6/25/2024
Breathing new life into the Unit Ops Lab
Big things are happening in Noyes Laboratory. Literally, big things: a 6,000 square foot teaching laboratory space is currently under construction, which will soon be home to the ChBE Unit Operations Lab and new teaching labs for the Chemistry department.
Unit Operations Lab is one of the capstone courses for ChBE undergraduate students, where seniors put all the knowledge they learned in core chemical engineering, chemistry, math and physics courses to use in a hands-on environment. They learn how to use equipment for experiments and how to operate certain processes – for example, performing polymer extrusions or distillation. Although students will have had labs in their chemistry and physics courses, the Unit Ops course is the first time they can apply their chemical engineering training in an experiential way.
The current Unit Ops lab is located on the ground floor of Roger Adams Laboratory, which was built in the late 1940s. The lab has been renovated several times since then but remains a fairly outdated space, said School of Chemical Sciences Director and chemical engineering professor Paul J. A. Kenis. Since Noyes Lab is already dedicated to teaching spaces, moving the Unit Ops lab across the street made a lot of sense.
"We realized there was an opportunity because we do have most of our teaching labs for chemistry across the street in Noyes Lab, which is also the building where our chemical engineering students take many of their courses," Kenis said.
Moving the Unit Ops lab to Noyes also frees up much needed space for faculty research labs in Roger Adams Laboratory. Kenis noted that the number of faculty has almost doubled in the past decade to keep pace with the growing student body.
"They need space to do their research, and we have to accommodate that pretty much within the same footprint right now," he said.
In Noyes, the new lab space has banks of large windows that let in natural light and will be outfitted with modern equipment and features. Kenis anticipates the new space will have two major impacts for students.
“One, a much more inspiring environment,” Kenis said. “A bright, open lab with modern equipment, instead of a lab that’s in a basement area. Second, a modernized set of experiments and equipment, including a digital control system that operates remotely some of the experiments throughout the lab.”
Experiments and Equipment
New and upgraded experiments are a key element of the lab project.
“As part of this effort, we – that is, the ChBE teaching staff as well as our lab manager – have taken a critical review of all of our current experiments and equipment, to see to what extent we want to rejuvenate, upgrade or replace those experiments,” he said. “Whether we want to add other experiments that are more contemporary to expose our students to state-of-the-art chemical engineering processes.”
Redesigning the Experiments
Learn about some of the changes planned for the Unit Ops experiments:
An essential part of the Unit Ops equipment upgrade plan is a new distributed control system, which was recently received and installed. The DCS will play a role in most of the lab experiments by demonstrating the application of modern control systems in a chemical plant, enabling remote monitoring of experiments, and providing a hands-on facility for teaching process control.
In this separations experiment, students study the effect of changing parameters, such as the feed flow rate and reflux ratio, on the distillate and bottoms compositions. In the current setup, every aspect of the column is controlled manually and compositions are obtained with an analog refractometer, all not reflective of a typical industrial environment. The setup in the new space will be revised to include the peripherals needed for integration with the new Distributed Control System (DCS), which also will ensure that all process safety aspects such as heat management, static electricity and flammability are being considered, and all safety requirements are being met.
Our current outdated equipment was designed for a liquid-liquid extraction that involved a solvent unsuitable for a teaching environment. Currently, students study how varying parameters such as the mineral oil flowrate affect the partitioning of tert-butanol between mineral oil and water phases and monitor the process by analyzing manually obtained samples using an analog refractometer. We plan to develop a new gas-liquid separation experiment involving carbon dioxide absorption using aqueous methyl-ethyl amine solutions, like the existing industrial process. This setup will be fully integrated with the DCS to control the flowrates of the liquid and gas phases and to monitor extraction rates. Dealing with a closed system that involves pumps and compressors will also teach students how to minimize the risk of component failure with the proper pressure relief mechanisms.
Our current experiment employs two setups: one for aerobic fermentation and the other for anaerobic fermentation. Outdated equipment and manual data collection makes it difficult to run fermentations for the extended periods necessary to fully characterize the process. In the new lab, we hope to have multiple fermentation setups, each equipped with analytical equipment to monitor pH, dissolved oxygen, temperature and optical density. These setups will be connected to the DCS, enabling students to run multi-day fermentation experiments that can be monitored remotely. Automated and more precise measurement of parameters can be performed on-site and remotely, which streamlines the fermentation experiment and more closely resembles the way fermentation is operated in plants.
In the current experiment, we use clay pellets and cotton balls hydrated with water as a substitute for agricultural feed. Students measure the temperature and relative humidity and use this data to calculate the drying rates and transport coefficients of the drying process. Our plan for the new space is to install and augment our tray dryer system, including working with the manufacturer to connect the current operation system with the DCS. We also need to further augment the dryer effluent duct and sensors to enhance monitoring. We hope to introduce additional drying experiments that will enable us to demonstrate how to safely handle flammable dusts and powders in a controlled environment with negligible risk.
Some of the experiments will require hardware upgrades, and some will require purchase of brand new equipment. Equipment costs, added to construction costs, means that the project is an expensive one. Kenis said that there are many opportunities for companies and individuals to support the project, ranging from large naming gifts to small unrestricted gifts that can help offset more minor costs.
“Covering costs for the overall project is significant,” Kenis said. “But separately from that, we have made some decisions to purchase new equipment or additional equipment. And that's what we definitely need: funding help to make those new experiments happen.”
The new lab is slated to be available for courses in Fall 2025, though Kenis hopes to be able to have students start using some of the new experiments in Spring 2025. Once complete, the new lab will expose students to equipment and processes similar to what they will find in real world plants.
"Having a state-of-the-art Unit Operations lab is one of the corner pieces of preparing students well for their their careers," Kenis said.
A student's perspective on the Unit Ops Lab
Recent graduate Sydney Nelson (BS 24) answers questions about her experience as a senior in ChBE's Unit Ops Laboratory course
Alumnus gift supports Unit Ops Lab project
A major gift from alumnus Paul E. Morrisroe (MS 71) has helped to launch the project to renovate and upgrade the Unit Operations Laboratory.