Unit Operations Lab
The department鈥檚 well-equipped Unit Operations Laboratory includes modules of major process units to support undergraduate instruction in the core areas of thermodynamics, fluids, separation, heat and mass transport, reaction engineering, and process control.
There can be two stages of designing a chemical processing plant. In the 鈥渓ab-scale鈥 development stage, chemical reactions and 鈥process parameters can be initially tested and optimized while 鈥using small batch amounts of material. The next stage, that 鈥is the 鈥減ilot-scale鈥 may require flow systems with 鈥pumps, pipes and flow-through vessels while incorporating 鈥safety mechanisms, data acquisition from sensors 鈥and process control algorithms. The final stage would then 鈥be full-scale deployment in an industrial setting. Pilot-scale 鈥equipment allows chemical engineering students to operate 鈥equipment that is has similar attributes as industrial scale 鈥equipment.
Continuous Distillation Column
鈥Total reflux distillation Column
鈥Dual packed columns for gas absorption
鈥Packed column for gas absorption
鈥Double-pipe heat exchanger
鈥Double-Effect evaporator
鈥Liquid-Liquid extraction column
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Fundamentals of Chemical Engineering鈥
鈥The core subject areas of chemical engineering are thermodynamics, fluid mechanics,鈥 heat and mass transfer, chemical reactions and process control. We provide鈥 educational lab equipment so that students can enhance their understanding of鈥 these foundational concepts.
Continuous Stirred Tank Reactor
Isothermal Batch Chemical Reactor
鈥Flow, Level and Temperature Process Control鈥
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Vapor-Compression refrigeration
鈥Evaporative Cooling Tower
Fluid mechanics through piping system
Rotational viscometer
Steady-State convective heat transfer unit
Steady-state conductive heat transfer unit
Fluid mechanics of tank draining
Fluidized Bed
Tray Dryer for heat and mass transfer
Pool Boiling
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Chemical engineering students can learn how to deploy state-of-the-art technologies鈥 for process control and automation. We have various hardware platforms that are鈥 currently utilized by industry. These skills are in high demand as we manufacture鈥 high-value products domestically in America.
National Instruments hardware & LabVIEW software
鈥Programmable Logic Controllers: Allen-Bradely, Siemens, Arduino and Automation Direct
Arduino boards & sensors
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鈥P.I.D. temperature control and machine learning
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Flow, Level and temperature process control station
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Chemical engineering students can gain the skills needed for producing and testing 鈥drinking water. In our lab, we have water purification systems, water treatment apparatus 鈥and multiple instruments to analyze the quality of drinking water.
Ultrapure water filtration
Reverse/Forward osmosis membrane filtration
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Rotary vacuum filtration for water treatment
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Benchtop acid/base chemical reactor
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Water distiller
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Benchtop water conductivity sensor
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Benchtop water dissolved oxygen sensor
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Benchtop water pH sensor
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Handheld water turbidity sensor
UV-Vis spectrophotometer
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鈥Hydrometer for water sedimentation studies
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Easy-to-learn software and low-cost fabrication devices make it relatively easy for individuals 鈥to bring their ideas to reality. We have in our lab a few 3-D printers and a laser鈥 cutter that can be used for rapid prototyping of solid objects. In addition, we have鈥 an electro spinner for making engineered surface layers.
Bambu Lab P1S 3D Printer
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Bambu Lab X1-Carbon 3D Printer
Formlabs 鈥4鈥 3D Printer
Epilog Laser Cutter
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鈥嬧赌Spingenix SG100 Electrospinner
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