An Introductory Chemical Engineering Course Based on Analogies And Research-Based Learning

Lesson Plan from the year 2016 in the subject Didactics - Chemistry, , course: Introduction to Chemical Engineering, language: English, abstract: This course serves as an introduction to concepts used in the analysis of chemical engineering problems. Based on analogies and research-based learning, it is intended to provide freshmen a global overview of the field of chemical engineering and help them visualize the elementary principles of Transport phenomena, Thermodynamics, Energy conservation and Energy efficiency. The Learning outcomes of the course are related to the following chapters: (1) Electricity, (2) Fluid Dynamics, (3) Heat Transfer, (4) Mass Transfer & Solubility, (5) Thermodynamics, (6) Energy efficiency. For every chapter, the teaching strategy followed the three main steps: (a) a basic introduction of the theory, (b) similitude with the selected Analogy, (d) research-based learning: lab experiments or class activities and (e) a conclusion. The main goal of this paper is to show that the use of analogies can be a very helpful tool in order to build a strong engineering foundation for freshmen who lack high school scientific background. To help students shift from the imaginary of the five analogies utilized in the course to the real pictures of some engineering concepts, the similarity to the analogy is followed by a simple lab experiment or a class activity. The final chapter of this course is related to energy efficiency to explain to freshmen who lack scientific background that their attitude could make them more efficient and lead them to success.

Zin Eddine Dadach obtained his Bachelor's degree in Refining and Petro-chemistry from the Algerian Institute of Petroleum in 1980. He received his Master's degree in Chemical Engineering from Stevens Institute of Technology (Hoboken, N.J.; USA) in 1984. In a pioneering research study, experimental data for the absorption rates of CO2, H2S, and a mixture of both in hindered amine, 2-amino-2-methyl-1-propanol (AMP) aqueous solutions (0.03 M, 0.1 M, 0.2 M and 0.3 M) were investigated for the first time. Dr. Dadach obtained his Ph.D. degree in Chemical Engineering from Laval University (Quebec, Canada) in 1994. In the dissertation work, Markov chains and Monte Carlo technique were used to stochastically simulate glucose yield during cellulose acid hydrolysis by using model compound cellobiose and cotton crystallinity data. Simulation results were compared to experimental data. He worked in an organic materials department at the Osaka National Research Institute (Osaka, Japan) for two years where he developed a FORTRAN program on Markov analysis of DNA sequences of psbA genes of Synechocystis PCC 6803 in order to determine which genes might be responsible for divergent behavior of transcription in response to light intensity. Since he joined the Higher Colleges of Technology (Abu Dhabi, UAE) in 2005, Dr. Dadach has developed active learning strategies to enhance the intrinsic motivation of students. In a recent published article, he presented a new tool to quantify the effects of an active learning strategy on the motivation of students. He supervised a number of student's final industrial projects including Stripper High Differential Pressure, Sea water back pressure tower foaming, Effluent system salt formation, Carbon Capture and Storage strategies, Hysys simulation of chemical processes, and exergy analysis of power generation plants