied research in the fields of polymer chemistry, computational chemistry, polymer physics, and physical and organic chemistry. It works to identify the chemical research and technology required for solutions to problems of national urgency, synchronous with the aeronautic and space effort. It conducts interdisciplinary research on chemical problems, mainly in areas of macromolecular science and fire research. The office also acts as liaison with the engineering community and assures that relevant technology is made available to other NASA centers, agencies, and industry. Recent accomplishments are listed in this report. Activities of the three research groups, Polymer Research, Aircraft Operating and Safety, and Engineering Testing, are summarized. A complete bibliography which lists all Chemical Research Projects Office publications, contracts, grants, patents, and presentations from 1975 to 1980 is included

Kinetic research on heterogeneously catalysed processes: a questionnaire on the state-of-the-art in industry

On the initiative of the Working Party `Chemical Engineering in the Applications of Catalysis¿ of the European Federation of Chemical Engineering an assessment of the issues in the determination and application of kinetic data within the European industry was performed. The basis of the analysis consisted of a questionnaire put together by researchers from Dow, DSM, Shell and Eindhoven University of Technology. The 24 companies, which have responded to the questionnaire, can be classified into four groups: chemical, oil, engineering contractors and catalyst manufacturers. From the overall input it appears that there are three, equally important, utilisation areas for kinetic data: process development, process optimisation and catalyst development. There is a wide variety of kinetic data sources. Most of the respondents make use of test units which were primarily designed for development and optimisation. Avoiding transport limitation is, certainly in the case of short range projects or for complex feedstocks, not always taken care of. With respect to the modelling approaches, a common philosophy is `as simple as possible¿. Most of the respondents state that `in principle¿ one should strive for intrinsic kinetics, but the majority nevertheless does for various reasons not separate all transport phenomena from reaction kinetics. Kinetic models are mostly simple first or nth order or Langmuir-Hinshelwood type expressions. More complex kinetic models are scarcely used. Three areas were frequently identified to offer opportunities for improvement. Gathering of kinetic data is too costly and time consuming. There is no systematic approach at all for determination and application of kinetics in case of unstable catalytic performance. Furthermore, the software available for the regression of kinetic data to rate equations based on mechanistic schemes as well as software to model reactors are insufficiently user friendly. The majority of the respondents state that the problems indicated should be solved by cooperation, e.g., between companies, between industry and academia and between the catalysis and the chemical engineering community. A workshop on the above topics was held in December 1996 with 15 companies and 6 academics attending. More information can be obtained from the secretariat of the Working Party

Lexis in chemical engineering discourse: Analyzing style in chemical engineering research articles through a rhetorical lens

This study examines the style of chemical engineering research articles to discover stylistic trends that may be applicable to authors looking to publish their own research. Rhetorical stylistic analysis was used as a research method to allow for thorough analysis of all articles in the sample. Ten research articles from the two prominent chemical engineering journals were chosen using specific criteria to constitute a sample of articles that could most accurately represent the population of chemical engineering research articles. Each article was then analyzed line by line to identify markers of chemical engineering research article style, including the following: ▬Use of voice ▬Examples of figurative language ▬Sentence variety, length, readability ▬Use of dependent clauses as a method of amplification ▬Paragraphing ▬Kind of diction The small sample size prevented generalization of all the conclusions to the overall population of chemical engineering research articles, but some major trends were identified in the sample. Chemical engineering research article authors prefer sentences with no more than two clauses, actively use figurative language to achieve their communicative goals, introduce passive voice as a tool to maintain objectivity, and often use simple sentences to convey their ideas --Abstract, page iii

Joint Projects and Assessments of Chemical Engineering Units: An Approach to Enhance Student Learning

The ability to apply knowledge of basic science and engineering fundamentals associated with each and every subject learnt in their undergraduate program is an essential attribute of the chemical engineering graduate. Even though principles of chemical engineering are distributed across the units from first to fourth year, a chemical engineer should be able to relate all these principles to solve chemical engineering problems. However, relating these principles and drawing parallels between these subjects is not an easy task unless during their undergraduate study, a chemical engineering student was given training in doing projects involving principles across a variety of units. In view of the above necessity, chemical engineering at Curtin University has implemented combined projects and joint assessments between two units which not only provides an avenue for students to experience relating concepts they learnt from different units, but also reduces the work load for both teaching staff and students. In this paper, two experiences of having combined projects and joint assessments between units in chemical engineering program are presented and discussed

Process Flow Diagram of an Ammonia Plant as a Complex Network

Complex networks have attracted increasing interests in almost all disciplines of natural and social sciences. However, few efforts have been afforded in the field of chemical engineering. We present in this work an example of complex technological network, investigating the process flow of an ammonia plant (AP). We show that the AP network is a small-world network with scale-free distribution of degrees. Adopting Newman's maximum modularity algorithm for the detection of communities in complex networks, evident modular structures are identified in the AP network, which stem from the modular sections in chemical plants. In addition, we find that the resultant AP tree exhibits excellent allometric scaling.Comment: 15 pages including 4 eps figure