PROJ0012-1

Duration

20h Th, 270h Proj., 1d FW

Number of credits

	Master of Science (MSc) in Chemical and Materials Engineering	10 crédits

Lecturer

Marie-Noëlle Dumont, Samuel Gendebien, Nathalie Job, Grégoire Léonard, Angélique Léonard, Andreas Pfennig, Dominique Toye

Language(s) of instruction

English language

Organisation and examination

All year long, with partial in January

Schedule

Schedule online

Units courses prerequisite and corequisite

Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program

Learning unit contents

Students will study an industrial process centered on the manufacture of a chemical as an illustration of integrated project. Students will work in groups of about 7-10 students on topics selected by the teaching team. This project will be sub-divided into 5 main parts:

Part 1 : Mass balances, short literature review, consolidation of results in groups and project planning
First, students will individually study mass balances of the process, based on literature assumptions provided by the teachers. They will use spreadsheet (Excel) to build stream tables for the studied chemical process. They will also perform an individual literature review in order to get a good overview of their process. In total, this part should last 1 month.

Part 2: detailed models for thermodynamics; kinetics & reactors; separation units
Students will work in sub-groups on specific chemical engineering tasks, e.g. reaction engineering and kinetics, separation engineering, thermodynamic modeling and energy balances, heat exchanger design... In this part, students will study with more details the critical physical unit operations that assemble to give the manufacturing processes. Based on justified assumptions, they will build robust simulation models that they need to validate. This part will require interaction between the sub-groups as the expected models are interdependent. This part will last about 2 months (October-December).

Part 3: Sensitivity studies on models and exchange of topics between groups
In the third part lasting about one month in February, students will switch sub-groups and will use the simulation models built in the second part in order to perform sensitivity studies to assess key process parameters and evaluate their impact on the unit operation results. They will use this opportunity to discuss about model validation.

Part 4: Process integration into one model and extended literature review
During this fourth part, running for about two months from March to end of April, students will build a global flowsheet of the process and optimize its topology. They will apply heat integration techniques and work towards optimization of the process operating conditions. They will also initiate first steps towards life cycle thinking. They will also perform a preliminary techno-economical assessment of the process. Finally, students will also initiate a literature review that will challenge the process assumptions made in the first semester (process flowsheet, operating conditions...) as well as the results obtained in the project. They will study the literature to validate these assumptions and possibly identify alternative manufacturing pathways as well as product replacement solutions. This literature study will consider the process in a broader society overview, including the assessment of the product environmental footprint, raw materials use, market conditions, recyclability, toxicity, cost...

Part 5: Extended literature review and report for general audience
Finally, in the last part (about two weeks beginning of May), the students will complete the literature review initiated in Part 4. They will also gather the project results into a 15-page article to be published on the Chemical Engineering Department's website (www.chemeng.uliege.be/cms/c_4912130/en/integrated-project-m1). They will also present their results in a way that can be understood by people who did not follow them all year long. This presentation will be done in front of the members of the Chemical Engineering Department in the presence of industrial experts.

In addition to the technical skills, students will receive support and coaching from the ULiège's Soft Skills team in order to improve their soft skills such as team work, project management and positioning within the team structure...

Learning outcomes of the learning unit

The goal of the integrated project is to consolidate technical knowledge and to promote the acquisition of soft skills by integrating and linking chemical engineering disciplines usually taught separately.

Technical skills:

Consolidate technical knowledge by integrating and linking the different disciplines of chemical engineering and integrate these disciplines within one unique project.
Acquire critical thinking and ability to challenge and validate assumptions made. This includes the acquisition of a gut feeling for orders of magnitude typical of engineers.
Address complex and multi-disciplinary topics centered on chemical industry.
Develop knowledge about current hot topics in chemical engineering and increase the awareness about the role of science & technology in society.

In parallel to technical skills, the students will train their soft skills:

Ability to work in large groups (between 6-10 students, random selection of members).
Management of project and deadlines.
Writing of technical reports in English, with written feed-back from teachers after each report.
Communication to scientific and non-scientific audience: technical presentations to teachers, and final presentation to a larger audience with general engineering background.
Communication in English, written and oral (all group members must talk).

This course contributes to the learning outcomes I.1, I.2, II.1, II.2, II.3, III.1, III.2, III.3, IV.1, IV.2, IV.3, IV.4, IV.5, V.1, V.2, V.3, VI.1, VI.2, VI.3, VI.4, VII.1, VII.2, VII.3, VII.4, VII.5, VII.6 of the MSc in chemical and material science engineering.

Prerequisite knowledge and skills

Basics of chemical engineering (transport phenomena, chemical thermodynamics, physical unit operation design, catalysis, process modelling ...) are required. All these skills can be acquired within the Bachelor in Engineering, Chemical Engineering option, at the University of Liège.

Planned learning activities and teaching methods

The project will be initiated during two kick-off meetings at the start of the semester.
After that, office hours with Teaching assistants and/or coordinating professor (G.Léonard) will be organized. Meetings between students and professors responsible for the different sub-tasks are also encouraged, based on appointments initiated by students in sub-groups.

About once a month, plenary sessions will be organized for students to present the progress of their group work (one presentation per large group) to all professors. Oral feed-back will be given by professors.

At the end of each part, an oral presentation and/or an intermediary report (format described in the assignments) will be delivered by students. At the end of each semester, it is required that all students have orally participated to at least one presentation.

Technical and soft skills feedbacks will be provided all year long by teachers and ULiège's Soft Skills Team. In addition, throughout the year, expert presentations will be organized by professors, and initiatives from students to organize such meetings are encouraged.

Mode of delivery (face to face, distance learning, hybrid learning)

Blended learning

Additional information:

Presentations by academic and industrial experts, workshop and group work, written and oral feedback on deliverables, face-to-face meetings with professors, plenary sessions, office hours.

Work placement(s)

Organizational remarks

Course delivered in English. Calendar of the year will be presented at the first kick-off that takes place during the first week of the academic year. Kick-off date for 2022-2023 (face-to-face meeting): Wednesday September 14, 10.00 AM in room S2 (B7a). Latest timetable and room updates will be in the calendar document on the shared drive communicated to all students at the kick-off and/or on Ecampus.

Attendance to all technical as well as soft skills events is mandatory.

Contacts

Grégoire Léonard. g.leonard@uliege.be
Marie-Noëlle Dumont. mn.dumont@uliege.be
Nathalie Job, Nathalie.Job@uliege.be
Angélique Léonard, A.Leonard@uliege.be
Andreas Pfennig, Andreas.Pfennig@uliege.be
Dominique Toye, Dominique.Toye@uliege.be
Samuel Gendebien, sgendebien@uliege.be
Marc Philippart de Foy, marc.philippartdefoy@uliege.be

Integrated Project