Experiences with CDIO in an integrated Product- and Process Design Course Nicolas von Solms, Martin E. Vigild, Jan-Dierk Grunwaldt, Søren Kiil and Karsten H. Clement Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, 2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark

Outline Introduction What is Product Design? What is Process Design? How can CDIO help us teach/integrate these topics? Experiences from 3 semesters of teaching Future plans for the course

Introduction All B.Eng. courses at DTU should follow CDIO Product and Process Design final semester course for B.Eng. in Chemical Engineering Final project should integrate curriculum with Reaction Engineering and Process Control Process Design is a traditional chemical engineering capstone course done in teams (predates CDIO) Product Design is a new, non-traditional course, where DTU has a strong focus Individual evaluation is a requirement from the university Courses at DTU taught in 4-hour blocks (5 ECTS points). This course is 2 x 4 hour blocks (10 ECTS points) – all day on a Wednesday for 13 weeks

What is Product Design? For us (chemical engineers), products are items defined by their functionality rather than their composition. We can design/improve them using our chemical engineering skills A bulk chemical – we do this, but the stuff from L’Air Liquide is the same as the stuff from Air Products A bit more iffy – the composition is complex, but petrol from Shell is essentially the same as that from Total Definitely a product – not so much Chem E in it … or? A mobile phone battery is a product where Chem E skills could help

Products in Chemical Engineering

What is Process Design? Design of a tons/year plant producing cumene from benzene and propene Benzene Propene Cumene PDIPB Benzene Propene Benzene Propene Cumene PDIPB Part 1. Overall process flowsheet – teams of 4-5 Relatively low detail level

What is Process Design? Reactor Distillation Column Heat Exchanger Part 2. Individual design of major unit operations Project defined by outcome of project 1 All designs necessarily unique Part 3. Economic analysis of process (back in teams)

What is Process Design? Group 1Group 2Group 3Group 4Group 5… Project 1 Project 2a Project 2b Project 2c Project 2d Project 3 Students form informal groups cutting across the assigned groups

Product vs. Process Design

How can CDIO help us teach/integrate these topics? 1. The chemical engineering ”capstone” design project has long embodied many CDIO principles: Working in groups Importance of interpersonal skills and communication Open-ended projects with ill-defined solutions 2. CDIO standard 3 – Integrated Curriculum Process DesignProcess Control Reaction Engineering Project which ”weaves” around disciplines

Reactor How can CDIO help us teach/integrate these topics? 2. CDIO standard 3 – Integrated Curriculum Distillation Column Process Design → Reaction Engineering Process Design → Process Control

How can CDIO help us teach/integrate these topics? 3. CDIO standard 7 – Integrated Learning Experience How does catalyst design influence our process?

5. CDIO standard 8 – Active Learning Actually make and/or test a product in the innovation lab Simulate industrial process on a real industrial software tool How can CDIO help us teach/integrate these topics? 4. CDIO standard 6 – CDIO workspaces Actually make and/or test a product in the innovation lab Hempel Student Innovation Lab at DTU Chemical Engineering 6. CDIO standard 9 – Enhancement of Faculty CDIO skills

Experiences from 3 semesters of the course What students liked The interactive way the course is taught The use of real-life software tools The teaching method of lectures broken with problem-solving sessions Working in groups Focus on project work

Experiences from 3 semesters of the course What students liked less Some students felt that the day became too long – especially in process design Some felt that the product design was too open-ended The connection between the two disciplines was lacking Applying chemical engineering tools to products from daily life was a challenge for many students

Future of the Course Actually implement the ideas in this presentation Especially try to improve CDIO standard 7 – Integrated Learning Experience (i.e. closer integration of product and process design)