Undergraduate Courses | Chemical Engineering

Basic concepts of material and energy balances, combined material and energy balances, balances on non-reactive and reactive processes, application of material and energy balances to unit operations.

Fluid properties, fluid statics, kinematics, fluid dynamics including mass, energy and momentum equations, dimensional analysis, laminar flow, turbulent flow and its applications, forces on immersed bodies, turbo-machines.

Laboratory experiments on fluid flow in pipes (flow measurement, friction and pressure drop), fluid properties, valves and pumps characteristics.

Structure of different kinds of chemical processes flow diagrams, basics of generating chemical process alternatives, chemical process descriptions, simultaneous material and energy balances using spreadsheet, symbolic programs and process simulators, manufacturing costs, impact of chemical engineering on society.

Structure of the chemical industry, oil refinery, crude distillation, synthesis gas, bulk chemicals, catalytic reactors, polymers, biotechnology, process development.

Environment and ecosystem, health issues, measures of water and air quality, water treatment, meteorology, air emission and treatment, solid waste, hazardous waste, engineering decision.

Fundamentals of Engineering materials, material-oriented problems, relationships between the microscopic and macroscopic properties of matter, use of atomistic models to explain and predict the behavior of solids and liquids.

Thermodynamic properties of homogeneous mixtures, partial molal properties, fugacity, ideal and non-ideal solutions, heat effects of mixing, excess properties, phase equilibrium, miscible systems, activity coefficient, Gibbs-Duhem Equations, chemical reactions equilibrium.

Fundamentals of chemical reaction kinetics. Analysis and design of batch, plug-flow and continuous stirred tank reactors. Reactor in series and in parallel. Conversion, rate Laws, stoichiometry for single and multiple reactions. Kinetics of isothermal and non-isothermal ideal reactors.

Theories and principles of corrosion and prevention, localized corrosion, pitting, crevice corrosion, cavitation, metallurgical factors, welding problems, material selection, stress corrosion, cracking corrosion, fatigue, inspection, nondestructive testing, water treatment for boilers and condensers, chemical cleaning flue gas attack, corrosion testing evaluation and simulation, corrosion monitoring and cathode protection.

The Heat Transfer course requires that students apply their knowledge of mathematics and science to real thermal engineering systems. In this course, an expansion of students engineering skills, developed in thermodynamics and fluid mechanics, is undertaken. Students are required to identify, formulate and solve thermal problems using a combination of mass and energy balances and energy rate equations. The course combines analytical techniques and design principles as applied to thermal systems. The students will have a full understanding of conduction, convection, radiation, condensation and boiling heat transfer and will be able to design a heat exchanger system.

Laboratory experiments on conduction, convection, radiation, dropwise and film condensation, nucleate and film boiling, and heat exchangers.

Molecular mass transport in fluids, transport phenomena and the basic equation of change, molecular mass transport in liquids, mass transport phenomena in solids, mass transfer coefficient in laminar and turbulent flow, interphase mass transport, continuous two-phase mass transport.

Derivation of general transport equations for momentum, heat and mass transfer, application and simplification of general equations to analysis of simple transfer operations, volume and time averaging of general equations, gas absorption, design of a gas absorption column.

Mathematical tools (linearization, Laplace transforms and block diagram algebra), process dynamics (first, second and higher orders), open loop and closed loop responses, and control valves, PID controller design, tuning and stability.

Laboratory experiments demonstrating the principles covered in 0640351, these include temperature, pressure, flow and concentration measuring devices, and process control simulation for typical chemical plants.

Development and solution of mathematical models of chemical engineering systems with emphasis on physical and chemical processes, topics covered: Model development including different transport mechanisms, types of process models, application of numerical techniques.

This course provides students with essential knowledge that they will subsequently apply in their capstone design course, description of the chemical process industries, product design, process creation, process assessment (health and safety, environmental protection, economic aspects), management of engineering projects, preparation of the design report, process heuristics, separation trees, pinch technology, heat exchanger networks, HAZOP.

Factors affecting choice of catalytic reactors. Pressure drop in packed bed reactors.

An introduction to liquid and gas chromatography, partition chromatography, gas chromatography apparatus, plate and rate theory of chromatography, resolution and efficiency, capillary column, temperature programming, high performance liquid chromatography.

The course begins with a general analysis of the concepts of binary and multicomponent separation processes in chemical engineering, it then covers analysis of equilibrium conditions, and thermodynamic equilibrium in ideal and non-ideal systems, the separation processes discussed are distillation (flash, batch, steam and multi-component), solid-liquid and liquid-liquid extractions, absorption, adsorption, and cooling towers

A laboratory course in mass transfer operations covering experiments on: distillation, leaching, vapor-liquid equilibrium, double-effect evaporator, cooling tower, absorption, and spray drying.

Characterization of solid particles and their classification, solid-liquid systems consisting of flow past a cylinder and sphere and flow of fluids through porous media, detailed study of sedimentation and fluidization phenomenon and their applications in the industry, filtration theory and practice, and filtration equipment, gas cleaning equipment, and centrifugal separations.

Equilibrium and flash calculations for multi-component systems, selection of separation processes, approximate methods for multi component multistage separations, exact methods for computation of multistage separations, energy requirements evolutionary and heuristic techniques for distillation columns synthesis, heat integrated columns, extractive distillation.

Introduction to simulation techniques in chemical engineering, development and solution of mathematical models for a variety of processes through the application of chemical engineering fundamentals, analytical and numerical solutions, computer simulation, principles of simulator structure, data banks, use of industrial simulator.

Introduction to problem structure and decomposition, functions and regions, single variable functions, multivariable functions, linear programming, geometric programming, dynamic programming.

The course covers the basic concept of water desalination and combines water chemistry, scaling, corrosion, heat transfer principles, material behavior, and design principles as applied to desalination processes. Attention is given to the thermal (flash, vapor compression) and non-thermal (reverse-osmosis, electro-dialysis) desalination techniques, water properties and quality criteria and standards as well as corrosion behavior and its control in desalination plants will be discussed.

Basics of enzyme kinetics and immobilization, basics of cell kinetics and cultivation, design of a simple enzyme reactor and a fermenter, methods of sterilization, downstream processes including purification and recovery.

Characterization of industrial wastes, petroleum refinery wastes, treatment processes, solid-liquid separation, ion exchange, adsorption, biological treatments, reverse osmosis, economics, regulations, moral, legal and social implications.

Sources, measurements and equipment design for removal of air pollutants, effects of air pollutants, dispersion of pollutants in the atmosphere, particulate matter and its control equipment, atmospheric photochemical reactions, instrumentation and emission testing equipment.

Characterization of natural gas systems, properties of natural gas systems, product specification, qualitative phase behavior, retrograde condensation, calculation of vapor-liquid equilibria and applications, design of multistage separation, water-hydrocarbon system-dehydration, overview of sweetening, gas preparation and liquefaction.

Refinery organization, refinery feed stocks and products, crude distillation, cracking and reforming, hydrotreating, alkylation, lubricating oils production, petroleum gases, hydro processing, product blending, environmental constraints on refinery products, term project using actual refinery data to be utilized for typical design calculation on the above operations.

Structure and physical properties of polymers, polymer solutions, analysis and testing of polymers, measurement of molecular weight, types of polymerization reactions, manufacture of polymers, process type of reactors, polymer processing, plastics, elastomers, properties of commercial polymers, thermoplastics and thermosetting resins.

Petroleum chemistry, occurrence, composition of crude oil, distillation, catalytic and thermal cracking, alkylation, hydrogenation, isomerization, polymerization, techniques and economics of the production of basic and intermediate petrochemicals as well as some end products.

Basic process principles, amine processes, carbonate processes, physical absorption methods, new amine-type processes, solid bed sweetening, liquid sweetening, sulfur production, tail gas conditioning.

Refrigeration systems, natural gas preparation and liquefaction, thermodynamic aspects of liquefaction, liquefaction plants, properties of LNG, vaporization losses and custody transfer.

Fundamentals of Rheology, polymer processing unit operations, basic principles of continuum mechanics, descriptive and analytical presentation of non-Newtonian fluid behavior, derive fundamental equations of viscometry, using extrusion as a prototype unit operation for showing how to synthesize design equations, models for other operations

Introduction, mathematical modeling, classification of models, model construction, decision making, linear programming (LP), formulations of LP, graphical solution for two-variable problems, algebraic solutions, the simplex method, sensitivity analysis, advanced topics in linear programming, Applications and case studies.

Introduction, preventing emergencies in the process industry, human error, identification and assessment of hazards, fires and explosions, hazard of plant modification, case studies in Kuwait, miscellaneous topics to be covered by invited lecturers.

Special topics to be selected by the department to address special areas of chemical engineering applications.

The capstone Chemical Engineering design course is run as a workshop in which small groups of students apply previously learned knowledge to design and cost a typical chemical plant, the exercise, which simulates real-life experience, involves the following elements: process selection, synthesis, screening of alternatives, safety and environmental issues, construction of a detailed flow sheet using a chemical process simulator, material and energy balances, conservation of material and energy flows, detailed design of equipment: size, construction details, materials of construction, instrumentation and control, process economics: capital cost estimation, manufacturing cost estimation, profit forecast, return on investment.

High pressure vessels, cylindrical vessels, spherical vessels, methods of fabrication, materials of construction, reasons for vessel failure, thin tanks, design of closures, tall vertical vessels, self-supported and guyed vessels, flanges, gaskets, pump and compressor selection, heat exchangers.

The student undertakes an independent project (theoretical and/or experimental) under the supervision of a faculty advisor, the objective is to provide the student with an opportunity to integrate and apply the knowledge gained throughout his courses in an actual problem, the student must document his study in a technical report and give an oral presentation.