A virtual platform to teach separation processes

In the present paper, a Visual Basic program was developed by describing the set of equations required to determine the value of seven different psychrometric properties (partial pressure of water vapor, absolute humidity, percentage humidity, relative humidity, dew point temperature, humid heat, humid volume or adiabatic saturation temperature) for mixtures of water vapor in air given the dry bulb temperature, the total atmospheric pressure and one additional parameter. Eight different cases are studied according to the corresponding input parameters. ß 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Comput Appl Eng Educ 24:39-43, 2016; View this article online at wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/cae;

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Estimation of psychrometric parameters of vapor water mixtures in air

Beltrán-Prieto

Nguyen

2015

“…These are classic operations in chemical industries since, frequently, the preparation of raw materials or the separation of products, either before or after the reactions, require a combination of them. A detailed description of the contents, simulators, as well as case studies in this topic can be found in a previous work . The Chemical Reaction's section covers many aspects of the chemical reaction science, the modeling and design of reactors for both homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysis.…”

Section: Description Of Labvirtualmentioning

confidence: 99%

LABVIRTUAL—A platform for the teaching of chemical engineering: The use of interactive videos

Granjo

Rasteiro

2018

This article focus on the pedagogical tools in LABVIRTUAL (http://labvirtual.eq.uc.pt), a broad scope virtual platform intended to support the learning at the undergraduate level of Chemical Engineering courses, mainly in Portuguese‐speaking countries. The platform contains fundamentals, case studies, simulators, virtual laboratories, and, recently, interactive videos for the teaching of chemical processes. The significance and impact of LABVIRTUAL are illustrated with an interactive video regarding the characterization of nanoparticles by dynamic light scattering, developed for long‐distance learning and used in the discipline of Technology of Disperse Systems. Furthermore, two questionnaires were prepared to assess the students’ response to the interactive video and the use of LABVIRTUAL in general. The results show that the interactive video is effective to prepare the laboratory work and guide the students’ self‐regulated study, but needs to be complemented with other pedagogical methods to enhance the learning outcomes. LABVIRTUAL is generally viewed as a valuable learning tool by the students of Separation Processes and Project Design, 3rd and 5th year courses, respectively, of the Masters’ degree in Chemical Engineering of the University of Coimbra, due to the synergy of pedagogical tools that complement well the face‐to‐face classroom lectures. This fact also justifies the high number of monthly visits, including from companies that use the platform as a life‐long learning tool.

“…Process simulations have been successfully integrated into chemical engineering textbooks . Regarding the articles, the use of commercial and noncommercial process simulators with educational purpose has also been extensively reported . However, the details on how to use the simulator's capabilities for improving the students’ understanding are not always provided.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Achieving a better understanding of binary azeotropic mixtures distillation through Aspen Plus process simulations

Roman

García‐Morales

2019

Mass transfer operations are at the heart of every chemical engineering curriculum, as they are the basis of separation procedures extensively used in the chemical industry. Distillation, which involves mass transfer between vapor and liquid phases, is, by far, the most extended separation practice. However, the presence of azeotropes in most of the mixtures with industrial interest complicates the process analysis due to tedious and complex calculations, even in the simplest case of binary mixtures. Moreover, the need for recycle streams makes convergence and variables specification very difficult as compared with the separation of nonazeotropic mixtures. Initial training in process simulators results fundamentally in high‐quality chemical engineering teaching programs. It yields a better understanding of enhanced distillation and entails the use of professional tools highly demanded by employers. This paper reports how the use of the commercial simulator Aspen Plus can help students explore azeotropic distillation by their own, and thus enables looking into aspects which are beyond the scope of problems solved by hand.