To start off with our biweekly questions:
What are you favorite chemical engineering classes?
What is it that you like about them?
Looking forward to your response!
To start off with our biweekly questions:
What are you favorite chemical engineering classes?
What is it that you like about them?
Looking forward to your response!
Purdue & NUS AIChE 
Hi!
As a chemical engineering student, I enjoy process control and safety modules. These are indeed the most useful skills that a chemical engineer should acquire. By exploring to the typical process control system applied in industry, I can sharpen my critical thinking skill. Different control system should be applied for different controlling purposes and the operation condition. For instance, the flow controller in reboiler’s steam line is always installed as cascade control of the temperature controller. This is because there might be fluctuation at the steam supply which may impact on the temperature of distillation column, resulting in offspec and eventually impact the downstream process.
Process safety is the most crucial part in industry to ensure a safe working environment. LOPA, fault tree analysis, risk assessment, etc are useful tool to eliminate or minimize the presence of hazards. By having background knowledge of the process control i.e critical condition that should be control to prevent plant upset, we are able to design a safety system to prevent tragedy to happen.
All in all, I enjoy most of the classes as they are really interesting. For future-to-be chemical engineers in Purdue, do you have any interesting module you want to share with us? =)
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Thank you for your response!
Of all the chemical engineering classes I have taken so far, my favorite would have to be thermodynamics. Thermodynamics is perhaps one of the most important (and hardest) classes in any chemical engineering curriculum. Understanding how fundamental thermodynamics properties such as temperature, pressure, energy, and work all relate to one another is critical to the success of any chemical engineer. This understanding allows students to not only gain a better grasp of the underlying concepts of various chemical process but also to solve problems on a wide array of different systems, ranging from simple closed systems such as a piston-cylinder to the large, multi-step open systems found in industry. Using the strategies I have learned in thermodynamics, I can break down any complex chemical engineering problem into smaller pieces that make it easier to solve. Solving a complex homework problem after spending a couple hours on it is unbelievably satisfying and is the reason why thermodynamics is by far my favorite chemical engineering course (even if it makes me want to pull my hair out at times 🙂 ).
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