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