(96c) Process Risk Simulation As a Source to Enhance Process Safety Education

Chemical processes are becoming increasingly complex, requiring engineering graduates to comprehend inherent safety risks to ensure safer design and operations. Traditional chemical engineering curricula fail to emphasize inherent safety risks in process design and operations. Internships and cooperative education (co-op) programs provide invaluable practical experience. However, students lack the necessary knowledge to use such practical experience best. To overcome this challenge, this study employs an Inherent Process Risk Index (IPRI) framework (Qian et al., 2024) to simulate process risk on a conventional simulation tool, Aspen Plus v14, for inclusion into the chemical engineering curriculum. Students can actively learn to identify, assess, and mitigate process risks in authentic industrial scenarios by participating in project-based learning (PBL) activities, which the authors have tested in a classroom environment. The results show that using PBL IPRI teaching enhances students' overall learning experience of inherent safety from 5% to 55%. Through this practical method, students can become proficient in identifying risk, which promotes critical thinking and problem-solving abilities. This framework closes the development gap in process safety competency and equips upcoming engineers for safer and more sustainable chemical process operations through experiential learning.