This course teaches the fundamentals of process and chemical engineering. You will be given an overview of key aspects of the discipline. It appeals to people from a wide range of backgrounds. This includes those who would like to obtain a formal qualification in chemical engineering, who want to use the course as a step towards a professional degree qualification, who are interested in gaining a formal chemical engineering qualification as part of their continuing professional development and graduates of other disciplines whose work brings them into the sphere of chemical engineering. There is strong support from local and national employers in sectors such as bio/pharmaceuticals, food, drink, water, energy and environmental and technical services.

Click on any module code for a detailed module description.

You will be studying process and chemical engineering. This includes the fundamental principles of process engineering (fluid mechanics, heat transfer, mass transfer, thermodynamics) and also the applications of these principles (pumps and piping systems, flow measurement and sampling systems, heat exchanger design, energy conservation and integration, thermal process engineering, refrigeration, combustion, steam generation, combined heat and power plants, and a range of separation processes involving heat and mass transfer). The important area of powder technology (characterisation, storage, handling, dust control) is also covered, as is process instrumentation and control.

Course module are as follows: 

Year 1 Modules:

• PE1811: Introduction to Chemical Process Engineering (5 credits)
  Basic engineering computation, engineering units, SI units, dimensions and conversions, moles, molecular weights, basic chemical reactions and stoichiometry, chemical engineering heuristics. Block Flow Diagrams (BFD), Process Flow Diagrams (PFD), Piping & Instrumentation Diagrams (P&ID).
• PE1812: Material and Energy Balances (5 credits)
  Law of conservation of mass, open and cloased systems, system boundary, batch and continuous processes, material balance equations, material recycle. Law of conservation of energy, forms of energy, development of energy balance equations, process applications, reading and using steam tables.
• PE1813: Fluid Mechanics and Particle Processing (5 credits)
  Properties of fluids, compressible and incompressible, fluid statics, fluid dynamics. Pumps, fans, compressors, piping systems, flow measurement, sampling systems, Bernoulli's equation, design of pump-pipeline systems. Particle and powder characterisation, dust fires and explosions, dust separation and air pollution control, powder storage and transport.
• PE1814: Heat Transfer and Applied Thermodynamics (5 credits)
  Energy, entropy, work, 1st and 2nd laws of thermodynamics. Heat transfer principles, heat exchanger design, condensers. Refrigeration, cooling, chilled water systems, cooling towers, combustion, boilers, steam, CHP, generators. CO2 plant, N2 plant, HVAC.
• PE1815: Mass Transfer and Separation Processes (5 credits)
  Principles of mass transfer, phase equilibria, interphase mass transfer, distillation, absorption, solvent extraction, evaporation, drying, crystallization, adsorption, ion-exchange.
• PE1816: Process Control and Equipment Integrity (5 credits)
  Control theory, measurement and transducers, process control systems, automation in industry, S88 & Gamp4, advances in control systems. Materials of construction, mechanical properties of metals, polymers & ceramic materials, corrosion, emergency pressure relief & venting, welding of process vessels, safety & process fluid leakage.

Year 2 Modules:

• PE2802: Process Simulation and Optimisation and Occupational Health & Safety in the Process Industries (5 credits)
  Process optimisation and continuous process improvement. Overview of a systems engineering approach to process analysis. Identification of the crucial factors that affect a system's response: use of appropriate Design of Experiments techniques, factorial analysis using ANoVA and Pareto analysis. The Taguchi method of robust engineering design for minimising waste and non-conformity costs. Introduction to health and safety legislation, risk assessment methodologies, safe systems of work, technical/process safety, incident/accident investigation, emergency planning and response.
• PE2803: Environmental Engineering and Safety (5 credits)
  Environmental Engineering; Pollution and environmental impacts, legislation; Treatment & disposal of wastes: liquid and solid wastes treatment; landfill, incineration and other thermal treatments. Waste minimisation. Sustainability. Engineering safety; plant layout, plant operation, containment, pressure system design, reactor stability, emergency venting, formation and dispersal of vapour clouds, fire, explosion, toxic release.
• PE2804: Reaction Engineering and Unit Operations (5 credits)
  Reaction Engineering; Introduction to chemistry, atoms molecules and how reactions work. Reaction terminology and the types of different reactors used in industry. Overview of reaction order, reaction kinetics and reaction thermodynamics. The influence of temperature and pressure on chemical reactions. The design and assessment of simple reactor operation. Unit operations: particle characterization; particle dynamics; elutriation; sedimentation; filtration; charging, dispensing of solids and size reduction; size reduction equipment; membrane separation processes; mixing/blending of powders; oral solids dosage forms.
• PE2805: Process and Plant Design (5 credits)
  Process design and simulation (using SuperPro Designer/Dynochem) incorporating the concepts of sustainability and clean processing. Development of plant design in order to generate data for a process piping and instrumentation diagrams (P&ID). Overview of plant location, layout, design and build. Engineering management, concepts of control, evaluation, budgeting and scheduling and closeout. Capital investment/running costs and the methods for their estimation. Profitability analysis (return on investment, pay-back time, discounted cash flow rate of return, net present value.
• PE2810: Project (10 credits)
  Project selection; project planning; literature survey; work of theoretical, experimental or computing nature leading to achievement of objectives; preparation of project report.

English Language Requirement: All applicants whose first language is not English must have attained IELTS Level 6 or the equivalent TOEFL score.

Candidates who successfully complete First Year may opt not to proceed to Second Year and may exit the programme with a Certificate in Process and Chemical Engineering.

There is a one-and-a-half-hour end-of-course open book exam for each module. Assignments are also given for each module at approximately three week intervals. Apart from the Design Project module, where there is no exam.Each unit is marked on the following basis; Assignment: 30%; End-of-course exam: 70%. The pass standard for each module is 40%.

This course has been developed by the Department of Process & Chemical Engineering. Lectures are provided by staff from the department, and by relevant industry personnel.