If we analyse some of the specific skills of Chemical Engineering degree, and it would not be very different in other disciplines of engineering, the verbs design, analyse or simulate stand out above all. In essence, calculating is an intrinsic activity for the engineer and, therefore, for engineering students.How is this activity developed? When we face a real problem we translate it into mathematical language (modelling). We solve the resulting mathematical problem to obtain the mathematical solution (simulation). The analysis of the results allows us to extract information from the real problem. If the interpretation of the results does not fit with the real problem studied, we must rethink the mathematical model obtained, and so on.Teachers often restrict the real problems that students face to simple situations so that the resulting mathematical problem is simple and, if possible, provides an analytical solution. Why should we do this today if we have numerical methods, a big computing power and mathematical software available to our students? Examples of complex mathematical problems arise from analysis and design of heat exchangers, chemical reactors, distillation columns, etc, both in steady and transitory regimes. These mathematical problems can be classified in groups: solving algebraic equations, ordinary differential equations or partial differential equations systems.According to this classification, some teachers of the Chemical Engineering degree at Campus of Alcoy are providing our students with Matlab guide templates to solve these types of mathematical problems, regardless of the subjects in which these problems appear. This action makes it easier for students to face real problems by reducing the mathematical difficulties associated.This paper shows how these Matlab guide templates are and how students use them in different subjects. It allows students to focus on the engineering aspect of the processes, leaving the difficulty of the associated mathematical problem in a second plane. It also makes easy to modify process parameters to quickly see the effect on the main variables of the process (what if? analysis). Consequently, students improve their ability to analyse and interpret the results obtained and their critical thinking skills. And, finally, they know useful computer tools that can be used both academically and professionally.
An important issue in any academic degree is to develop a high level of vertical/horizontal coordination between the different subjects taught along the four courses. This activity takes into account the coordination of the contents and methodologies that the teachers teach and the students acquire, the timing when the students learn them and the homework/exams that they do. As a result, both teachers and students gain an overall view of the degree and the teaching-learning process improves.According to this idea, the teachers of the Chemical Engineering degree at Campus of Alcoy are participating in an Educational Innovation and Improvement Project (PIME) for applying the projectbased learning (PBL) methodology to the design of an adsorption system for the elimination of dyes in wastewater from the textile industry. This work is scheduled along the four courses and is distributed between some of the core subjects that the students attend. The adsorption column design is partially solved in each subject and the results obtained in one subject are used in the following. As a result, the project is completed sequentially throughout the degree applying a methodology based on teamwork.This paper shows the activities proposed in different subjects, their timing and assessments during four courses. These activities include laboratory work for obtaining adsorption equilibrium and adsorption kinetics experimental data together with column dynamic performance. Other activities belong to the modelling and simulation domain for establishing the mathematical equations corresponding to the different phenomena linked to adsorption. Also, there are activities focused on experimental data treatment for estimating the parameters characterizing the adsorption isotherms or mass transfer coefficients. Finally, other activities are devoted to the column design and control, cost estimation, and oral/writing communication of the work done by the students.
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