As a kid, Ive constantly watched this show called How Its Made on the Discovery Channel.

Since then
Ive always been fascinated by machineries; how they work, how they operate, sparked and interest in
me to know more about them. Moreover, this very interest is what drove me to take up Chemical
Engineering and I wasnt disappointed. Here, those machineries that Ive only seen on television are
being dissected and studied to its fundamental parts. How awesome is that?

Heat and mass transfer is a chemical engineering course succeeding Principles of Transport Process. As
far as I can generalize, it is a course focusing on the transfer and manipulation of energy (heat) and
material (mass) through chemical and mechanical process to produce a desired result or product. From
what I have learned it is commonly seen on equipment, either in a power or a manufacturing plant.
Evaporators, crystallizers, heat exchangers, dryers, humidifiers and cooling towers are some of the
equipment that were discussed from its very definition to the detailed calculations involving it.

I first heard the term heat exchanger in a documentary by the Discovery Channel about coal power
plants. I googled it and found out that it was a device used to transfer energy. I didnt really understood
what it meant until taking up this course, and as far as Ive learned, heat exchangers are equipment
found basically in manufacturing and power plants. It is used to transfer heat energy from one unit
operation to another operation requiring it. It can provide heating or cooling depending on the
operation. Furthermore, there are many types of it depending on the operation requirements, though
Maam Rondaris said, Kadalasan, shell and tube ang makikita nyo. To be honest, calculations are quite
tedious especially for the mean average temperature. It varies from type to type and from flow to flow
(cross flow, counter and cocurrent). Its fascinating to think how a device used to heat or cool can be this
complex.

Evaporation from highschool is plainly a phase transfer. After finishing this course, I will never look at
evaporation the same as before. Evaporators are equipment that uses evaporation to achieve desired
results, most commonly, concentration of liquid solutions and recovery of water (distillation). From
what Ive learned, there are three types or evaporator arrangement based on where the feed enters and
exits: backward, forward, and mixed, mainly because different liquids have different properties, thus,
requiring different evaporator arrangement (for efficiency).

It is only now that Ive understood why our evaporative cooler doesnt do much to cool our room. As
Maam Rondaris said, Mataas ang humidity sa Pilipinas. Meaning, the air can only take less water
vapor as it is already nearing saturation. Aha! Less vapor intake, Low evaporation, low cooling effect.
Personal experiences aside, calculations for humidification and drying process can be quite confusing
but at the same time fascinating because it all connects together. The amount of water absorbed by air
is equal to the difference of the inlet and oulet humidity with respect to the flow of air. Then I was like
Hala, oo nga nooo?

For me, crystallization is the new kid in the block. Though crystalline products are around us such as salt,
table sugar and such, Ive never thought much of how it is processed before reaching our kitchen
shelves. Basically, according to Maam Rondaris, crystallization is a solid-liquid separation process which
involves either cooling or evaporation, and sometimes both, to force the concentration of the solution
into supersaturation. This way, the solute would precipitate out, forming crystals. These crystals vary in
size and shape depending on the crystallization conditions and type of crystallizer used. The calculations
are straightforward, though I was really confused at the beginning.