Duration
120h Proj.
Number of credits
| Bachelor of Science (BSc) in Engineering | 5 crédits |
Lecturer
Language(s) of instruction
English language
Organisation and examination
Teaching in the first semester, review in January
Schedule
Units courses prerequisite and corequisite
Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program
Learning unit contents
With a practical and also tasty example, distillation and fermentation are experienced as classical unit operations in this schnapps project.
In a team with around 4 groups, all steps of the process from the fruit to the drinkable distillate are compiled, planned and realized. Depending on legal aspects, aroma components may alternatively be extracted from fruit with tax-paid alcohol, which is then distilled.
The focus of the team is not only on the chemical engineering details, but also on economic aspects, the legal basis with permission by the customs authority and taxation of the spirits, the project planning, and above all the teamwork realizing the process steps.
Different from ordinary lectures, the required knowledge is to be compiled by the students themselves, which for this example is readily available.
The communication between the groups of the team is organized via presentations, in which the status of all groups is presented at each team meeting. The documentation of the progress is realized via a webpage. An excursion to a local distillery is possible. Apart from the gained experience the students obtain a little bottle of liquor as reward and a certificate.
See www.chemeng.uliege.be/schnapps for further impressions from previous years.
Learning outcomes of the learning unit
At the end of the course, students are able to practically apply chemical-engineering knowledge to practical examples. They are aware of potential difficulties and problems that may arise in project work and have learned practical strategies to solve such challenges. They have learned and perfected the soft skills team work, project management, budget planning, giving presentations, dealing with safety and legal aspects of their work.
Finally the students learn to overcome their reservation to express themselves in English in a 'friendly' atmosphere.
Prerequisite knowledge and skills
No prerequisite
Planned learning activities and teaching methods
The course is based on project work, which is guided via presentations and discussions with the supervisors (10h).
Presentations by the supervisors give a brief introduction to various aspects of the different soft skills mentioned.
The overall work load corresponds to 5 ECTS, i.e. 150 work hours, mostly self-motivated team work.
Mode of delivery (face-to-face ; distance-learning)
team work, project work, face-to-face presentations on soft skills
Recommended or required readings
Assessment methods and criteria
The overall success of the team will be evaluated based on organoleptic analysis of the products. The grading will be influenced by a self-evaluation of the students among each other according to defined criteria. The weight of the self-evaluation will be adjusted so as to guarantee fair and just grading.
Work placement(s)
Organizational remarks
The course will to a large part be supervised in English. Internal communication during the self-motivated work can of course be in French.
Contacts
Andreas Pfennig
PEPs - Products, Environment, and Processes
Department of Chemical Engineering
University of Liège
Quartier Agora, Allée du six Aout 11, Bâtiment B6c, office 1/66
phone: +32 4 366-3521
e-mail: andreas.pfennig@uliege.be
www.chemeng.uliege.be/Pfennig