CHBE 4505A: Process Design and Economics

CHBE 4525A: Bioprocess Design and Economics

Syllabus

Spring Semester 2010

Instructors: Andreas S. Bommarius, Yoshiaki Kawajiri, and Peter J. Ludovice

Course Objectives:
1. To enable students to synthesize their previous course work in the context of a
significant problem-solving task, a process design.
2. To teach students basic concepts in process design; bounding, searching over discrete
and continuous alternatives, targeting, tradeoffs.
3. To teach students basic skills in process design; economic evaluation, sizing and
costing of process units, process simulation, basic optimization.
4. To create a situation where the students must operate in diverse teams of mixed ability.
5. To expose students to concepts in green chemistry and engineering.

Text:
W.D. Seider, J.D. Seader, D.R. Lewin, S. Widagdo: Product & Process Design Principles,
Third Edition, Wiley.

Prerequisites: Transport Phen. II (ChBE 3210), kinetics & reactor design (ChBE 4300), and
separation processes (ChBE 3225). A minimum grade of C is required in all three courses.
Process safety course (ChBE 4515) is a co-requisite, and it may be taken simultaneously
with the process design.

Class web site: T-Square http://t-square.gatech.edu

Class meeting time: 11:05 am – 12:25 pm MW in L1255 ES&T.

Teaching assistants:
Project TA1: Jonathan Rubin (jrubin@gatech.edu)
Project TA2: Korin Reid
Project TA3: Mallarie McCune
Project TA4: Sarah McNew
Project TA5: Luis Encarnacion
Lecture TA: Jason Bentley (jason.bentley@chbe.gatech.edu)

Office hours:
Instructor office hours (official information, see below)
Andreas S. Bommarius, Yoshiaki Kawajiri, and Peter J. Ludovice
11:05am-12:25pm occasionally on Fridays in L1255 ES&T
(dates are shown separately on the schedule)

Project TA office hours (for unofficial information, see below)

Jonathan Rubin, 5-6pm on Tuesdays in 3428 IBB
 For lecture-related questions and homework:
Jason Bentley, 4-5:30pm on Tuesdays in 1328 ES&T

Grading: Project Phase I report 100

Phase II report 150
Phase III report 250
Oral presentation 100
Homework
Homework 1 20
Homework 2 20
Homework 3 20
Homework 4 20
Homework 5 20
Midterm exam 100
Final exam 200

Project

Students work in a group to tackle the design problem. The problem is split into three
phases, Phase I, II, and III. Each phase requires submission of a report from a group, and
only one report should be submitted from each group by the due date of each phase. Each
phase takes a significant amount of time, so do not plan to do it on the last weekend. Often
you need to carry out your own analysis, calculation, literature search etc. to demonstrate
your creativity and independent thinking.
The same grade will be given to all group members if all members equally contributed. If
you feel that the contribution from each group member is not equal, let the instructors know
as soon as possible.

Group Assignment

You will be assigned to a group of 5 to 6 students. You are NOT allowed to choose your
group members or change groups. If your group is not functioning, please first try to resolve
it yourself by analyzing the problem carefully. If you feel that your problem is out of hand,
contact one of the instructors before signing on the coversheet of your report. Once you sign
on the coversheet of your report, we will not be able to change the grade for that report.

Design oral presentation

After the completion of Phase III, each group gives an oral presentation. Three dates are
reserved for the oral presentations. All students must appear on all of these days, and
therefore you must block those three dates in advance. The presentation is scored by multiple
faculty members of ChBE. The same grade will be given to all group members if all
members contributed equally.

Homework
You must do the homework assignments individually; the assignments are to be turned in
electronically through T-Square. It may be submitted on paper, but you always have the
option of submitting everything electronically (e.g. scanned in, MS Word, PDF).
The homework turned in must be your own work. You may discuss technical concepts
relating to the homework with your classmates, but must work the problems by yourself.
Copying directly from another person’s homework or exam is a serious violation of the
Georgia Tech Honor Code (http://www.honor.gatech.edu/).

Penalty for late submission (for both project and homework)

• By the end of the due date: 30%.

• After due date: 30% per day.

Exams

Two exams–midterm and final–will be given. All exams will be closed book. You will be
allowed to bring to the exam a calculator and a single 8.5x11” sheet of paper (two sheets for
finals) with formulas, algorithms, and other information written on one side only. When you
use a calculator, storing formulas or using graphing functions is not allowed. Rescheduling
the exam is allowed only for an unavoidable conflict, and it must be reported one week prior
to the exam date.

Midterm exam March 14 (Monday) 11:05am-12:25am in L1255 ES&T

Final exam May 2 (Monday) 11:30am - 2:20pm in L1255 ES&T

Communicating with instructors and TAs

In this course, we use Forums on T-Square as the official communication tool instead of
email. You can post any question here (projects, lectures, presentations, etc). They will be
viewed by other students, and it can be helpful to others. We ask you to state your questions
clearly in a respectful manner (we may need to skip unclear questions). Questions do not
count towards your grade.
Only for the following occasions, we encourage you to use email (Bommarius:
andreas.bommarius@chbe.gatech.edu, Kawajiri: ykawajiri@chbe.gatech.edu, Ludovice:
pete.ludovice@chbe.gatech.edu:

1) personal issues
2) “secret project questions” that you don’t want to share with other students
3) making appointments.

You are always encouraged to ask questions following these rules. Instructors and TAs will
also try to answer your informal questions in person. We employ the open door policy; if the
door of our office is open, you are welcome to drop in and ask questions. However, a closed
door means we are unavailable or dealing with an urgent matter. We appreciate your
respectfulness.
Also, informal communications are considered unofficial (see below).

Official and unofficial information for project

Information obtained ONLY in the following two occasions can be considered official:
1. Office hours and lectures where at least two instructors are present at the same time
2. All documents and communications on T-Square including those on Forums.
You are most encouraged to communicate with us by either of the above.

On the other hand, any other information obtained otherwise is considered unofficial. Below
are some examples of unofficial information:
• Personal communication with an instructor in the absence of other instructors
• Any verbal information given by a TA
• Email
Please note that we will NOT be responsible for any unofficial information (although it can
be sometimes useful for you).