(436d) Efficiently Expanding A Unit Operations Laboratory

Part of the continuous improvement process common to all chemical engineering programs is the need to update and improve laboratory experiences for undergraduate students. At the University of Kentucky Extended Campus in Paducah, much of the existing equipment is bench scale due to space constraints not uncommon to engineering programs. Most lab space is single-story with limited utility capacity. Existing equipment is fairly new (less than 10 years old), but consists of prefabricated experiments purchased from educational laboratory suppliers.

One particular area of concern to faculty in the chemical engineering program was the lack of a larger scale heat transfer experiment. The existing experiment included a shell and tube exchanger with a tube length of about four inches and diameter of three inches. Upgrading this experiment to facilitate the program's drive to incorporate laboratory experiences throughout the curriculum was a priority, but budget and space constraints were a concern. The first part of this paper describes the process leading to purchase and installation of an industrial scale heat exchanger at a ?bargain? price using modern alternative purchase sources (i.e. internet-based brokers and auction houses). Reminders of key considerations in the selection/specification process and infrastructure requirements when selecting an exchanger for educational use will be discussed. The second part of this paper describes why we believe the shell and tube heat exchanger to be the single most valuable investment that can be made in an undergraduate laboratory. Experiments useful in classes from introductory course to process control will be presented, with details provided for selected experiments. This includes standard heat transfer experiments in addition to experiments and applied design opportunities in process control, fluid dynamics, mass balances, thermodynamics, and equilibrium staged separations. A selection of previously published laboratory experiences are cited to supplement the novel applications provided.