Chemical engineering education

spectal lab issue84q)
SANDLER
PETTY & MILLER
HILE & ANDRES
TUCKER
DUNN, PRENOSIL, INGRAM

LOVINGER & GRYTE
also:
ARIS -
COHEN & MERRILL -
GRISKEY -

�6.- -j

Anoncn amjo
00dd A

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EDITORIAL AND BUSINESS ADDRESS
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University of Florida
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Editor: Ray Fahien
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WINTER 1976

Chemical Engineering Education
VOLUME X NUMBER 1 WINTER 1976

FEATURES

IS Alkaline Fading of Organic Dyes: An Ideal
Reaction for Homogeneous Reactor
Experiments, L. Hile and R. Andres
28 Simulation of the Cardiopulmonary
Circulation: An Experiment in Reactor
Analysis with Medical Applications
A. Lovinger and C. Gryte

23 Digital Simulation, I. Dunn, J. Prenosil and
J. Ingham
33 A Simple, Instructive Solid State Diffusion
Experiment For Use in Teaching Labs
D. Petty and A. Miller
36 Temperature Approach in Counter-Flow
Heat Exchangers, W. Tucker
40 Combustion Project: Explosive Limits
S. Sandler

DEPARTMENTS
6 Departments of Chemical Engineering
University of Illinois-Urbana

14 The Educator
John P. O'Connell

2 Views and Opinions
Some Thoughts on the Nature of
Academic Research, R. Aris

44 Curriculum
Polymer Program, R. Cohen and E. Merrill

48 International
ChE Education and Research in
Poland, R. Griskey

16, 17 Letters
5 Book Reviews
52 News

CHEMICAL ENGINEERING EDUCATION is published quarterly by the Chemical
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copies replaced if notified within 120 days.
The International Organization for Standarization has assigned the code US ISSN
0009-2479 for the identification of this periodical.
1

views and opinions

SOME THOUGHTS ON THE NATURE OF

ACADEMIC RESEARCH IN CHEMICAL ENGINEERING

RUTHERFORD ARIS
University of Minnesota
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455

THIS PAPER HAS GROWN from a request to
say something about the scope of chemical en-
gineering research in the universities of North
America to the Sixth Interamerican Congress of
Chemical Engineering held in Caracas (July
1975). From the beginning it seemed hopeless to
attempt a comprehensive descriptive review, for
with so vast a cargo it could scarcely hope to make
passage between the Scylla of platitudinous dull-
ness and the Charybdis of prejudiced particu-
larity. One might, to be sure, form a matrix with

The attempt to divorce
teaching and research is fatal
to the life of a university department.

a row for each university department, a column
for each key-word in the chemical engineering
thesaurus and elements proportional to the in-
tensity of activity of research on the jth topic in
the it' department. Like a famous text on trans-
port phenomena, such a matrix might be read
either by rows or by columns, but what would it
say? Of quantity, it would speak equivocally; of
quality, it would perforce be silent.
Rather than attempting to follow a descriptive
path it would seem wiser to ask what kind of re-
search is proper to a university and perhaps even
to start on the via negative by noting that purely
developmental work is not appropriate to the acad-
emy. It is not that this kind of work does not de-
mand great intelligence or resourcefulness-in-
deed, all the qualities of a good engineer-it is just
that it can be done so much better in industry and
there it belongs. In saying this I am not in the
least denigrating usefulness for chemical engi-

neering has no use for "the mathematician so
pure that if you give him a number with a mean-
ing he won't touch it" [1]. It is rather a matter of
the obligations of the worker and the genius of
the place in which he does his work. The obliga-
tions of the industrial scientist are to the inter-
ests of his employer or the needs of his industry
and if these obligations cannot be conscientiously
met he would naturally seek work elsewhere. The
obligations of the academic are to the intrinsic
nature of his subject and to the traditions of the
learned world-scrupulous analysis, imaginative
synthesis and painstaking precision of thought
and expression-and if, in fulfilling these, his
work is immediately useful he is doubly fortu-
nate. The genius of industry is the spirit of in-
ventive adaptability, that of the academy is the
grace of vision and conceptual refinement. In-
dustrial research is, in the language of our day,
"goal oriented", and, whether that goal be a new
product or the improvement of an old process, the
success of the research is to be measured by the
degree of achievement of that goal-by the re-
liability of the product or the efficiency of the re-
vised process.

A QUESTION OF PROPRIETY
N MAKING THESE distinctions I do not mean
to divide and sunder, nor do I intend to put
these several virtues into conflict or opposition. I
am not suggesting that all these qualities cannot
flourish in one person nor each in the other's con-
text. Still less am I advocating that they should
not interact or claiming that one is a higher road
than the other. Such an adversary attitude is un-
productive on all counts. It is merely a question
of propriety. For the individual worker it is a
matter of bent, for "we have only one virginity
to lose and where we lost it there our hearts will
be." [2]. It goes without saying that a close con-
tact between industry and university must be
maintained for it is of the nature of chemical en-

CHEMICAL ENGINEERING EDUCATION

I CU MEira

I

4

gineering to find expression in industrial processes
and fundamental research must not lose sight of
its final cause. It is also well to bear in mind that
the cooperation of industry and university may
often fruitfully follow a pattern in which the
fundamental aspects are taken up by the latter
but closely meshed with the questions raised by
the development program.
An almost trivial illustration may serve to
focus the distinction. In the operation of a con-
tinuous fermentor in which two organisms A and
B are growing on the same nutrient, it is found
that by carefully regulating the flow rate, not one
but both populations can be induced to grow to-
gether at a healthy rate, whereas at higher or
lower feed rates one population tends to grow at
the expense of the other until the latter is washed
out. In this kind of operation there is some dif-
ficulty in maintaining the steady state since the
flow rate fluctuates to some degree and considera-
ble skill needed to start up. However it is readily
determined that (a) an inoculum of A and B in
the correct proportions will lead to a steady
growth rate in those proportions, and (b) an in-
crease of flow rate favors A over B and vice versa.
This information should be in agreement with
common sense and confirmed by a fairly cursory
examination of the equations. For practical pur-
poses enough may now be known for satisfactory
operation. If this matter were the subject of an
academic investigation one would want to go
further and, while perhaps growing the bugs in
a chemostat for the purposes of some other in-
vestigation, one would like to ask a number of
further questions: What is the stability of the
steady state? Why should the flow rate variation
have such an effect on the populations? The
growth rates are dependent on the nutrient in a
known way, but what are other possible de-
pendencies and what would then be the behavior
of the chemostat? Above all one would want to get

It would seem wiser to ask
what kind of research is proper to
a university and perhaps even to start
on the via negative by noting that purely
developmental work is not appropriate to
the academy. It is not that this kind of
work does not demand great intelligence
or resourcefulness . . . it is just that it can be
done so much better in industry and there it belongs.

a comprehensive and structural picture to see the
inter-relations with other known features of re-
actor behavior. This desire for comprehensiveness
is of course subject to human limitations and
short-comings and, sometimes because new tech-
niques have come to light, the work of later
authors often repairs the deficiencies of earlier. A
study of the behavior of stirred tanks in the early
and mid-50's showed the possibility of limit cycles

The obligations of the academic are to
the intrinsic nature of his subject and
to the traditions of the learned world
-scrupulous analysis, imaginative synthesis
and painstaking precision of thought and
expression-and if, in fullfiling these, his work
is immediately useful, he is doubly fortunate.

in their behavior [3]. It was however nearly 20
years before Uppal, Ray and Poore, using revived
or new methods, gave a comprehensive picture
of conditions under which they could appear [4].
Comprehensiveness is but one aspect of the
basic endeavor to understand any subject in
which, as always, our "reach should exceed our
grasp". It is this fundamental longing after struc-
ture which characterises the academic enterprise
and from this flow two other characteristics of
university research. First, it should be related to
the curriculum. The attempt to divorce teaching
and research is fatal to the life of a university
department. The act of teaching makes just those
demands on the understanding of a subject that
are needed if a structurally sound insight is to be
developed. The opportunity to expound the results
of an investigation is normally essential to its
healthy development and seminars play an im-
portant role at specialized research institutions
where there is no regular curricular teaching.
Second, fundamental research is more explicitly
conscious of methodology than applied or de-
velopmental work. Little has been written in any
general way on the methodology of chemical engi-
neering. I am not here referring to particular
techniques such as mathematical methods for the
solution of equations of a certain sort but to the
style of method in general and the peculiar char-
acter it takes on in a chemical engineering con-
text.

UT WHAT IS METHOD? Its etymology shows
that it is concerned with a way or path

WINTER 1976

(Greek: hodos). For Descartes it was a set of
"certain and simple rules, such that if a man ob-
serves them accurately, he shall never assume the
false to be true nor spend his mental efforts to no
purpose" [5] and he acquires this method by ac-
quiring a sense of order. For Jeremy Bentham
[6], method or, as he more frequently called it,
"methodization" was primarily a matter of ar-
rangement. It was the manner in which objects or
elements of discourse are put together and so
united for a particular end. This methodization
by exhibition is attuned to the thinking of the
Enlightenment but is far too static for a Romantic
such as Coleridge [7]. For him, method arises
when the mind shakes off "an habitual submission
of the understanding to mere events and images"
and "becomes accustomed to contemplate, not
things alone, but likewise the relations of things".
This generates the need "for some law of agree-
ment or contrast between them . . . some mode of
comparison". The driving force for Coleridge is
the idea which provides the key-note of the har-
mony to follow-"an idea is an experiment pro-
posed, an experiment is an idea realized". He sees
a methodic sympathy between science and litera-
ture both of which achieve their excellence from
that "just proportion, that union and interpene-
tration of the universal and the particular" [8].
Inspiration and methodic habit go hand in hand,
confounding those who "tread the enchanted
ground of poetry" without even suspecting "that

opher, Bernard Lonergan. For him the idea of
method grows from a consideration of the nature
of cognition. Understanding is the central act
which, taken with experience and judgment,
forms the basis of our knowing anything. By ex-
perience is meant the presentations of sense or the
representations of imagination. Thus the under-
standing of the experimentalist may grow on the
results of his experiments just as the theoreti-
cian's insight is grounded in his imaginative grasp
of reality. Understanding grows in response to the
human potentiality for wonder, which is the force
behind it and provokes the question Quid sit? or
What is it ? But understanding is not an end in it-
self for it leads to a second question An sit? or Is
it?-more colloquially Is that really so? Here a
further stage of reflection is required and an ele-
ment of judgment, really a judgment of existence,
is called for. There is a dynamical aspect to this
whole process, for judgment is called for in the
decision to consider certain data of experience.
Informed by the current state of his understand-
ing the experimentalist decides what experiments
he should next do. On the other hand understand-
ing is preconceptual in the sense of being
grounded in experience and finding its primary
object there. It is thus to be distinguished from
concept formation, where the endeavor is to find
a universal notion that is not tied to the particu-
larities immanent in experience.
Method is, in one sense, the art of understand-

It goes without saying that a close contact between industry and the university
must be maintained for it is of the nature of chemical engineering
to find expression in industrial processes and fundamental
research must not lose sight of its final cause. It is
also well to bear in mind that the cooperation of industry and university
may often fruitfully follow a pattern in which the fundamental aspects are taken up
by the latter but closely meshed with the questions raised by the development
program.

there is such a thing as method to guide their
steps." Dewey recognizes method as "intelligence
in action", noting that though rules are to be fol-
lowed they themselves arise from the circum-
stances that give them their scope for application
[9]. These are but a few senses that have been
brought to the notion of method, the whole con-
cept of which has been admirably discussed by
Buchler [10] and who at one point refers to a
method as "a power to manipulate complexes
characteristically within a perspectival order."
Let us however turn to a contemporary philos-

ing. It is, according to Lonergan, a "normative
pattern of recurrent and related operations yield-
ing cumulative and progressive results". In
natural science it demands accurate observation
and description, the formulation of hypotheses
and their confirmation or rejection by further ex-
perience. These operations are transitive, in the
sense of intending objects; they are also the con-
scious activity of an operator and so introspective,
in the sense of elucidating the content of con-
sciousness. Intentionality and consciousness can
exist at several levels: the empirical level of sense

CHEMICAL ENGINEERING EDUCATION

S[I department

UNIVERSITY

OF ILLINOIS

-URBANA

Prepared by Prof. J. W. Westwater

A RECENT STUDY, "Institutional Origins of
Eminent Chemical Engineers," by Siebring
and Schaff of the University of Wisconsin in 1972,
revealed that more eminent chemical engineers re-
ceived their undergraduate degrees from the Uni-
versity of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign than at
any other school. Of the 198 who have achieved
eminence (as shown, for example, by receipt of
major awards or election to national academies),
14 graduated from the University of Illinois, 13
from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 12
from Michigan, and the rest from 76 other insti-
tutions.
In terms of the number of eminent chemical
engineers who have been awarded Ph.D. degrees,
Illinois ranks fifth.
Three chemical engineers who are alumni of

SJ. W. Westwater,
.Chairman

the University of Illinois and are rated as eminent
are now on the Urbana-Champaign campus-J. W.
Westwater (B.S. 1940) and Roger A. Schmitz
(B.S. 1959) of the Department of Chemical En-
gineering, and Thurston E. Larson (B.S. 1932;
Ph.D. 1937), Assistant Chief and Head of the
Chemistry Section of the Illinois State Water Sur-
vey and Professor of Sanitary Engineering in the
Department of Civil Engineering.

THE BEGINNING
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING AT the Univer-
sity of Illinois was founded by Samuel W.
Parr (1891-1927), whose portrait is on display in
the first-floor lobby of the Roger Adams Labora-
tory. Parr developed standard methods for meas-
uring the quality of coal. One of his inventions,
the Parr calorimeter for measuring the heating
value of fuels, is widely known. Illinois Industrial
University (named the University of Illinois in
1886) was in existence but eighteen years when
Parr was appointed an instructor in 1885. In
1891 he became Professor of Applied Chemistry
and Head of Industrial Chemistry. The staff size
in the entire University numbered forty-three at
that time.

CHEMICAL ENGINEERING EDUCATION

The University of Illinois Catalog for 1901-02
lists a curriculum entitled, "Chemical Engineer-
ing-for the Degree of Bachelor of Science in
Chemical Engineering." The curriculum has con-
tinued without interruption since 1901. Clarence
H. Bean was the first recipient of the degree in
1903. Two more years elapsed before the second
student received the degree. The curriculum be-
came popular in a short time. Ten degrees were
awarded in 1912, twenty in 1917, and thirty in
1920.
The first book with the words chemical engi-
neering was published in 1901, a Handbook of
Chemical Engineering by Professor George E.
Davis of the Manchester Technical School in Eng-
land. The following year William H. Walker used
the label on a curriculum at Massachusetts Insti-
tute of Technology. Incidentally, Walker is hon-
ored today by virtue of the William H. Walker
Award for excellence in contributions to ChE
literature. This award has been won by three of
the present University of Illinois staff members
(Drickamer, Hanratty, and Westwater), by two
former staff members (Comings and Johnstone),
and by three alumni (Bird, Gilliland, and Pig-
ford).
In 1908 the American Institute of Chemical
Engineers was founded, with 40 charter members.
Today, there are more than 39,000 members. In
1908 there were no courses anywhere in unit op-
erations, material and energy balances, process
design, chemical thermodynamics, or applied ki-
netics. Thus the early curriculum operated with
no textbooks in ChE. In 1922 University of Illinois
course titles were Chemistry 7, Metallurgy; Chem-
istry 65b, Gas Analysis; Chemistry 77, Classifica-
tion and Theory of Carbonization; and Chemistry
76, Tars and Oils. Of historical significance was
the publication in 1923 of Principles of Chemical
Engineering, by Walker, Lewis, and McAdams at
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. This
marked the emergence of ChE from chemistry.

Chemical engineering at Illinois is
known for the number of publications
its faculty has and the number of
awards and honors it has received.
Publications total about 35 per
year, or an average of
about four per professor.

ACCREDITATION
BY 1925 A PROCEDURE for accrediting cur-
ricula in ChE was established by the AICHE.
Thirteen curricula were accredited that year and
two more in 1926. The University of Illinois was
not on the list, possibly because the ties with en-
gineering were not strong enough and also be-
cause ChE was not a sufficiently independent
identity.
In 1926 Roger Adams became the Head of the
Department of Chemistry and D. B. Keyes (1926-
45) was hired to take charge of Division of Chem-
ical Engineering and make the changes needed
for accreditation. The book by Walker, Lewis, and
McAdams was adopted promptly, and the teach-
ing of unit operations was established.
New staff members with fresh viewpoints were
brought in. F. G. Straub (1924-57) had come as
a Special Research Associate in 1924, and became

Fluid dynamics is investigated
packed spheres.

an Assistant Professor in 1925. F. C. Howard
(1926-36) and N. W. Krase (1926-36) were other
additions. Sherlock Swann (1926-68) joined the
research staff in 1927 and became an Assistant
Professor in 1932. H. F. Johnstone (1926-62) was
appointed a member of the research staff in 1928
and became an Assistant Professor in 1931. These
staff members had appointments, in part at least,
in the Engineering Experiment Station of the Col-
lege of Engineering.
Even today there is cooperation between the
College of Engineering and the College of Liberal
Arts and Sciences in matters involving ChE. The
present head of the Department of Chemical En-
gineering has a 40 percent appointment in the

WINTER 1976

College of Engineering and the rest in the College
of Liberal Arts and Sciences. The other staff mem-
bers are paid through their original home in
L.A.S., but each has an appointment at zero pay
in the College of Engineering. The ChE Depart-
ment participates in important committees in the
College of Engineering, including the Executive
Committee and the Engineering Policy and De-
velopment Committee.
Under Keyes, the old Division of Applied
Chemistry was given a new name, the Division of
Chemical Engineering. The new curriculum re-
ceived accreditation in 1933. The University of
Illinois was the sixteenth school to be accredited.
Today, the total number of accredited schools is
126.
During this period, the space occupied by the
Division of ChE consisted of about one-third of
the basement plus one-third of the ground floor
of Noyes Laboratory. In spite of the shortage of
space, the number of B.S. degrees granted per
year rose to a peak of sixty in 1942. The war
caused the number to decrease to eight in 1945.

GRADUATE EDUCATION GROWS
F ROM 1945 TO 1955, H. F. Johnstone served as
Head of the Division of Chemical Engineering.
Three events of this decade merit notice. One was
the planning and construction of the Roger Adams
Laboratory (called the East Chemistry Building
until 1972). The Division moved into the new
space, with its excellent facilities, in 1950. The
second event was an increase in emphasis on
graduate education. The improved space made
possible a significant growth in the number of
graduate students in chemical engineering. Also,
the goals in the recruitment of new faculty
changed completely. The old emphasis on practical
experience changed to an emphasis on research
and graduate teaching. In the ten years preceding
Johnstone's appointment as Head, the Division
produced nineteen Ph.D. degrees. In the ten years
which followed, the number tripled to sixty-one.

A recent study revealed
that more eminent chemical
engineers received their degrees
from the University of Illinois
at Urbana-Champaign, than
at any other school.

The properties of solids are studied in the High Pres-
sure Laboratory.

Thirdly, an option in bioengineering was intro-
duced into the undergraduate curriculum. This
was continued from 1949 to 1959 under the super-
vision of R. K. Finn (1949-55) and J. C. Garver
(1955-57). The option was finally dropped because
of disappointing job opportunities. It is possible
that the department was about ten years ahead of
the times. Bioengineering is being offered again at
a large number of schools today in the hope that
job opportunities may have improved.
In 1953 there was some administrative reor-
ganization and the Department of Chemistry was
renamed the Department of Chemistry and Chem-
ical Engineering.
H. G. Drickamer was the head of the Division
of Chemical Engineering from 1955 to 1958. He
then returned to his research and teaching activ-
ities and the headship passed to M. S. Peters
(1951-62). Max Peters was a gifted administra-
tor. This fact soon became widely known, and
after holding the position from 1958 to 1962,
Peters went to the University of Colorado as Dean
of Engineering.
Meanwhile, Drickamer achieved outstanding
results with his research. This resulted in num-
erous honors and awards. Drickamer has the rare
distinction of being honored by four different
technical societies: the Allan P. Colburn Award,
Alpha Chi Sigma Award, and the William H.
Walker Award from the American Institute of
Chemical Engineers; the Ipatieff Award and the

CHEMICAL ENGINEERING EDUCATION

Langmuir Award of the American Chemical So-
ciety; the Oliver E. Buckley Prize of the American
Physical Society; and the Vincent Bendix Award
of the American Society of Engineering Educa-
tion. Drickamer is a member of the National
Academy of Sciences and a member of the Center
for Advanced Studies at the University of Illinois
at Urbana-Champaign. At age fifty-six he has
published 260 research articles.
In 1962 J. W. Westwater was appointed Head
of the Division of Chemical Engineering. From
about 1955 to 1968 a national expansion in gradu-
ate education took place, encouraged by federal
funds. At the University of Illinois a peak output
of eighteen Ph.D. degrees in chemical engineering
was reached in 1969-70. This was the second larg-
est output in the nation (behind Massachusetts
Institute of Technology). The number of faculty
rose to nine, the present number. The number of
M.S. degrees reached a peak of twenty-four in
1968-69, and the total number of graduate stu-
dents in residence reached seventy-two at that
time. This meant that the number of graduate stu-
dents was nearly triple the number of seniors.

THE PRESENT

B Y 1968 the decline in federal funding of grad-
uate students and traineeships was under way.
There are no more NASA Traineeships or NDEA
Fellowships, and NSF Traineeships are very few.
The Department of ChE has readjusted and now
has approximately fifty graduate students.
In 1970 a significant administrative reorgani-
zation occurred. The former Department of Chem-
istry and Chemical Engineering became the School
of Chemical Sciences, with H. S. Gutowsky as Di-
rector. The former six divisions became three de-
partments: Chemical Engineering, Chemistry, and
Biochemistry. Westwater was appointed head of
the Department of ChE and still holds that posi-
tion.
At the undergraduate level, ChE has evolved
steadily. Fifty years ago the curriculum included
courses in forge work, metallurgy, assaying, and
fuel analysis. These had all disappeared by 1950.
The last twenty years has seen the disappearance
of hygiene, military, physical education, engineer-
ing drawing, ChE technology, mechanical engi-
neering laboratory, strength of materials labora-
tory, and the inspection trip. The rhetoric require-
ment has been reduced by a third, the foreign
language requirement has been eased, and the

number of credit hours required for graduation
has been reduced from 136 to 129. Chemistry,
physics, and mathematics have been consistently
emphasized throughout the years. Course replace-
ments have included higher mathematics; com-
puter science; process dynamics; kinetics; predic-
tion of physical properties; heat, mass, and mo-
mentum transfer; social studies; and humanities.
The change in graduate courses has been even
faster. Of the courses offered twenty years ago,
only fluid dynamics remains (but revised com-
pletely). Gone are evaporation, drying, humidi-
fication, dehumidification; absorption and extrac-
tion; filtration and separations; distillation; and
advanced plant design. Course replacements have
included hydrodynamic stability, properties of
liquids, interfacial phenomena, ChE mathematics,
reaction kinetics, advanced topics in heat and
mass transfer, and a variety of research group
seminars. Significant changes in the requirements

The Department concentrates on
teaching ChE and leaves the service
courses to the service departments.
This makes possible the use of a staff of nine ...

for the Ph.D. degree include the elimination of
foreign languages. The oral preliminary examina-
tion is now concerned exclusively with the stu-
dent's research.
Chemical engineering at the University of Illi-
nois is unique in a number of respects. All of the
faculty teach undergraduate courses and graduate
courses and direct graduate theses. All of our
seniors who wish to obtain graduate degrees are
sent to other schools so as to broaden their ex-
perience; all of our graduate students are "im-
ported" from outside schools. Our staff members
are imports also; that is, their Ph.D. degrees were
obtained elsewhere. The ratio of graduate stu-
dents to faculty is maintained high. At present the
average is 6.5 graduate students per professor-
among the highest in the nation. The Department
of ChE runs a tight ship. That is, it concentrates
on teaching ChE and leaves the service courses to
the service departments. This makes possible the
use of a staff of nine, which is smaller than the
staffs of other well-known ChE departments. As
a rule, other ChE departments choose to teach
some of their own service courses in chemistry,
mathematics, mechanics, and sometimes rhetoric.

WINTER 1976

At Illinois we are fortunate in having strong
service departments.
Chemical Engineering at Illinois is unique in
the number of publications its faculty has and the
number of awards and honors received. The pub-
lications total about thirty-five per year, or an av-
erage of about four per professor. This is near the
top for chemical engineering departments.

THE FACULTY

H. G. DRICKAMER, who came in 1946, is the
"old timer" of the present staff. His research
on the effect of high pressure on the properties of
matter is internationally famous. J. W. Westwater
came in 1948. His research on heat transfer dur-
ing boiling and condensation was acknowledged
by the Institute Lecture and William H. Walker
Award of the American Institute of Chemical En-
gineers, the Conference Award of the Eighth Na-
tional Heat Transfer Conference, a Sigma Xi
Prize, the Max Jakob Award of the AICHE and

and the kinetics of reactions in solutions won the
Allan P. Colburn Award. The above listing of the
full professors shows all of them have received
high awards. This is rare for any department.
The future of the department depends on the
abilities of the younger staff members. The two
Associate Professors are R. L. Sani who investi-
gates fluid instability and R. C. Alkire who studies
electrochemical engineering. Two staff replace-
ments at the Assistant Professor level are im-
minent at the time of this writing. One will re-
place J. L. Hudson (1963-75) who has just be-
come Head of ChE at the University of Virginia,
and the other will replace A. A. Kozinski (1971-
74) who recently accepted a fine administrative
position with Quaker Oats. Raids on our staff are
flattering acts; they show the esteem with which
outsiders view our personnel.
The present rests on the past. Former staff
members not discussed above, made valuable con-
tributions to the development of chemical engi-
neering at Illinois. These include G. M. Smith

... All of the faculty teach undergraduate and graduate courses and
direct graduate theses. All of our seniors who wish to obtain graduate degrees
are sent to other schools so as to broaden their experience; all of our
graduate students are "imported" ... our staff members are imports
also; that is, their Ph.D. degrees were obtained elsewhere.

ASME and the Vincent Bendix Award of the
American Society of Engineering Education. He
is a member of the National Academy of Engi-
neering. He was general Chairman of the Third
International Heat Transfer Conference, and he
has served as a Director of the American Institute
of Chemical Engineers. T. J. Hanratty came to
Illinois in 1953. For his research in fluid me-
chanics he has received the Allan P. Colburn
Award, William H. Walker Award, and Profes-
sional Progress Award of the American Institute
of Chemical Engineers, and the Curtis W. Mc-
Graw Award of the American Society for Engi-
neering Education. He is a member of the Na-
tional Academy of Engineering. R. A. Schmitz
joined our faculty in 1962. He was awarded the
Allan P. Colburn Award for the excellence of his
research on reactor stability. The excellence of his
teaching resulted in a $1,000 Excellence in Teach-
ing Award from the University. C. A. Eckert came
in 1965. His work on thermodynamic properties

(1905-19), D. F. McFarland (1910-20), H. J.
Broderson (1913-17), T. E. Layng (1920-29),
S. S. Kistler (1931-35), E. W. Comings (1936-
51) recently Dean at Delaware, A. G. Deem (1938-
45), Clay Lewis (1942-45) now at Georgia Tech.,
W. M. Langdon (1943-46) now at the Illinois In-
stitute of Technology, Joel Hougen (1946-48)
now at the University of Texas, W. M. Campbell
(1947-50), L. G. Alexander (1947-50) recently
at the University of Tennessee, Thomas Baron
(1948-51) now president of Shell Development
Company, W. E. Ranz (1951-53) now at the Uni-
versity of Minnesota, W. J. Scheffy (1956-59),
J. A. Quinn (1958-71) now at the University of
Pennsylvania, D. D. Perlmutter (1958-64) now
Head at the University of Pennsylvania, and Eric
Baer (1960-62) now Head of Polymer Science at
Case Western Reserve. The fact that many of
these men continued careers at other educational
institutions demonstrates that the schools are
strongly interdependent and interrelated. D

CHEMICAL ENGINEERING EDUCATION

For positive results

turn to

McGraw-Hill texts

MASS TRANSFER
Thomas K. Sherwood, University of California, Berkeley,
Robert L. Pigford, University of Delaware, and Charles
R. Wilke, University of California, Berkeley. 1975, 666 pages.
$21.50
Substantially more sophisticated than the 1952 ver-
sion Absorption and Extraction, this volume pro-
vides considerably broader coverage of mass trans-
fer. It emphasizes the practical aspects and real
problems that require an understanding of theory.
Yet, the text minimizes theoretical derivations by
explicitly citing over 1,100 contemporary references.
AIR POLLUTION CONTROL:
Guidebook for Management
Edited by A.T. Rossano, Jr., University of Washington,
Seattle. 1969, 214 pages, $19.50
Important basic principles of the chemistry and engi-
neering of air pollution control are discussed in this
comprehensive, introductory text.
SOURCE TESTING FOR
AIR POLLUTION CONTROL
Hal B.H. Cooper, Jr., Texas A & M University, and A.T.
Rossano, Jr., University of Washington, Seattle. 1971,
278 pages, $14.95
This informative text discusses principles and
methods used for testing the gaseous and particulate
materials being emitted from industrial, combustion,
and other sources. The book logically explains the
steps taken in source testing, and extensively exam-
ines the equipment, methodology, sampling, and
analytical techniques in use for gaseous and particu-
late particles.
SYSTEMS ANALYSIS
AND WATER QUALITY CONTROL
Robert V. Thomann, Manhattan College. 1972. 286 pages,
$19.50
Using both mathematical models of environmental
responses and management and control schemes,
this text 1) presents analytical tools for describing
and forecasting the effects of the environment on
water quality of streams and estuaries: 2) discusses
water quality criteria and wastewate rinputs; and
3) helps readers being evaluating the worth of water
quality improvement projects. The benefits of apply-
ing cost/benefit analysis to engineering are also
discussed.
McGRAW-HILL BOOK COMPANY
College Division
.I 1221 Avenue of the Americas
iFmI New York, N.Y. 10020

ENVIRONMENTAL SYSTEMS ENGINEERING
Linvil G. Rich, Clemson University. McGraw-Hill Series in
Water Resources and Environmental Engineering. 1973, 405
pages, $18.50
Extensively using the mathematics of systems ana-
lysis and computer solutions, this text focuses on
how the components of the environmental systems
work as a whole rather than apart. Although con-
sidering water environment in much detail, it also
discusses air pollution and its control; solid waste
management, and radiological health.
AIR POLLUTION
H.C. Perkins, University of Arizona. 1974, 407 pages,
$17.50. Solutions Manual.
Written to help chemical, mechanical, and sanitary
engineering students solve a variety of problems, this
text includes a complete discussion of the global ef-
fects of air pollution, along with numerous applica-
tions-type problems. The material on combustion
features a unique discussion of the different effects
that equilibrium and reaction kinetics play in causing
combustion generated pollution.
SCIENTIFIC STREAM POLLUTION ANALYSIS
Nelson Leonard Nemerow, Syracuse University. 1974,
358 pages. $19.50
A careful balance of the hydrological, chemical, and
mathematical concepts involved in the evaluation of
stream quality is achieved in this comprehensive
description of the analysis of water pollution. The
text considers economic and management problems
and presents practice problems. Other topics include
chemical water qualities for different stream uses,
stream management, and estuary analysis.
PROCESS MODELING, SIMULATION,
AND CONTROL FOR CHEMICAL ENGINEERS
William L. Luyben, Lehigh University. McGraw-Hill Series
in Chemical Engineering. 1973, 558 pages, $19.50
Professor Luyben's book presents only useful, state-
of-the-art, applications-oriented tools and techniques
to help readers understand and solve practical dy-
namics and,control problems in chemical engineer-
ing systems. Discussing actual examples and pro-
cesses from his experience in chemical and petro-
leum industries, the author treats mathematical
modeling, computer simulation, and process control
in a unified, integrated way.

Prices subject to change without notice.

ESSENTIALS OF MATERIALS SCIENCE
Albert G. Guy, University of Florida. Gainesville. Jan. 1976.
512 pages. $17.50. Instructor's Manual.
Taking an integrated approach. the author empha-
sizes practical applications while covering the essen-
tial aspect of how metals, ceramics, semiconductors.
and polymers behave. Using everyday examples, he
shows students the connection between the behav-
ior of familiar objects and the new concepts to be
explored. Other interesting features of the book in-
clude impromptu experiments students can perform.
self-evaluating questions, review questions, and
problems.
HEAT TRANSFER, Fourth Edition
Jack P. Holman, Southern Methodist University. Jan. 1976.
512 pages. $17.50. Instructor's Manual and Self-Study Cassette
Tapes.
Containing both SI and English units, this introduc-
tory text includes discussions of special applications
to heat pipes and environmental problems. The
Fourth Edition's special features include increased
emphasis on numerical methods in conduction prob-
lems, with inclusion of a generalized formulation
technique: new empirical correlations for forced con-
vection heat transfer: and an extensive rewrite of free
convection correlations to reflect recent research.
The Self-Study Cassettes for this edition com-
prise almost a complete course in heat transfer, are
much longer than the Third Edition's, and use only
the text without a separate workbook.
THERMODYNAMICS, Second Edition
Jack P. Holman, Southern Methodist University. 1974.
608 pages, $17.50. Solutions Manual, Self-Study Cassette
Tapes. & Self-Study Guide.
With this book. all standard thermodynamic topics
can be covered from either the classical or statistical
viewpoint, or from any desired integration of these
viewpoints. The text features 60% expansion of
classical thermodynamics and applications: and
many new examples and problems worked in both
fps and SI units. It is supplemented by Self-Study
Cassettes of mini-lectures and discussions
(approx. 9 hours running time).
PRINCIPLES OF THERMODYNAMICS
Jui Sheng Hsieh, New Jersey Institute of Technology.
1975, 512 pages, $18.50. Solutions Manual.
A clear, unified treatment of various thermodynamic
systems, this graduate level text illustrates the wide-
range practicality of the basic laws of thermody-
namics. Beginning with a comprehensive review of
the first and second laws, it treats thermodynamic
relations for single- and multi-component compres-
sible systems; stability phase and chemical equilib-
rium, and other topics.

student is

Student

nmtil you

BASIC ENGINEERING THERMODYNAMICS,
Second Edition
Mark W. Zemansky, Emeritus, City College of the City
University of New York: Michael M. Abbott and Hen-
drick C. Van Ness, both of Rensselaer Polytechnic Insti-
tute. 1975, 492 pages, $16.50. Solutions Manual.
Outstanding for its broad, thorough treatment of
thermodynamic fundamentals, this text makes appli-
cations to many technological processes while avoid-
ing complex problems of a specialized nature. Im-
portant changes in the book include a consolidation
and unification of material resulting in fewer chap-
ters, the addition of many more worked examples,
extensive use of SI units, and use of the same sign
conventions for work and heat.
INTRODUCTION TO CHEMICAL ENGINEERING
THERMODYNAMICS, Third Edition
J.M. Smith, University of California. Davis. and H.C. Van
Ness, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. McGraw-Hill Series in
Chemical Engineering. 1975, 632 pages, $19.50. Solutions Manual
Including a new chapter on solution thermo-
dynamics, the Third Edition of this successful funda-
mental text is a unified treatment of thermodynamics
from a chemical engineering point of view. Discuss-
ing single component systems, multicomponent sys-
tems of variable composition, partial properties,
fugacity, and other topics, the book has been com-
pletely rewritten and expanded, and is enhanced by
end-of-chapter problems.
AIR POLLUTION:
Physical and Chemical Fundamentals
John H. Seinfeld, California Institute of Technology. 1975.
544 pages. $22.50. Instructor's Manual.
A quantitative, rigorous approach to the science and
engineering underlying the air pollution problem, this
text comprehensively treats air pollution chemistry,
atmospheric transport processes. combustion
sources and control methods. The author also ex-
plores the physical and chemical behavior of air pol-
lutants in the atmosphere and methods to control
them.

im or her

mical

APPLIED STATISTICAL MECHANICS:
Thermodynamic and Transport Properties of Fluids
Thomas M. Reed and Keith E. Gubbins, both of the
University of Florida. McGraw-Hill Series in Chemical Engineer-
ing. 1973, 510 pages, $21.00. Solutions Manual.
Emphasizing applications, this text introduces vari-
ous ways in which statistical thermodynamics and
kinetic theory can be applied to systems of chemical
and engineering interests. It presents a fundamental,
up-to-date treatment of statistical mechanics and
focuses primarily on molecular theory as a basis for
correlating and predicting physical properties of
gases and liquids. Material on recent theoretical ap-
proaches i.e. perturbation theory, is also included.

CHEMICAL ENGINEERING KINETICS,
Second Edition
J.M. Smith, University of California, Davis. McGraw-Hill
Series in Chemical Engineering. 1970,544 pages, $18.50
Written to acquaint students with the tools neces-
sary to design new chemical reactors and predict the
performance of existing ones, this book develops
principles of kinetics and reactor design and then
applies them to actual chemical reactors. Emphasis
is placed on real reactions using experimental rather
than hypothetical data.

PRINCIPLES OF NON-NEWTONIAN
FLUID MECHANICS
G. Astarita, University of Naples and G. Marrucci, Uni-
versity of Palermo. McGraw-Hill Series in Chemical Engineering.
1974,304 pages, $19.50
This advanced treatment of non-newtonian fluid
mechanics includes discussions of continuum me-
chanics, modern dynamic theory, and rheology,
which are developed to help readers solve fluid me-
chanics problems, particularly those associated with
polymeric materials. The text takes the axiomatic ap-
proach, in which general theoretical results are ob-
tained from as few assumptions as possible.

THE INTERPRETATION AND USE OF RATE DATA
Stuart W. Churchill, University of Pennsylvania. 1974,
510 pages, $19.50
This book's completely new, unique treatment of
rate processes is unified and generalized in terms of
both procedures and processes. Greatly simplifying
and reducing the number of concepts needed by the
student, it provides an elementary, basic coverage of
chemical reactor design, momentum transfer, heat
transfer and component transfer. Concepts pre-
sented in the text are reinforced by over 300 prob-
lems based on raw experimental data from the
literature.
COMPUTER-AIDED HEAT TRANSFER ANALYSIS
J. Alan Adams and David F. Rogers, both of the
United States Naval Academy. 1973,426 pages, $18.50
Offering useful engineering analysis techniques, this
introductory book increases students' involvement
and creativity in solving heat transfer problems. It
presents a balanced approach between theory and
analysis/application of that theory for all three
modes of heat transfer. Well-documented, interactive
computer programs (BASIC) are an integral part of
the text.
MASS TRANSFER OPERATIONS,
Second Edition
Robert E. Treybal, University of Rhode Island. McGraw-
Hill Series in Chemical Engineering. 1968, 688 pages, $20.50
This text treats major subjects in categories of gas-
liquid, liquid-liquid, and fluid-solid contact. It applies
modern theories and data to the practical design of
equipment and features added material on multi-
component gas absorption and distillation.
UNIT OPERATIONS OF CHEMICAL
ENGINEERING, Third Edition
Warren L. McCabe, Emeritus, North Carolina State Uni-
versity, and Julian C. Smith, Cornell University. Jan. 1976,
1,028 pages, $22.50. Solutions Manual.
A new revision, the Third Edition of this interna-
tionally acclaimed text now offers a thorough discus-
sion of the three unit system: FPS, CGS, and SI units.
It also introduces fugacity and activity coefficients in
the study of phase equilibria, and contains a com-
pletely new chapter on multi-component distillation.
CHEMICAL AND CATALYTIC REACTION
ENGINEERING
James J. Carberry, University of Notre Dame. Jul. 1976,
704 pages (tent.). $22.50 (tent.)
Dr. Carberry's presentation embraces a diversity of
heterogeneous reaction engineering phenomena. He
chiefly emphasizes the heterogeneous system on
both the laboratory and plant scales, in particular
heterogeneous catalysis and catalytic reactors. Dis-
cussion includes chemical reaction kinetics, ideal
reactor types, real reactor equations and their param-
eters, and other topics.

moml

Educator

University of Florida's

Prepared by Dick Dale, Engineering Publications, with the assistance of U. of Florida ChE Dept.

O' CONNELL ENJOYS being a teacher. He
has fun at it. He has, admittedly, found his
calling. "I became a teacher because of all my
great teachers," he explains, "from grammar
school through high school and particularly
through 10 years in college and university work."
(O'Connell's educational background ranges from
receiving his B.A. from Pomona College, a small
liberal arts college, to his S.B., S.M. from M.I.T.
and his Ph.D. from the University of California
at Berkeley.) "While I love all the activities of
being a professor . . . teaching, research, service,
most of my satisfaction comes from teaching in
the broad sense. Or, better, helping learning in
the broad sense."
"I hope to cultivate people. I want to get stu-
dents to the position where they will be able to
handle anything they encounter and take appro-
priate action, not only in work situations but in
all situations."
"I like teaching engineers," he adds, with en-
thusiasm, "because they are the doers of modern
society. Part of the leadership problems we have
in all areas are people who are unwilling or un-
able to do things. I want my students to be able to
act."
O'Connell says, "While there were many who
influenced me, more than any other person W. K.
"Doc" Lewis of M.I.T. determined my style of
teaching which tries to get students to think for
themselves. He recalls that, "Just talking to "Doc"
was often an exhausting experience because one

Teaching a son to play ball
applauding a musical daughter, and
taking the whole family camping are matters
of prime importance ... to which he
devotes all of his attention and energies
with the same fervor he attacks
teaching, research or academic affairs.

. . . a love affair with the classroom

had to be constantly alert. But you could learn
much because "Doc" was so intuitive about how
nature behaves. He always knew the physics of
the situation."
As a result of this experience, O'Connell is a
man who prowls his classroom hurling questions
in response to questions, and to student's answers
often gives the frustrating challenge of, "Do you
really believe that?" But, though the vital young
educator admits to a love affair with the class-
room, his real love is informal interactions with
one student, head to head, or with several in a
close contest. Such occasions, be they "bull sessions
or counselling sessions, allow me to deal with the
students as individuals and give them what I've
learned and valued." Unfortunately, this is not
'efficient' in the bugetary sense. Because we are
developing people, education is not a matter of
production. If we must, a better way to cut costs
is to reduce that proportion of students that are
not eager to get all they can out of their educa-
tional opportunities. We in public institutions

CHEMICAL ENGINEERING EDUCATION

should try to establish an atmosphere of intel-
lectual persuit and tradition found usually at pri-
vate schools where students are carefully selected.
REACHING BACK
RECENTLY, THROUGH the latter half of his
nine years of teaching, he has noted in his
students two trends, one is a move of sorts toward
tradition, a return to the ceremonial, a reaching
back. And this meets with his approval. "We have
such a rich variety of things that we can get into
and enjoy. We have the opportunity to go back
and rediscover and reappreciate so very much."
The second is that even though modern chem-
ical engineering students are more concerned
about reaching successful employment and a ca-
reer than a few years ago, "They are not as sel-
fishly motivated as this usually implies and as
students may be in other fields of study," he con-
tinues. "They help each other and are more sen-
sitive to each other. This is great, because I feel
many of the problems of the world exist because
people are insensitive to one another."
How does O'Connell come across? Well, Pro-
fessor Robert Bennett, an associate and an ad-
mirer comments, "The impression we get from
John's students is that he is extremely interested
in their welfare, growth, learning and understand-
ing. He will spend hours with a student trying to

His real love is informal interactions
with one student ...
help him understand some point. He will use every
possible method to keep his students alert, make
them think for themselves, including sarcasm,
kidding and prodding them to take logical subse-
quent steps until they answer their own question.

O'Connell recalls, "More than any other person
'Doc' Lewis influenced my style of teaching ...
adopting the Socratic method to make
students think. Just sitting talking to
'Doc' was an exhausting experience."

They see him as having unbounded physical, emo-
tional and mental energy that sometimes leaves
his listener gasping for his breath."
John M. Prausnitz writes from Berkeley about
O'Connell's influence there: "As elsewhere, new
graduate students at Berkeley are assigned a desk
and chair soon after arrival. All too often these
desks and chairs are worn, routine pieces of furni-
ture devoid of any charm or personality.
"Soon after John's arrival at Berkeley he too
was given a hum-drum old chair and desk. Not
very pleased, John scouted around the various
storerooms of the College of Chemistry and some-
where he found an antique, upholstered swivel
chair-not luxurious-but much more comfortable
than the assigned one and definitely interesting,
colorful and unique. John O'Connell claims an
aged janitor told him he had cleaned that chair
for over 40 years and that it originally belonged
to the late Professor Latimer, discoverer of the
hydrogen bomb when he was dean of the college.
"The chair is now the prize possession in the
molecular-thermodynamics research laboratory.
By tradition it is used by the senior graduate stu-
dent, sometimes with a little ceremony. Although
it lacks an endowment, the O'Connell Chair is high
in prestige."

IN A PICKLE
ONE CLASS OF JUNIORS at Stanford was so
enthusiastic, but overwhelmed by the learn-
ing experience with O'Connell's thermodynamics
course that they established the first annual Chem-
ical Engineering "Pickle Award" in honor of
"what they were in all term long." The award
was a large Kosher Dill Pickle. Returning to give
a Seminar at Stanford one year later, he also re-
ceived the second Pickle award since no suitable
successor could be found among the Stanford fac-
ulty. John says "That class was one of my great
teaching experiences because I had the time to
devote to the students and they not only had great
ability, they all really wanted to learn. Apparently
I was one of the few teachers they had that they
felt really cared."

WINTER 1976

rEnh T
khS~l~dl

laboratory

ALKALINE FADING OF ORGANIC DYES:

AN IDEAL REACTION FOR

HOMOGENEOUS REACTOR EXPERIMENTS

RONALD P. ANDRES
Princeton University
Princeton, New Jersey 08540
and LLOYD R. WHILE
California State University
Long Beach, California 90840

THIS ARTICLE SUMMARIZES our experience
using the alkaline fading reaction of certain
organic dyes as a means of introducing students
to the behavior of homogeneous reactors.
Since the fall of 1960, the Department of
Chemical Engineering at Princeton has had a
Chemical Reactor Laboratory as an integral part
of its undergraduate curriculum. Initially offered
as an elective for seniors in the spring term fol-
lowing a fall lecture course in kinetics of chemical
processes, it is now combined with the lecture
course and is taken by all departmental seniors.
The Chemical Reactor Laboratory owes its ex-
istence to the late Richard H. Wilhelm who con-
ceived the idea and provided the inspiration and
guidance for its successful implementation. It has
been described in some detail by J. B. Anderson
[2], who was instrumental in the laboratory's de-
velopment. The experiences described here were
gained not only in the laboratory at Princeton, but
also in similar laboratories at the University of
Arizona and California State University, Long
Beach.
An important component of the laboratory is
the study of a single homogeneous reaction in
batch, CSTR, and tubular flow reactors as a uni-
fied base for comparison and understanding of re-
actor systems. This concept forms an integral part
of many similar reactor labs throughout the coun-
try. The reactions most commonly used for this
purpose are the hydrolysis of acetic anhydride or
* Chemical Engineering Department, California State
University, Long Beach, California 90840.

the saponification of ethyl acetate. Data is typi-
cally collected by direct sampling and titration.
Our experience with this procedure is that about
one-third of the groups fail to get acceptable
results because of poor planning and poor ex-
perimental techniques, and all of the groups be-
come frustrated by the tedium of many titrations.
In an attempt to provide a better environment for
experimental success and to increase the possibil-
ities for examining various pertinent supplemen-
tary effects within the time constraints of the lab-
oratory, we have recently replaced this classic re-

eel ;/*'.*

Ronald P. Andres received his B.S. degree from Northwestern Uni-
versity and his PhD degree from Princeton (1963). He is presently an
associate professor of chemical engineering at Princeton University.
His research interests are in rarefied gas dynamics, kinetics of nuclea-
tion, interfacial phenomena, aerosol physics, intermolecular forces, and
the application of interactive computers to process control and design.
Lloyd R. Hile received B.S. degrees in chemistry and chemical en-
gineering at the University of California, Berkeley and M.A. and Ph.D.
degrees from Princeton University. He has pursued interests in under-
graduate education since serving as coordinator of a newly formed
ChE. program at California State University, Long Beach and recently
shared experiences in laboratory development during a sabbatical at
Princeton University and the University of Arizona. His teaching and
research interests include kinetics, separation operations and process
dynamics. (right)

CHEMICAL ENGINEERING EDUCATION

!

action with the alkaline fading of an organic dye.
Use of such a reaction has the following advan-
tages :
* Extent of reaction easily monitored continuously.
* Wide range of rate constants possible.
* Understanding of phenomena reinforced by visualization.
* Minimal safety hazards, waste processing problems, and
chemical costs.
While our selection of an "ideal" reaction system
for homogeneous reactor experiments is not
unique, we feel that it offers considerable advan-
tages that may not be widely recognized.

ALKALINE FADING OF DYES

BROMOPHENOL BLUE, crystal violet, mala-
chite green, and phenolphthalein all undergo
a slow decolorization upon combining with hy-
droxide ion. For example, when phenolphthalein
(Ph) is added to an alkaline solution it first under-
goes a rapid irreversible conversion to the quinoid
form (Ph=) which has a pink color absorbancee
peak of 550[). The quinoid form then slowly and
reversibly reacts with hydroxide ion to form the
nonresonant (hence colorless) carbinol form
(PhOH=). Presumably the reactions are:

Ph + 20H -rapi > Ph + 2:,,0
(pink)

Ph= + OH- : POH"- [2]
k2
(pink) (slow) (colorless)

The kinetics of reaction (2) are conveniently
studied by following the decolorization of the re-
acting mixture using a colorimeter or spectro-
photometer. We chose the phenolphthalein reac-
tion because it illustrates a number of important
concepts:
1. Coupling of Kinetics and Thermodynamics
Since the reaction is reversible, the coupling of
kinetics and thermodynamics is demonstrated. The
heat of reaction (from equilibrium studies at vari-
ous temperatures) can be related to activation
energies (from kinetic studies at various tempera-
tures). Also, this reversible behavior adds an in-
teresting additional complexity to the kinetic anal-
ysis. Note the other dyes mentioned above fade ir-
reversibly.
2. Rate Determining Step
Since step (1) is essentially instantaneous, the
reaction rate is determined solely by step (2).

3. Pseudo-Rate Constant
In practice [OH-] >> [Ph] (typically 10-1M vs
10-5M) so the concentration of base remains ef-
fectively constant over the course of the reaction
and a pseudo-rate constant can be defined. This
also has the practical advantage of allowing the
experimenter to select the time scale of his kinetic
runs by suitable choice of hydroxide concentra-
tion. A 0.1 N hydroxide concentration provides a
"half-life" of about 7 minutes at room tempera-
tureture while doubling the concentration to 0.2 N
shortens the half-life to about 2 minutes.
4. Salt Effect
In reactions between ions the rate "constants"
are concentration dependent. The effect of positive
ions in the solution is to shield the negative

The reaction most commonly used
... is the hydrolysis of acetic anhydride.
Our experience with this procedure is
that about 1/3 of the groups fail to get
acceptable results because of poor
planning and poor experimental techniques,
and all of the groups become frustrated
by the tedium of many titrations.

charges of Ph= from OH-, decreasing the cou-
lombic repulsion of these species and thus increas-
ing the frequency with which they collide. Thus
the ionic strength of the reaction mixture has an
important effect on the kinetics. The Bronsted-
Debye limiting law is helpful for quantifying this
effect (ref. (3)).
The use of this reaction in a batch reactor and
in a CSTR sequence will be briefly discussed.

ISOTHERMAL BATCH REACTOR
T HE EXPERIMENT IS performed in conven-
tional glassware with thermostatic tempera-
ture control. The reaction is initiated by rapidly
mixing a few drops of phenolphthalein solution
(ethyl alcohol solvent) into a dilute aqueous
NaOH solution of known concentration and is fol-
lowed by continuously monitoring on a spectro-
photometer the absorbance of the reacting mix-
ture with time. To avoid removing discrete sam-
ples for analysis the reaction mixture is recycled
through a flow-through cell in the spectropho-
tometer as shown in Fig. 1. An easily constructed

WINTER 1976

STIRRER

REACTOR 0
SPECTROPHOTOMETER
S PUMP FLOW-THROUGH CELL

TO CONSTANT
TEMPERATURE BATH
FIGURE 1.

flow-through cell is shown in Fig. 5 (cf. reference
(5)). The volume of reacting fluid in the reactor
can be quite small; the reactor vessel is really only
needed to insure good mixing and temperature
control. Care must be taken to avoid forming air
bubbles in the recirculating system as this will af-
fect the absorbance of the solution.
Postulating the rate law for reaction [2] to be

-r _ = kI[Ph ][OH] -k2[PhOH-] [3]

and noting at equilibrium (t -> oo) that

kl [Ph ]0 - [Ph=]
k2 [Ph] [OH-] [4]

it follows for the batch reactor, since rph=
d[Ph=]/dt
[Ph=] - [Ph=]
[Ph-=]o " =] exp [-(kl' + k2)t] [5]
[Ph ]) - [Pif] 1 2

where
k,' = k[OH-], pseudo first order rate constant
[Ph=]o = concentration of colored species at instant
of initiation
Note the reaction is within 5% of equilibrium
when t = 3/ (k,' + k2). If the Beer-Lambert law
is followed*, concentration is directly proportional
to absorbance A and

A(t) - A(-)
n (- = -( k' + k2)t
A(0) - A(�)

Plotting A(t) - A (o) ** vs. t on semilog paper
should yield a straight line of negative slope

* This can be tested by finding A (0) (by the extrapolation
procedure described) for several levels of [Ph] (total
phenolphthalein concentration in both forms: Ph= and
PhOH=). A plot of A(0) vs. [Ph] should be linear.
** Alternately A(t) - A(t + At) can be plotted where
At is a constant time interval. The intercept is then
[A(0) - A(00)] (1 - exp[kl' + k2)At]).

(k/' + k2). Figure 2 shows such a plot of student
data. Note that A (0) need not be directly meas-
ured, it can be found from the intercept of the
above plot. The separate rate constants are then
extracted by noting from Eq. [4]

k = 2[7a]
K[OH-] + 1 7a]
k = Kk2 [7b]
where
A(0) - A(-)
A(-)[OH-] [7c]

The heat of reaction may be easily determined
by changing the temperature at the end of a run,
waiting for a new equilibrium to be established,
and measuring the new absorbance A (oo) (note
that A(0) is not affected). A van't Hoff plot of
InK vs 1/T should yield a straight line of slope
-AH,/R.
By carrying out kinetic runs at several tem-
perature levels the activation energies and pre-
exponential factors can be determined from an
Arrhenius plot (Ink vs. 1/T). The ionic strength

TIME IN SECONDS
200 400 600
FIGURE 2.

CHEMICAL ENGINEERING EDUCATION

7__ , p l .T TO
DRAIN
SPECTROPHOTOMETER
FLOW-THROUGH CELL

FIGURE 3.

must be the same at all temperatures used in con-
structing this plot.
The effect of ionic strength can be examined
by studying the kinetics using several hydroxide
ion concentration levels at a fixed temperature.
Alternately an inert salt can be added to raise the
ionic strength. An instructive question to ask the
students is how they could test the presumed first-
order dependence with respect to [OH-]. Repeating
the experimental procedure using several [OH-]
levels will not be sufficient since k, is dependent
on the ionic strength. A possible way out of this
dilemma is to add an inert salt to maintain the
ionic strength at the same level in all runs. More
detailed information on these reactions is avail-
able in references [3] and [4].

CONTINUOUS STIRRED TANK REACTORS
A SERIES OF TWO isothermal stirred tank re-
actors are used as shown in Fig. 3. Dilution
water is fed from a constant-head tank through a
rotameter and through a heat exchange coil in a
constant temperature bath before entering the
first reactor. The NaOH solution is fed by a vari-
able speed metering pump and the phenolphthalein
solution by a variable speed syringe pump directly
to the first reactor. "Start-up' is studied, in which
a step input of phenolphthalein is introduced at
t = 0. Prior to this the tanks are emptied and the
water-NaOH mixture is fed into them at the
chosen flow rates so the concentration of NaOH
throughout the system is constant during the run.
Flow rates, concentrations, and temperatures are
selected which will give comparable effects of con-
vection and reaction, i.e., a mean residence time
comparable to the "half-life" for reaction. The
transient response of the system to the step input
of Ph is continuously followed by monitoring the
absorbance of the effluent from the second tank.
Due to the very low flow rate of Ph solution re-
quired, the total flow to the system is not signif-
icantly affected by the start up.
Once steady state has been achieved, the efflu-
ent from the first tank is diverted through the

WATER

WINTER 1976

NaOH SOLUTION

flow-through cell using a line which bypasses the
second tank. The feed stream absorbance could be
similarly measured. Finally a sample of one of the
steady-state effluents is allowed to reach equilib-
rium at the operating temperature and its absorb-
ance is measured. A convenient way to accomplish
this is to allow the bypassed second tank to operate
as a batch reactor and sample by recycling as de-
scribed in the previous section. While waiting for
equilibrium in the second tank, if the feed of Ph
to the first tank is stopped then the transient re-
sponse to a "shut down" can be continuously mon-
itored.
The unsteady-state material balance assuming
ideal CSTR's yields the sequence of coupled linear
differential equations:

x ,(j) (kl ' e + 1) -k2e x x (j)l + x j-1)
dTV x 2j) -kl'6 (k + 1) x2(j) x2(j-1)

0 = mean residence time in each tank
(equal volumes assumed) ; t' = t/O

x1(j) = [Ph]j / [Ph=]0
x2(j) = [PhOH-] / [Ph=]o

(j denotes tank number; 0 refers to feed stream).
For a step input of Ph= to tank 1 the solution to
Eq. [8] can be found by standard methods (cf. ref.
(1)) to be
n-1
Xl(j) =l , - [ JK' (1 - e-t i =O _ nn

+ 1 - e[9]
j-9

where 1/a = (k/' + k) 0 + 1 and K' = k1'/k2. The
above presumes that initially there is no phenol-
phthalein in any tank and that negligible conver-
sion to PhOH= occurs in the feed stream. Since Eq.
[9] is somewhat cumbersome students may prefer
to solve Eq. [8] numerically on a digital computer.
Eq. [9] suggests a convenient form for displaying
experimental data: a semi-log plot of 1 - A (j) /
A" (j) vs. t/0 where A (j) is the absorbance of ef-
fluent from tank j and Ass (j) is its steady-state
value (Beer's law assumed). The shutdown case is
modeled in an analogous manner.
The rate constants kl' and kg may be obtained
from the batch studies described previously if the
same conditions of base concentration and tem-
perature are used in this CSTR study. Alterna-
tively there is enough information to obtain them

6

02
4 .*
r 3 /�
a2

0
- 0.0 10 20 30 40 50 60 MINUTES
FIGURE 4.

from the steady-state measurements described
above since from Eq. [9]

xss (j c K'+I [10]
K' + 1

or rearranging

completely; it is evident that the final color dark-
ens with increasing temperature so the reaction
must be exothermic; in the CSTR experiment the
steady-state concentrations are noticeably differ-
ent in the tanks and the distinction between
equilibrium and steady state is seen; the moment
of initiation can be established visually; and ac-
cidental contamination due to careless cleaning is
immediately evident.
As the major objective of these experiments
is to emphasize reactor properties rather than re-
action properties, perhaps one of the simpler ir-
reversible reactions should be used. On the whole,
however, we feel that the new insights brought
about through use of the more complex kinetics
outweigh the drawbacks of a more involved ex-
periment and analysis.

REFERENCES

cY' = Ass(1)/A( ) - 1 [11]
a = [ASS(2) - A(-)] / [ASS(1) - A(-)]
where A(oo) is the absorbance of an equilibrium
sample.
Note that three measurements (e.g. Ass (1),
Al" (2) and A (0o)) are needed to extract the rate
constants k/' and k2.
Comparison of the predicted and measured
transient responses is shown in Fig. 4 for typical
student data.

CONCLUSIONS

THE ATTITUDE OF the students to the se-
quence of reactor experiments was substan-
tially improved through use of the alkaline fading
reaction. Some of the poorer students had con-
ceptual difficulty with the reversible nature of the
phenolphthalein reaction, and care had to be taken
that they not only made all necessary measure-
ments but also were on the right track in develop-
ing a kinetic model to represent the experiment.
Even some better students made the common error
of assuming ([Ph=] + [PhOH=]) constant in the
transient CSTR experiment, i.e. confusing batch
and flow behavior.
The visual nature of this reaction as carried
out in clear glass reactors added considerably to
the interest and gave tangible reinforcement of
concepts that raw data often lacks. This allows
misconceptions or blunders to be more easily un-
covered. Some examples: the reversible nature of
the reaction is obvious since the color never fades

1. A. Acrivas and N. R. Amundson, Industrial and Engi-
neering Chemistry, 47, 1533 (1955).
2. J. B. Anderson, Chemical Engineering Education 5,
78 (1971).
3. M. 0. Barnes and V. K. LaMer, Pournal of the Amer-
ican Chemical Society 64, 2312 (1942).
4. P. T. Y. Chen and K. J. Laidler, Canadian Journal
of Chemistry 37, 599 (1959).
5. L. R. Hiles and R. D. Williams, Chemical Engineering,
82 (14),108 (1975).

Sample in --- C-

Bored through 3/8"-1/4"

Rubber

Standard 3/8" union
tee

_..-. Sample out

iss test tube

Schematic of flow cell.
FIGURE 5.

CHEMICAL ENGINEERING EDUCATION

perception; the intellectual on which we inquire
and come to understand; the rational on which we
reflect and pass judgment; and the responsible
level where we are concerned to evaluate and de-
cide. Intelligence takes us beyond experience to
ask what and why; reasonableness wants to know
if the answers of intelligence are true; responsi-
bility goes beyond fact and possibility to ask what
is good and hence what should be put into prac-
tice. In the sense that this pattern is not tied to
categories or cultural background it is tran-
scendental and forms an objective, normative pat-
tern of the dynamics of conscious enquiry. It must
admit of further extensions and clarifications but
in one sense it does not admit of revision. For a
revision which destroyed the pattern would have
to come from without and so be no revision but a
rejection, since revision using the methods of the
pattern to reject the pattern would reject itself.
This transcendental method has to be worked out
in a given discipline in the categories which are
appropriate to that discipline. However in any
context it will function in a variety of ways-
normatively, critically, dialectically, systemati-
cally. It provides continuity without rigidity, guid-
ing inquiry and laying a sound foundation.
By now the reader will be frothing at the gills
"If this is what the fellow means by being more
explicitly conscious of methodology, what hope
is there for us? He hasn't even talked about a
practical method yet." Agreed-but then Loner-
gan scarcely mentions God in his "Method in
theology". However, just as there is a need to
articulate this in detail with respect to the par-
ticular techniques of chemical engineering (as,
for example, Rudd and his colleagues have done
for design synthesis [13] so also is there a need to
look at the foundations [14] of our style of think-
ing. This may lead to philosophy in the technical
sense rather than in the colloquial. In the chemical
engineering literature we have Rase's excellent
introduction to the chemical engineering outlook
[15]; in the philosophical literature there is a long
tradition that has been alluded to only glancingly
here-more recent modes are well described by
Bochenski [16]. At all events it is not philosophy
in isolation and its development and application
should produce a heightened consciousness of
what the chemical engineer is actually doing and
help him, or her, to do it the more effectively.
REFERENCES
1. The late C. H. Bosanquet on his brother L. S.
2. Kipling, R., Collected Poems.

3. Amundson, N. R. and Aris, R. (1958) Chem. Engng.
Sci. 7, 121.
4. Uppal, A., Ray, W. H. and Poore, A. B. (1974) Chem.
Engng. Sci. 29, 967.
5. Descartes, R. Rules for the direction of the mind. In
Philosophical works of Descartes. Ed E. Haldane and
G. R. T. Ross. Cambridge 1911. Or Great Books of the
Western World. Vol. 31.
6. Bentham, J. (1813) Essay on logic (1813). In "Works"
8 Ed. J. Bowring. Edinburgh 1843.
7. Coleridge, S. T. (1818). A preliminary treatise on
method Ed. A. D. Snyder. under the title "Coleridge's
Treatise on Method" London, 1934.
8. Cf. a point made by Aris in "Canon and method in the
arts and sciences" Chem. Eng. Educ. 3, 48, 1969.
9. Dewey, J. (1929). The quest for certainty New York.
10. Buehler, J. (1961). The concept of method New York.
Columbia University Press.
11. Lonergan, B. J. F. (1957). Insight-a study of human
understanding New York. Philosophical Library.
12. Lonergan, B. J. F. (1971). Method in theology London.
Darton, Longman and Todd.
13. Rudd, D. F., Powers, G. J. and Siirola, J. J. (1973).
Process synthesis
14. Cf. the foundational work of Bunge in physics and
other areas: Bunge, M. Foundations of Physics.
Springer Verlag. Heidelberg 1967.
15. Rase, H. F. (1961). The philosophy and logic of chem-
ical engineering Gulf Publishing Co.
16. Bochenski, J. M. (1968). The methods of contemporary
thought New York. Harper.

I book reviews

Mixing-Principles and Applications
by Shinji Nagata
Reviewed by Louis J. Jacobs, Jr., Monsanto Co.,
St. Louis, Missouri.

This book is a comprehensive coverage of mix-
ing and processing of fluids in agitated vessels. A
good balance between theory and practice is pro-
vided with several examples given to demonstrate
use of the correlations. The late Professor Nagata
of Kyoto University was one of the most active
researchers in many facets of the field of mixing
over the past thirty years. His qualifications to do
a book of this type are without question, and we
are fortunate that his manuscript was completed
prior to his recent death. This book serves many
purposes providing, (1) a good introduction for
persons new to the mixing field, (2) a basis for
people doing further research in mixing, and (3)
a source of practical information for people de-
signing mixing processes. I highly recommend
this book for persons with each of these three in-
terests.
(Continued on page 27.)

WINTER 1976

O'Connell's more recent academic activities in-
clude belonging to such professional societies as
ASEE-CED, AIChE, the American Chemical So-
ciety, the American Association of University Pro-
fessors, the American Association for Advance-
ment of Science. People who have shared commit-
tee service with O'Connell note that he has sen-
sitivity, understanding, wide knowledge of the
university, good rapport with campus people and
is willing to take suggestions. They also say that
as a committee member he is a "mover" and a
"shaker". For example, he was the principal de-
veloper of the University of Florida Teaching
Evaluation system which allows individual col-
leges to choose their own instrument. "While any
system can be abused, I think the value of the in-
formation which should help improve teaching
and of forcing many students to think about the
quality of their education outweighs possible 'pop-
ularization' of courses and manipulation for
wrong ends."
He is also a Danforth Associate, a program
for selected faculty established by the Danforth
Foundation to "promote the personal dimension
of education".
O'Connell's professional fields of interest in-
clude applied statistical mechanics and molecular
studies, solution thermodynamics (including elec-
trolytes), transport properties of gases, adsorp-
tion and surface diffusion, materials and computer
calculations. In addition to the usual graduate re-
search direction, he has had a number of under-
graduates work directly with him in these areas.
In his private life he concentrates his interest
on his family. Their favorite activity "Which
happens too infrequently", is travel and camping
in their pick-up camper. He particularly enjoys
watching the growth of his two sons and one
daughter with their diverse talents and personal-
ities. While John devotes the same energy and
enthusiasm to their development, he does find lim-
its to their patience with his teaching style. He
also "too infrequently" enjoys the products of his
wife's culinary expertise, renowned not only
among faculty and students in Gainesville, but
also among professional visitors fortunate enough
to have a dinner or party given in their honor at
the O'Connell home.
If all the foregoing paints an unusual picture
of John P. O'Connell, it must certainly be founded
in fact. In his own words O'Connell says:
"Any one who professes to be a thermody-
namicist has got to be a peculiar person!" D

letters

Emphasis on Quality
Sir.
Our ad on page 252 of CHEMICAL ENGINEERING
EDUCATION, Volume IX, No. 4, Fall 1975, contains a
more-or-less egregious error: the substitution of the word
"equality" for the word "quality".
We recognize the importance of CHEMICAL ENGI-
NEERING EDUCATION and appreciate the amount of
work that goes into preparing such a publications. Thang
you for your efforts.
Noel de Nevers
University of Utah
Editor's Note: CEE regrets this typographical error. The
corrected ad appears below.

Fall Issue Feedback
Sir:
In the Fall 1975 issue of your Journal, an article by
Donaghey discusses "Critical Path Planning of Graduate
Research." This paper is somewhat misleading, because it
indicates that the process is performed just once per proj-
ect.
The sequence that Donaghey describes in his Table II
does not stop with Tasks 8 and 9, because the Task 8

CHEMICAL ENGINEERING EDUCATION

CONSIDER UTAH

This is a small ad for people who recognize
that bigger isn't necessarily better. The University
of Utah has a small chemical engineering depart-
ment (8 faculty) where the emphasis is not on
size but on quality. If you are interested in a
small, high-quality chemical engineering depart-
ment having a variety of important research
activities and located in one of the world's most
pleasant cities in a unique geographical setting,

write for more information to:

Professor Noel deNevers
Director of Graduate Studies
Department of Chemical Engineering
University of Utah
Salt Lake City, Utah 84112

(Compare Theo and Expt) almost always reveals an un-
satisfactory level of agreement. So it is necessary to go
through the cycle again, perhaps with a better definition
of the problem, and a different choice of material (e.g.
higher purity) etc. The cycle is repeated, over and over;
and improvement of agreement (Task 8) in successive
cycles is what tells the research worker that he is chang-
ing his parameters-and his concepts-in the right direc-
tion. This is a feedback process, of course.
At the start of each cycle, the worker should carry out
a critical path analysis, in order to optimize his project
plan.
Donaghey's contribution is .an important one; but it
needs amplification in regard to the cyclic, feedback proc-
ess, and to epicycles on the main process and to the criteria
which are used to terminate the research.
Robert J. Good
State University of New York-Buffalo

The Chemi Project
ORIGINALLY FORMED in 1971 to meet the need for
introducing computer usuage into the curriculum, The
CACHE Corporation, successor to The CACHE (Computer
Aids for Chemical Engineering Education) Committee, is
now addressing itself to the even greater challenge of pro-
ducing educational material geared to the more rapid infusion
of new subject matter into the curriculum, more cost-effec-
tive training methods, increasing student problem-solving
competency, and the generation of non-traditional texts and
expository training material.

In an effort to achieve these goals, CACHE formed sev-
eral task forces, one of which was on modularized instruc-
tion. Aware of the interest in self-paced instruction and the
improved student learning from such instruction, (as evi-
denced by growing attendance at teaching institutes and
numerous articles [1, 2, 3, 4], the task force prepared a pro-
posal for the NSF to produce self-study modules for use by
undergraduate ChE students and also for continuing educa-
tion. In July of 1975 a $150,000 NSF Grant, over a three
year period, was awarded to CACHE, for The CHEMI
(Chemical Engineering Modular Instruction) Project. The
grant is specifically for producing and distributing self-
study, single concept, text (print) modules in ChE. These
modules will cover the entire ChE undergraduate curriculum.
From 40 to 70 modules are planned in each of seven cur-
riculum areas: control, transport, stagewise processes, de-
sign, material and energy balances, kinetics, and thermo-
dynamics. They are intended as lecture and textbook supple-
ments for students self study, student evaluation, and con-
cept demonstrations in the case of those modules which em-
body simulation type of computer programs. Also, once the
modules are written, path finding algorithms will be used to
trace prerequisite skills and develop curriculum guides
which may be useful for ordering the modules and helping
curriculum planners.
What is a module? The word "module" has several mean-
ings in different contexts. Tosti [5] and Koen [6] have defined
an educational module as follows: "A module is a self-con-
tained section of learning material that covers one or more
topic areas. It should be sufficiently detailed that an outside
evaluator could identify its educational objectives and evalu-
(Continued on page 52.)

WINTER 1976

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The jcd-alew coampa#zieS doaated 1(uidi Jo" Me

da4zz04t 4O

CHEMICAL ENGINEERING EDUCATION
DURING 1975-76:

MONSANTO COMPANY

3M COMPANY

We aha ola#, Mte 133 Chemcal C#%#4eeU# !bepat-

meows adhz coan& 1w ted &e Me do~palG/ ej e iw 1975!

laboratory

DIGITAL SIMULATION

I. J. DUNN and J. E. PRENOSIL
Eidgenossische Technische Hochschule
Zurich, Switzerland
J. INGHAM
University of Bradford
Bradford, Yorkshire, England

CONVENTIONAL CHEMICAL engineering
laboratory courses are often found to be un-
satisfactory owing to their routine, predictable
nature and lack of challenge. The normal steady
state approach can cause difficulties when one is
confronted with real-life variable operating con-
ditions. At present, there is a growing realization
of the importance of process dynamics, even at the
preliminary design stage, in order to optimize
design and to implement optimal control strat-
egies. This interest is reflected by the rapidly in-
creasing number of new texts dealing with the

Jiri E. Prenosil was educated at the Prague Institute of Chemical
Technology and received his Ph.D. degree in Chemical Engineering
from the Czechoslovak Academy of Science. He has four years teach-
ing experience at the University of Baghdad and since 1971 he has
been at the Chemical Engineering Department of the Federal In-
stitute of Technology, Zurich. His teaching and research interests are
in the fundamentals of mixing and diffusion. (left)
John Ingham was educated at the University of Leeds (B.Sc. 1957)
and received his Ph.D. degree at the University of Bradford (1970).
After several years spent in industry he is presently lecturer in chem-
ical engineering at Bradford where his present research interests lie
in the hydrodynamics of solvent extraction columns and computer

mathematical modelling, simulation and control
of chemical plants [1-5]. This growing interest in
the dynamic state should, we consider, be re-
flected by a changed emphasis in the method of
teaching chemical engineering. Today at least one
recent text is available in which unsteady state
formulations are used at the onset to introduce
students to chemical engineering analysis [6].
Based on the concept that "simulation makes you
think" the present course has been developed to
bring process dynamics (via the use of mathe-
matical modelling and digital simulation program-
ming) into the chemical engineering laboratory.
In developing the laboratory course, we were
motivated by the conviction that the best way to
understand the physical processes is through the
use of dynamic modelling techniques. Often transi-
ent processes are more easily visualized than the
steady state. Perhaps it is a matter of daily ex-

simulation. This paper was prepared during a one year leave of ab-
sence from Bradford spent at the ETH Zurich (1971-72). (center)
Irving J. Dunn studied chemical engineering at the University of
Washington in Seattle (B.S. degree, 1960) and at Princeton University
(Ph.D., 1963). After periods spent at the Physical Chemistry Institute
in Munich, the University of Idaho, and Robert College (now Bos-
phorus University), Istanbul, Turkey. Dr. Dunn is now at the ETH,
Zurich. Present interests lie within the development of research pro-
grams in biochemical engineering. Current research includes oxygen
transfer in fermenters, tubular loop fermenter design, on-line com-
puter use and the control of biological sewage treatment systems. (right)

WINTER 1976

perience which allows the student to understand
the physical meaning of the rates of accumulation
of mass and energy within a system rather easily.
Steady state conditions can then be presented as a
special case in which input rates exactly balance
output rates.
Probably the main reason for avoiding the
study of dynamics in the past has been the dif-
ficulty in solving the mathematics. Students are
easily discouraged and distracted from basic
modelling processes when confronted by appar-
ently complicated sets of simultaneous differential
equations. The use of a digital simulation pro-
gramming language can be employed to great ad-
vantage in these cases, even when an analytical
solution is available. Writing the governing dif-
ferential equations requires a detailed mathe-
matical description for such component in the
process. A clear understanding is necessary and
the physical interrelationship and simultaneous
nature of the equations must be fully realized. The
mathematical model and its derived information
flow diagram both contribute to a clearer qualita-
tive picture of the process, as well as providing a
means to eventual solution. Our experience has
shown that students rapidly obtain a confidence in
their mathematical ability and an enjoyment in
the description of complex systems, with an in-
creased understanding of the processes actually
involved. The lack of formalism in the simula-
tion programming, as compared to conventional
computer programming, brings the students into
an easy and confident relationship with the com-
puter at a very early stage of development, since
the programming is greatly simplified. Thus the
student can concentrate on understanding the
problem and translating his knowledge into ap-
propriate mathematical terms.

DYNAMIC SIMULATION
T HE CHEMICAL ENGINEERING program at
the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology
(ETH) has undergone considerable development
within the last five years [7]. Students receive in-
struction in unit processes together with chemical
reaction engineering, fluid mechanics, process con-
trol and process design and planning. A variety of
laboratory courses, totalling approximately ten
hours per week during one and a half years intro-
duce the students to practical work in the fields
of separation techniques, fluid flow, heterogene-
ous catalysis, heat transfer, measurement meth-
ods, chemical reaction engineering and process

dynamics. The final eighth half year is devoted to
a full-time independent three-month research or
design project.
The laboratory course, of which the simulation
experiments make up a part, is taken during the
first half of the fourth and final year. The stu-
dents have previously been exposed to the general
concepts of transient heat and mass balancing
problems, but may have difficulties when con-
fronted by real physical situations, requiring a
mathematical description in dynamic terms, al-
though about one quarter of the students take a
previous elective course dealing with modelling
and simulation. The total time allocated, ten hours

Based on the concept that
"simulation makes you think",
the present course has been developed
to bring process dynamics (via the use
of mathematical modelling and digital
simulation programming) into the ChE lab.

per week for a period of four weeks for each ex-
periment includes all aspects of the work: prep-
aration, experiment, computation, interpretation
and report writing.
The students receive a written outline of the
experiment, together with references to the under-
lying theory which is discussed with an instructor.
The work is then carried out more or less inde-
pendently, with only occasional consultation re-
quired.
Although few aspects of the experimental
equipment as described in the next section and the
methods of process analysis are really new, the
construction of appropriate mathematical models
for real processes and the manipulation of the
models on large scale computers represent a new
phase in the development of chemical engineering
laboratory courses.
The increased educational value is apparent
when compared with the conventional steady state
approach, as shown in Figure 1. The tasks in-
volved tend to be very routine and with little ac-
tive thought on the part of the student. On the
other hand, the simulation of the dynamic experi-
ments forces a positive interaction between the
development of the mathematical model and the
experiment. Moreover, the experimental results
have their theoretical counterpart which can be
used for the instantaneous control of both experi-

CHEMICAL ENGINEERING EDUCATION

ment and model. This is illustrated in Figure 2.
The task of obtaining a solution is very signif-
icant in the learning process. All parameters must
be defined and any forgotten parameter will be
clearly indicated by the computer. The need to
define initial conditions forces the student to con-
sider the nature of the physical situation. Any
error in any of the parameters will usually lead to
results which are physically unreasonable; again
forcing the student to analyse the problem with
care. Thus, the success of the computer simulation
provides a check on the mathematical model.
Agreement between experiment and theory
greatly improves the students' confidence and abil-
ity.
Discussion often arises regarding the correct
choice of the factors to be included in the model.
These questions often lead to further experiments
in order to confirm the assumptions concerning
the actual physical situation. Simplifying assump-
tions in the model may also be suggested.
Although the students have only moderate
prior computer experience, they generally have
little difficulty in using the MIMIC digital simula-
tion programming language. Thus the step from
mathematical model to the numerical solution pro-
ceeds with little effort, leaving the students free
to concentrate on understanding the nature of the
physical system, formulating this into mathe-
matical terms, and determining appropriate nu-
merical parameters. We have found the use of the
simulation language to be a significant teaching

FIG. I CONVENTIONAL LABORAT ORY

URSE

RE,

ANALYSIS

FIG 2 '1 i. LATIC-J I ��OPATORY

aid, contributing
and interest.

greatly to student motivation

THE EXPERIMENTS
A SERIES OF SIX experiments are presently
employed. These involve the study of the
dynamic response characteristics of:-
* a cascade of stirred tank reactors,
* a tubular chemical reactor,
* a liquid level control system,
* a batch distillation,
* the transient heating and cooling of a batch reactor ves-
sel and contents,
* the control of a continuous stirred tank heating system.
All have the characteristics of requiring a mini-
mum of expensive apparatus, being easy to carry
out experimentally, being easy to model and to
simulate on the computer and providing insight
into ChE fundamental processes.

EXAMPLE: TRANSIENT HEATING
T HE APPARATUS IS shown in Figure 3. A
400 litre capacity stainless steel stirred pres-
sure vessel is heated with steam, using an external
jacket. Cooling is provided by an internal water-
cooled coil. Temperatures are recorded continu-
ously as a function of time for the tank contents,
and for the inlet and outlet cooling water. The
steam jacket pressure is measured and also the
flow of cooling water. The students are required
to measure the dynamics of heating and cooling
the tank contents. Starting at ambient conditions,
the tank is heated to the maximum temperature

WINTER 1976

COOLING WAAER
IN

COOLING WATER

STEAM IN

Determining the steam pressure involves an alge-
braic loop between the data in steam tables and
the ideal gas law, as shown in the information
flow diagram Figure 4.

CONCLUSIONS

A ChE laboratory course based on the model-
ling and computer simulation of dynamic experi-
mental conditions has been found to have many
advantages over the conventional steady state ap-
proach in terms of increased interest and motiva-
tion on the part of the student. The use of a dig-
ital simulation language forms a considerable aid
to the learning process in addition to providing a

FIG 3 T'RASIENT
� � A C� T,' R

provided by the low pressure steam supply. From
this stage, the system is cooled to cooling water
temperature. A steady state heat balance is made
by comparing the heat supplied by the steam to
the heat removed in the cooling water.
A heat balance on the well mixed vessel con-
tents is as follows:-

dT

Allowing for the rate of accumulation of heat in
the thick vessel walls

dt
MmCm d Q--Q -Qw

The heat transfer relations determine the heat
quantities

Qw = UwAw (Tm - Tw)
Qs= UsA (T,- T.)
The steam temperature depends on the steam
pressure (saturated steam). The steam pressure
depends on the mass of steam in the jacket, the
jacket volume, and the jacket temperature. Thus
a mass balance is required for the steam jacket.

dM-= F, - Qs/AH

The term (Q,/AH) is the condensate rate, and F,
is the inlet mass flow rate given by the relation

F.= K A, VPo-P P.
where
p MRTS
V-

dTW Qw /w Cw

Qw Tw

Qw = UwAw [ Tmr- Tw)

Qw Tm

dTm Qs -Qw] /MmCm
dt

Qs Tm

Qs = Us As (Ts -Tm )

Ts = q (Ps)

Ps Ts

Ps Ms R Ts
PS- v

_d Ms Fs -Qs/AH
dt

Ps

Fs K.Av o P

FIG.4. INFORMATION FLOW DIAGRAM

CHEMICAL ENGINEERING EDUCATION

Qs

QS

T. = feq (Ps)

I |

simple and direct means of solving quite complex
problems leaving the student free to concentrate
on the actual physical nature of the system. OF

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors would all like to thank Professors Bourne,
Richarz and Rippin for their encouragement and interest
during the development of this course. One author (J. Ing-
ham) would also like to thank the authorities of the Swiss
Federal Institute of Technology and especially Professor
J. Bourne for the opportunity to work at the Technisch-
Chemisches Laboratorium during the period 1971-1972.

NOMENCLATURE

Heat transfer area on water side
Heat transfer area on steam side
Valve fractional opening
Heat capacity of water
Heat capacity of metal
Flow rate of steam
Latent heat of vapourization
Valve coefficient
Mass of water in vessel
Mass of metal in jacket wall
Mass of steam in jacket

L2
L2

L2T-1i0-1i
L2T-0-i1
MT-1
L2T-2
LT
M
M
M

Pressure of steam source
Pressure of steam in jacket
Heat transfer rate from steam
Heat transfer rate at water side
Gas constant
Temperature of metal wall
Temperature of steam
Water temperature
Heat transfer coefficient on water side
Heat transfer coefficient on steam side
Steam jacket volume

REFERENCES
1. Franks, R. G. E., Mathematical Modelling in Chemical
Engineering, John Wiley, (1967).
2. Franks, R. G. E., Modelling and Simulation in Chem-
ical Engineering, Wiley Interscience, (1972).
3. Smith, C. L., Pike, R. W. and Murrill, P. W., Formula-
tion and Optimisation of Mathematical Models, Inter-
national Textbooks, (1970).
4. Luyben, W. L., Process Modelling, Simulation and Con-
trol for Chemical Engineering, McGraw-Hill, (1973).
5. Yaohan Chu, Digital Simulation of Continuous Sys-
tems, McGraw-Hill, (1969).
6. Russell, T. W. F. and Denn, M. M., Introduction to
Chemical Engineering Analysis, John Wiley, (1972).
7. Bourne, J. R., Chimia, 24, 253 (1970).

A chapter on power consumption of mixing
impellers reviews some of the theory, gives guid-
ance on measuring power on small scale equip-
ment and then extensively covers the prediction of
power consumption for various impellers in large
scale equipment both for baffled and unbaffled ves-
sels and Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluids.
In the chapter on heat transfer some modifica-
tions to common correlations are presented, in-
cluding additional geometric parameters. These
new forms correlate well the published data for
turbulent heat transfer which had previously been
correlated with equations having differing ex-
ponents. Heat transfer from viscous fluids using
anchor or helical ribbon impellers is well covered.
Three chapters deal with flow modeling
theory, as well as data for calculating mixing
times, and circulation rates continuing the balance
between theory and practical design information.
Four chapters are devoted to nonhomogeneous
agitation operations: solid-liquid, immissible liq-
uid contacting, and gas-liquid processing. Quanti-
tative information is presented, but the correla-
tions are not as well defined and substantiated as
those for power and heat transfer.
A final chapter is called "Applications" which

is a qualitative overview of the whole subject of
mixing. This chapter is a good summary for de-
veloping an understanding of the field of mixing,
but is void of any quanitative design information.
While I highly recommend this book, it does
have limitations, some of which are acknowledged
by the author. For a book titled "Mixing" there is
no real discussion of pipeline or static mixing
techniques, which is presently one of the most ac-
tive areas of mixing interest. Mixing of very high
viscosity materials, greater than about 1000 poise,
is also excluded. Lists of nomenclature are found
at the end of each chapter, but they are not all in-
clusive, and symbols and units are a source of con-
fusion throughout the book. Some of the text reads
a little rough, which may be due to translation
from Japanese. For those looking for accurate de-
sign and scale-up methods for all mixing equip-
ment the book will not completely satisfy the
need. Mixing operations are very dependent on
geometry of the particular system which makes
generalizations difficult. There remains a need for
considerable judgment among existing methods
and techniques. This book can provide a good
source from which to exercise that judgment.

WINTER 1976

ML-IT-2
ML-iT-2
ML2T-3
ML2T-3
ML2T-20-1
0

MT-30-1
MT-30-1
L3

BOOK REVIEWS
Continued from page 5.

laboratory

SIMULATION OF THE

CARDIOPULMONARY CIRCULATION:

An Experiment in Reactor Analysis

with Medical Applications
FROM BODY
PULMONARY
ARTERY
TO LUNGS __

ANDREW J. LOVINGER and
CARL C. GRYTE
Columbia University
New York, N.Y. 10027

THE INDICATOR DILUTION technique is a
very important diagnostic method for the cal-
culation of cardiac output (i.e. the blood flow
rate), cardiopulmonary volumes and mean transit
times, as well as for the detection of circulatory
diseases and abnormalities [1, 2]. As this technique
is based almost exclusively on the principles of
chemical reactor analysis, it represents a very
suitable experimental topic for students in chem-
ical engineering and bioengineering, and is par-
ticularly valid for the growing number of those
who are preparing themselves for future medical
studies. The experiment described herein has been
one of the projects in the senior laboratory courses
offered by the Department of Chemical Engineer-
ing and Applied Chemistry of Columbia Univer-
sity.
Use of tracers has been a very common method
in the study of flow reactors. Internal and exit
age distribution functions [3] in chemical reactors
are calculated by analyzing the response curve to
a tracer input signal. As the heart chambers are
analogous to stirred tank reactors [4, 5], the prin-
ciples of reactor analysis can be employed in the
study of the human circulation.
Figure 1 is a simple representation of the
heart. Its right chambers are essentially a mixing
vessel that pumps blood into the lungs. Since the
pulmonary circulation is an extended capillary
system, flow occurs with little mixing. The left
side of the heart is analogous to the right; it, too,
is a mixing chamber whose purpose is to force the

TO
LUNGS

RIGHT

TO BODY
FIGURE 1. Blood flow patterns in the heart chambers.
blood out into the body (systemic circulation). A
bolus of indicator (a dye, for example) is injected
into one point of the system and the time depend-
ent detection of the tracer is made at a second
point. From these data, the volumetric flow rate
and the volume of the system between the injec-
tion and sampling points can be determined.
Current clinical indicator dilution practice is
based upon the Stewart-Hamilton formulation [6]
which treats the vessel wherein the tracer is in-
jected as an ideal stirred tank. The indicator is
usually a radionuclide such as Tc99m or 131, al-
though dyes are sometimes used. A more suitable
tracer for a laboratory experiment is a soluble
salt (e.g. KC1) so that continuous conductivity

CHEMICAL ENGINEERING EDUCATION

measurements can be made at appropriate posi-
tions within the circulatory reactor model.

THEORY
T HERE EXIST TWO types of continuous ideal
chemical reactors, the Continuous Flow Stirred
Tank Reactor (CFSTR) and the Plug Flow Tub-
ular Reactor (PFTR). The first of these is a ves-
sel in which perfect mixing assures uniform con-
centration in all parts of the tank; this also ac-
counts for the concentration of the outflow stream
being identical to that of the reactor contents. In
the absence of chemical reaction, the ideal CFSTR
is simply a vessel for perfect mixing of a number
of materials.
The ideal PFTR represents the opposite end
of the spectrum. It is commonly a tube in which
the concentration is uniform at each radial cross
section, but with no mixing taking place in the
axial direction. The fluid traverses the tube with
a flat velocity profile; thus, the necessary and suf-
ficient condition for ideal plug flow is that all flow
elements have the same residence times in the re-
actor. For this reason, in the absence of chemical
reaction, the PFTR behaves as a delay function
within a flow system.
The response of ideal reactors to different in-
puts is extensively covered in the literature [3, 7].
When an impulse injection of a tracer is made into
an ideal CFSTR, the concentration in the effluent
decays exponentially. Then, the flow rate, F, is
given by the formula

F =-, (1)
C (t) dt
0
where I is the amount of tracer injected and C (t)
is the time-varying concentration of indicator in
the outflow stream. The denominator of this ex-
pression represents the total area under the con-
centration-time curve and can be evaluated ana-
lytically, graphically, or numerically [8, 9].
The mean transit time, t, of tracer in a vessel

As the heart chambers
are analogous to stirred tank
reactors, the principles of reactor
analysis can be employed in the
study of human circulation.

Andrew J. Lovinger was born in Athens, Greece, and obtained his
college education in the U.S. He received his B.S. (1970) and M.S.
(1971) in Chemical Engineering at Columbia University. His Master's
research was co-sponsored by the Department of Nuclear Medicine of
Saint Luke's Hospital in New York, and concerned the study of human
circulation from a bioengineering aspect. He is currently completing
his doctoral research at Columbia University in the field of oriented
crystallization of polymer systems. (left)
Carl C. Gryte received his B.A.Sc. (1964) and M.A.Sc. (1966) in
Chemical Engineering at the University of Toronto, and his Ph.D. (1970)
in Polymer Chemistry at the Polytechnic Institute of New York. After
two years as the Gillette Fellow in Polymer Science at the University
of Louvain in Belgium, he was appointed Assistant Professor of Chem-
ical Engineering at Columbia University. His research and teaching in-
terests are in polymer science. Current research in his laboratory con-
cerns crystallization of multicomponent polymer systems, transfer in
enzyme systems, drag reduction, and the synthesis of model capillary
beds. (right)

is the average of the individual residence times of
all indicator particles. Thus,

f t-C (t) dt
t. (2)
00
f C (t) dt

Once the flow rate and mean residence time in
a vessel have been determined, its volume is found
by multiplying these two quantities:
V = F-t (3)
To apply this analysis to the study of the hu-
man circulation, a rapid injection of tracer is
made into the right heart. This would yield the
arterial dilution curve of Figure 2a or the pre-
cordial dilution curve of Figure 2b, depending
upon the method of sampling. If samples are ob-
tained directly from an artery subsequent to the
right heart, indicator concentration will rise
sharply after injection and then decrease as the
tracer is washed away by the blood flow yielding

WINTER 1976

the general shape seen in Figure 2a. If the injec-
tion is practically instantaneous and the right
heart operates as a CFSTR, then, on the basis of
the above analysis of ideal reactors, the upstroke
of the arterial dilution curve should be vertical
and the decay exponential (see e.g. Figure 4a).
When a radioisotopic indicator is used, the
precordial dilution shape of Figure 2b is obtained.

I I .

(A )

TIME

( B )

TIME

FIGURE 2. Generalized arterial (a) and precordial (b) dilution curves.
RH: right heart peak; LH: left heart peak.

Again, a right heart peak and decay are seen im-
mediately after injection. However, since the left
heart is also within the field of the gamma ray
detector, a second peak will appear as the radio-
active particles enter the left heart after having
traversed the pulmonary circulation. This peak
will be lower than the right heart peak because of
the substantial dilution of tracer during its flow
through the cardiopulmonary circulation, and will
also decay as the tracer particles enter the sys-
temic blood pool.
Theoretical analyses of the indicator dilution
technique are described in detail in the literature
[10, 11] and the applicability of the previously
discussed chemical reactor theory to indicator
dilution practice [12] and to subsequent investiga-
tion of the pulmonary circulation [13] has been
analyzed. Application of chemical reactor analysis
requires the following assumptions:
* The tracer used should have rheological properties sim-
ilar to those of whole blood.
* The circulation should contain no stagnant pools [14].
* The heart chambers should function as CFSTR's [4, 5].
* Impulse injections must be used [15].
The above references state and discuss the validity
of their respective assumptions.

EXPERIMENTAL
T HE GENERAL LAYOUT of the apparatus is
shown in Figure 3. An open system is prefera-
ble to a closed one from the experimental point of
view because it does not require flushing out of the

indicator after each run, or subtraction of the
initial tracer concentration. A further advantage
of this arrangement is that the use of a pump is
not necessary for fluid flow.
Continuous Flow Stirred Tank Reactors are
used to model the two heart chambers [4, 5]. These
should ideally be made of a transparent plastic
(e.g. poly (methyl methacrylate)) to permit close
observation of fluid flow through them. Their
shape should be cylindrical to eliminate stagnant
pockets, and their diameter and height should be
of comparable dimensions. To maximize mixing,
the inflow and outflow tubes should be placed
tangentially to the curved cylinder surface at its
bottom and top, respectively. The volume of the
right and left heart models should be the same as
in the average human circulatory system (130 to
150 cc).
The pulmonary circulation is also modelled by
a transparent cylinder of the same material as the
right and left heart. Lovinger [13] has shown that
pulmonary circulation behaves essentially as a
chemical reactor containing ca. 75% plug flow
regions and 25% mixing ones. This is consistent
with the actual physiological system because it is
expected that practically no mixing will be taking
place in the capillaries which would instead pro-
vide most of the delay during pulmonary flow;
however, substantial mixing should be taking
place in the large arteries and veins and at all
junctions. In practice, it was found that a long
cylinder, ca. 1.5" in diameter and 14" long, will
have the average pulmonary volume (400 cc) and
provide the above percentages of mixing and plug
flow. Mixing will obviously be concentrated at the
entrance and exit regions, with plug flow in be-
tween. A closer approximation to plug flow is ob-
tained when this cylinder is placed vertically since

H2 0
IN
FIGURE 3.

H"2� D (CFSTR)
OUT Y
Flow diagram of the experimental apparatus. CFSTR: Con-
tinuous Flow Stirred Tank Reactor; PFTR: Plug Flow Tubular
Reactor.

CHEMICAL ENGINEERING EDUCATION

If the injection is practically instantaneous
and the right heart operates as a
CFSTR, then, on the basis of
the above analysis of ideal
reactors, the upstroke of
the arterial dilution curve should be
vertical and the decay exponential.

the force of gravity will tend to flatten the velocity
profile.
These three vessels are connected in series by
use of flexible transparent tubing (e.g. soft poly
(vinyl chloride)). The total length of connective
tubing should be minimized, and the volume of
the segments between the pulmonary circulation
and the two heart chambers should be counted as
part of the pulmonary blood volume.
The circulating fluid used is ordinary tap
water, whose rheological properties are similar to
those of blood. Its flow rate is controlled by a
needle valve and measured by a rotameter. The
indicator is 4N KC1, although lower concentra-
tions can be used if the chart recorder has a sen-
sitivity greater than 10 mV full scale. Injections
are made by use of a syringe attached to a valve
and needle. The needles are actually put perma-
nently through the walls of the tubing at appro-
priate positions ahead of the right and left heart.
They are held in place by use of silicone rubber
and contain stopcocks which are ordinarily closed
so that no water escapes through them due to the
flow pressure.
Two conductivity cells are installed in-line
after the right and left heart vessels (points D1
and D2 in Figure 3) to monitor the concentration
of KC1. Each consists of two platinized rods, 0.5
mm in diameter, extending 2 mm into the stream,
and is connected through a switch to a specific
conductance meter (Beckman Instruments, Inc.)
having a scale of 50 micromhos/cm. This in turn
is attached to a chart recorder (Bausch & Lomb,
Inc.) which provides continuous curves of d.c.
voltage versus time. To minimize the amount of
tracer injected, as low a scale as possible of vol-
tage should be used (preferably less than 10 mV
full scale). Chart speed can be varied; the speed
used in our experiments is 5 inches/min.

EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE
0 NCE THE APPARATUS is set up and work-
ing properly, the actual experimental pro-

cedure should require no more than one laboratory
period of five hours by a team of at least two
students or the equivalent. The rotameter is cal-
ibrated first by use of a volumetric cylinder and a
timer; a calibration curve of rotameter reading
versus flow rate in lit/min should be constructed
to cover the entire spectrum of cardiac outputs
obtainable, i.e. from 1 lit/min to 10 lit/min. Next,
a calibration curve relating recorder voltage to
indicator concentration should be constructed by
use of standard solutions of KC1.
After these two curves are obtained, the actual
indicator dilution procedure can take place by es-
tablishing a constant flow rate and injecting a
minimum (preferably less than 3 cc) of KCI solu-
tion as rapidly as possible. Injections should be
made ahead of each vessel (equivalent to venous
injection in humans) or directly into the right

\ F F = I T/MIN
LIT/MIN
-,TIM,

\ IN
, F - 2 LIT/IMI

F = 1 LIT/MIN 10 SEC

FIGURE 4. Indicator dilution curves obtained for various flow rates
from the circulatory model. Tracer injected into the right
heart by use of a catheter and detected at point D1 in
Figure 3.

heart by use of a catheter. Either of the two con-
ductivity cells D1 and D2 should be attached to the
recorder, so that arterial dilution curves similar
to those shown in Figure 4 will then be obtained.
For actual calculations, it is best to follow the
usual medical practice by injecting directly into
the right heart and sampling at D1. The same pro-
cedure should be repeated at different flow rates
and with variation of injection sites and types.
From these data, one is able to investigate the
effect of flow rate, injection duration, and injec-
tion and sampling positions upon the accuracy of
calculations.
Calculations: By use of indicator dilution
curves obtained as above, and of Equation (1),

WINTER 1976

the cardiac output can be calculated and compared
to the actual flow rate given by the rotameter
calibration curve. Similarly, mean residence times
in circulatory segments can be determined from
Equation (2). Equation (3) can then be employed
in the calculation of the various volumes between
injection and detection points which should be
compared to the actual volumes in the circulatory
model. Means and standard deviations of cardiac
output and right heart volumes might also be de-
termined for the runs at each flow rate. Finally,
the downslopes of the dilution curves obtained
should be plotted in semilogarithmic coordinates
to check linearity at the various flow rates.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
WHEN FLOW RATES between 3 and 6 lit/min
are employed, all parameters should be com-
puted to an accuracy of better than 5%, provided
that injections were made rapidly directly into the
right heart. Obviously, slower injections or those
that were made in the tubing ahead of the above
vessels will cause higher deviations from the true
values of cardiac output because the impulse in-
jection and the ideal mixing assumptions will no
longer be completely valid. The same tendency in
the results will also be observed in lower flow rates
since the turbulence created in the two heart ves-
sels will not be adequate to assure perfect mixing.
This may also result in the formation of stagnant
pockets which will provide erroneously low values
for the heart volumes. Very high flow rates (above
7 lit/min) imply minimal tracer residence times
in the heart chambers; thus, if the response of the
conductance meter or chart recorder is not suf-
ficiently fast, inaccuracies may again be obtained.
The mixing effects in the various vessels can be
qualitatively observed if a colored dye (e.g. Rho-
damine) is added to the KC1 solution.
A significant measure of the rapidity of injec-
tion and of the degree of mixing within the heart
chambers is provided by the shape of the arterial
dilution curves. At the higher flow rates (above 3
lit/min) the initial upstroke is almost vertical and
the downstroke approaches very closely a theoret-
ical exponential decay (see Figures 4a and 4b).
Deviations from this behavior are seen at lower
cardiac outputs (Figures 4c and 4d). The students
will be able to see this tendency more descriptively
if the downstrokes of the dilution curve at various
flow rates are replotted in semilogarithmic co-
ordinates, in which an exponential decay appears

as a straight line. Consequently, least squares
curve fitting procedures can be used to test devia-
tions from this behavior.
The nature of these calculations (i.e. repeated
integration and least squares curve fittings)
makes use of computer programming particularly
attractive. Subroutines for these numerical com-
putations are available in the literature [8, 9] and
could be used by the students, who would only
have to provide the values of the dependent and in-
dependent variables when calling up the appropri-
ate subprogram. A complete computer program
that calculates cardiac output, mean residence
times and circulatory volumes has been reported
in the literature [16]. Composition of such a com-
plete computer program may also be undertaken
by a team of students as a term project.
Another suitable project may involve the in-
vestigation and explanation of the effects of cir-
culatory diseases and abnormalities (e.g. arteri-
ovenous shunts, mitral and aortic stenoses, "blue
baby disease") on the indicator dilution curves.
In most actual medical cases, these anomalies are
detected and quantified by use of precisely this
method, and numerous references are available in
the literature [e.g. 12, 17]. These circulatory ab-
normalities can be very easily studied on the model
by simply adding flow connections between the ap-
propriate points for each case.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The authors wish to thank Professor Elmer L.
Gaden, Jr., and Mr. Frank Lech for their part in
the design of the experiment. El

REFERENCES
1. Pierson, R. N., Jr., (Ed.), Quantitative Nuclear
Cardiography, Wiley, N.Y., 1975.
2. Fox, I. J., Circ. Research, 10, 381 (1962).
3. Levenspiel, 0., Chemical Reaction Engineering, 2nd
ed., Wiley, New York, 1972, pp. 97-117.
4. Irisawa, H., Wilson, M. F., and Rushmer, R. F., Circ.
Research, 8, 183 (1960).
5. Pavek, E., Pavek, K., and Boska, D., J. Appl. Physiol.,
28, 733 (1970).
6. Hamilton, W. F., Moore, J. W., Kinsman, J. M., and
Spurling, R. G., Am. J. Physiol., 99, 534 (1931).
7. Aris, R., Introduction to the Analysis of Chemical
Reactors, Prentice-Hall, New York, 1969, pp. 145, 259
ff.
8. Shampine, L. F., and Allen, R. C., Jr., Numerical
Computing: An Introduction, W. B. Saunders Co.,
Philadelphia, 1973, p. 120.
(Continued on page 39.)

CHEMICAL ENGINEERING EDUCATION

laboratory

A SIMPLE, INSTRUCTIVE SOLID STATE

DIFFUSION EXPERIMENT FOR USE

IN TEACHING LABORATORIES

DANIEL S. PETTY* and ALAN D. MILLER
University of Washington
Seattle, WA 98195

THE PROCESS OF ATOMIC diffusion in solids
is fundamental to many basic processes con-
sidered by the materials scientist or engineer.
Hence an instructional unit in diffusion is almost
mandatory in the education of an engineer who
wishes to have even the most rudimentary knowl-
edge of the important basic materials phenomena.
However, in attempting to explain the physical
significance of the phenomenological equations
describing diffusion such as Fick's Laws, many
educators have difficulty in presenting tangible
evidence of their applicability to relevant ma-
terials. It is one thing to describe diffusion mathe-
matically, quite another to "see" the process tak-
ing place in a laboratory experiment which illus-
trates the mathematical description.
In this note we wish to describe an experiment
which was developed for use in the undergraduate
curriculum in Ceramic Engineering at the Uni-
versity of Washington. The experiment is simple
to conduct, the results are easily obtained and it
describes diffusion in a common high temperature
material, magnesium oxide.
The experiment is based on similar experi-
ments conducted by Zaplatynsky (1) involving
cobaltous ion diffusion in single crystal magne-
sium oxide. The basic principle involved in the
determination of the diffusion coefficients and ac-
tivation energies for the system is the measure-
ment of the rate at which a surface of fixed con-
centration moves away from a reference interface.
The advantages of using this system are: (1) the

*Current address, Ceramic Engineering Department,
University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois.

Alan D. Miller, Associate Professor of Ceramic Engineering, Uni-
versity of Washington, Seattle, WA, 98155. B.S. Cer. E., University of
Washington, 1957; Ph.D. University of Washington, 1967. Research
Supervisor, Pratt and Whitney Aircraft, Middletown, Conn. 1958-1964.
Since 1967 faculty member, Ceramic Engineering Division, University
of Washington.
Daniel S. Petty, at the time this paper was prepared, was a senior
in Ceramic Engineering at University of Washington. His present ad-
dress is 1620 W. Fargo, Chicago, Illinois.

materials are easily obtainable, (2) the surface
of fixed concentration is defined by a sharp color
change in the crystal, (3) diffusion coefficients are
such that reasonable penetrations are possible at
temperatures available in simple laboratory fur-
naces and for reasonably short diffusion times,
and (4) the vapor pressure of cobaltous oxide is
such that nearly perfect contact is achieved at the
inititial interface.

PROCEDURE

THE MATERIALS USED in the experiment are
easily obtainable. Small magnesium oxide crys-
tals may be obtained for little or no cost from
normal suppliers*. The purity is not determined,
nor is it felt necessary since the object was to
demonstrate the validity of the diffusion equa-
tions, not to investigate the effects of impurities
on diffusion rates. The cobalt oxide is standard
technical grade available from any chemical sup-
ply house.
The experimental procedure followed is out-
lined below. The MgO crystals are cleaved to an
approximate sixe of 10x4x4 mm. A corner is
ground off each crystal for orientation purposes

*For example, Norton Co., Worcester, Mass.

WINTER 1976

and the two short dimensions were measured us-
ing a micrometer stage microscope. The crystals
are then packed in the CoO powder, which has
been dried at 100�C for 24 hrs, in small A1203
crucibles. These are in turn placed in small fire-
clay crucibles, much as eggs in egg cups, and cov-
ered with a single alumina lid. This double cruci-
ble technique is necessary because the high vapor
pressure of CoO at elevated temperatures results
in the vapor drifting out of the inner container
and down the sides. If the second crucible is not
present, the furnace will be contaminated. Using
this simple technique, the furnace refractories
show no sign of the characteristic cobalt blue con-
tamination.
The crucibles are placed in a silicon-carbide-
resistance furnace and heated at the desired tem-
perature. At selected times a crucible is with-
drawn and the diffusion anneal continued on those
remaining. Upon cooling after removal from the
furnace, the lump of sintered cobalt oxide is re-
moved, cracked open gently with a hammer and
the crystals removed. Three thin sections, about
one millimeter thick, are then cleaved transverse
to the long dimension of the crystals at approxi-
mately the mid-length. These are cemented to
microscope slides with epoxy resin. The sections
are examined microscopically and the two dimen-
sions of the colorless MgO central portions meas-
ured. Care is taken during cleaving and mounting
to preserve the orientation, so the dimensions may
be matched with corresponding dimensions of the
original crystal. The depth of penetration, x, is
given by

x= (wo -w,)/2 or (do- d,)/2
where wo = original width of crystal
wi = corresponding width of colorless crys-
tal after anneal
do = original depth of crystal
di = corresponding dimension of colorless
crystal after anneal
Thus for two crystals at any one time and
temperature a total of twelve measurements may
be made of x.

ANALYSIS
FOR THIS GEOMETRY, where the penetration
depth is small compared with the size of the
specimen and is measured by the distance from
the original interface to the region of rapid color
change, the solution to Fick's Second Law for one
dimensional diffusion into an infinite medium with

constant surface concentration is appropriate.
This solution is

C = C (

x
1 - erf -__
2VDt

x
2 C 2VDt
where the error function, erf = - e-z dz
o

and Cs = constant surface concentration
C = concentration at surface of rapid color
change
x = penetration distance
D = diffusion coefficient
t = time
From equation (1)
x (
2 V - erf-1 1 C

where erf-1 is the inverse error function.
If the surface concentration and the concentra-
tion at the color change surface are known, the
relationship between x and t is determined by

It is one thing to describe diffusion
mathematically, quite another to
"see" the process taking place in
a laboratory experiment which
illustrates the mathematical description.

consulting a table of error functions (2) and is of
the form

x2 = kDt

where k = 4 erf-1 (

Ca)

Zaplatynsky, in his work on this system, as-
sumed a value of four for k regardless of the sur-
face concentration. He found as a result that the
apparent diffusion coefficient for cobalt diffusion
in MgO was an order of magnitude lower if a sur-
face concentration of 30 m/o CoO was imposed
rather than 100 m/o. The difficulty in assigning a
value to k arises from not knowing what the con-
centration of CoO is at the color change surface.
On the basis of Zaptalynsky's chemical analysis of

CHEMICAL ENGINEERING EDUCATION

A.

106x10 -4cm2
0.562xIO4-cm2 at 288 hr
at 192 hr
0.399Kl0-4cm2
at96 hr

I I

200
TIME (hours)

300

FIGURE 1. Plot of Average Penetration Depth Squared, (X)2, as a
Function of Time for Diffusion of Co++ into MgO at 1250oC.

his specimens together with his measurements of
penetration depth it would appear that this con-
centration is nearly 60 m/o CoO; however, this is
impossible since he had a color change surface
when the surface concentration was held at only
30 m/o. If one assumes a value of, say, 20 m/o,
then a value of k may be obtained for each value
of the surface concentration used. For the surface
concentration used by Zaplatynsky, the values are:
Surface Concentration k
100 m/o CoO 3.6
30 m/o CoO 1.2
Recalculation of Zaplatynsky's diffusion coef-
ficients for Co in MgO yields values which are
much more nearly equal for the two conditions of
surface concentration.
On this basis all that is required for the de-
termination of a diffusion coefficient is a series of
penetration depths, x, and corresponding times, t.
A plot of x2 as a function of t should be a straight
line of slope kD. By plotting In D against cor-
responding values of reciprocal absolute tempera-
ture, for diffusion coefficients measured at various
temperatures, activation energies, Ea, and dif-
fusivity constants, Do, may be determined from
the slope and intercept.

RESULTS OF TRIAL RUNS
AS A TRIAL CASE, six crystals were run under
the procedure outlined above at 1250�C for
three times, 96, 192 and 288 hours. The results of
the tests are shown in Figure 1. Each point rep-
resents an average of twelve independent meas-
urements of the penetration depth, two measure-
ments on each of three sections from two different
crystals. The diffusion coefficient at 1250�C calcu-
lated using a value of k = 3.6 was 2.6 x 10-11

cm /sec. Zaplatynsky's data yield a diffusion co-
efficient at the same temperature of 3.9 x 10-11
cm2/sec. This result suggests that whatever the
shortcomings of the analysis, the results of the ex-
periment are reproducible.

USE OF THE EXPERIMENT

THE LONG TIMES INVOLVED in the diffu-
sion anneals probably require that specimens
be prepared before the students are introduced to
the experiment. In our program, the specimens
are given to the students mounted on microscope
slides and ready for measurement (Fig. 2). A
good description and/or demonstration of the
preparation of the specimens is given, together
with some background information on the analysis
of the data. The students then measure the speci-
mens, plot the data and derive values for the dif-
fusion coefficients, activation energies and dif-
fusivity constants.
The laboratory report written by the student
requires a description of the procedure, presenta-
tion of data and an evaluation of the results. The
student is led to examine certain aspects of the
experiment by including in the syllabus for the ex-
periment a few questions which he should discuss.

REFERENCES
1. Zaplatynsky, I., "Diffusion of Co++ and Ni++ in MgO",
J. Am. Cer. Soc., 45, 28 (1962).
2. Jahnke, Eugene and Emde, Fritz, Tables of Functions
with Formulae and Curves, Dover Publications, Inc.,
New York, 1945.

1250 C. -
4.09912 0 C
=.162Bm I

FIGURE 2. MgO-Co*+ Diffusion Specimens Prepared for Student Use.
(Note that temperature, time duration of diffusion anneal,
and wo and do are marked on each slide.)

WINTER 1976

Laboratory Demonstration

TEMPERATURE APPROACH IN

COUNTER-FLOW HEAT EXCHANGERS

W. H. TUCKER
Tri-State College
Angola, Ind. 46703

SOMEWHERE ALONG the road which leads to
the making of a B.S. chemical engineer who is
able to understand heat transfer rate processes,
we should teach him an understanding of the
"pinch-point" in countercurrent heat exchangers
(the point along the length of the exchanger
where the temperatures of the two streams ap-
proach each other). Sometimes it is at the hot
end, sometimes at the cold, and frequently, some-
where inside when there is a change of phase giv-
ing a change in the stream heat capacity. Refer-
ence 1 discusses temperature approach in a proc-
ess for producing pipeline gas from coal where
energy is a major cost item. The classical text-

K#1I
W. Henry Tucker received his B.S. in Ch.E. degree from The Uni-
versity of Virginia, 1942, and the degrees of S.M. and Sc.D. from
M.I.T. After industrial experience with Servel, Inc., he taught at Purdue
University for 16 years. In 1969 he became Chairman of Chemical
Engineering at Tri-State University. He has research inteersts in heat
and mass transfer with particular emphasis on absorption refrigeration.
He has served as Advisor to Cheng Kung University, Taiwan, and in
1969 was awarded the first Winston Churchill Traveling Fellowship to
Great Britain. In 1959 he spent a sabbatical at the Swiss Federal In-
stitute of Technology.

Pressure Sauqe

as Vent ole-

Glass Dewar
Vacuum Space

FIGURE 1. Break-away of JT Refrigeration Demonstra

book, Industrial Stoichiometry, Lewis, Radasch,
and Lewis, [2] thought the subject important
enough to devote all of chapter 3 to it. New books
tend to teach energy balances to the sophomore
without relation to the heat exchanger, and trans-
port processes follow in the junior year without
reference to the equilibrium case.
It was the purchase of a Joule-Thomson Re-
frigeration Demonstrator from Air Products and
Chemicals, Inc. [3] that gave the author the feel-
... .,. ing that here would be a classical way of demon-
........ Lstrating this pinch-point phenomenon and how it
could shift from one end of the heat exchanger to
the other. This device is shown in Fig. 1. High
Lite Shield pressure nitrogen from a cylinder (at say, 200
atm pressure), flows through the inside of a heat
exchanger and expands into a glass dewar at a
pressure approaching atmospheric. This is the
usual way of producing a small percentage of
liquid from the incoming gas stream. But this par-
tor. ticular device has no separate exit for product

CHEMICAL ENGINEERING EDUCATION

TABLE I
Temperature-Specific Enthalpy Data from Fig. 2

TEMP.
oK

h (IATM)
cal/mol

h (200 ATM)
cal/mol

320 3046 2850
260 2630 2320
200 2210 1700
140 1790 890
77 1310 sat'd vapor 390
77 0 sat'd liq. 130

SAT'D LIQUID SPECIFIC ENTHALPY DATA
Perry's, 4 ed. p. 3-180
115K - 534 cal/mol
100 - 326
80 - 39
liquid nitrogen, so that the entire stream flows
back across the heat exchanger to the exhaust
port. It turns out that, instead of the usual 5%
or so of liquid product, the bulb in the dewar is
practically 100% liquid, which, of course, re-
evaporates in its passage back through the heat
exchanger.
Since the standard J-T expansion is well docu-
mented in thermodynamics, no separate experi-
ment is needed for it here. What this article will
do is to compare the heat exchanger temperature
profile for the standard J-T with liquid product

CASE I- J-T WITH LIQUID PRODUCT

m = 1 MOL/SEC (-

CASE H- J-T WITH TOTAL RECYCLE OF PRODUCT

FIGURE 2. Diagrams of the two cases being compared.

(Case I) and that of the demonstrator in Fig. 1
(Case II) to show how the pinch-point shifts. See
Fig. 2 for the process diagrams.
In order to obtain a temperature profile in a
heat exchanger, one needs heat capacity data. Fig.
3 gives temperature vs. specific enthalpy data for
nitrogen, and data for the two pressures selected,
1 atm and 200 atm, are plotted in Fig. 4, and the
data are tabluated in Table I. The 1 atm data show
a change of phase from gas to liquid at 77K, while
the 200 atm data being above the critical pressure
show no such discontinuity.
For Case I, we consider the J-T expansion giv-
ing a liquid product. To determine the percent of
the feed that is liquified, one customarily wraps
an energy balance around the whole system, cut-
ting streams 1, 4, and 6 in Fig. 2. The calculations

Somewhere along the road which
leads to the making of a B.S. ChE
who is able to understand heat
transfer rate processes, we should
teach him an understanding of the
"pinch-point in countercurrent heat exchangers.

in Table II indicate that 8.25 % of the feed would
be liquified, assuming temperature equilibrium be-
tween streams 1 and 6-or the assumption of an
infinite area heat exchanger. Assuming instead a
25F pinch at the warm end, the product drops to
a mere 2.2% of the feed stream.
The student usually accepts this calculation
without thinking the matter through. It, of course,
turns out to be correct. But the basic assumption
involved should be checked-that the thermal
equilibrium, or "pinch" in the finite area case, oc-
curs at the warm end of the exchanger. This is
true because the heat capacity of the high pres-
sure stream is in general greater than that of the
low pressure stream. What is important is the
total heat capacity of the streams. The heat ca-
pacity of the low pressure stream is even lower
when the product withdrawal causes the exit gas
stream to have a lower mass flow rate than that
of the high pressure stream.
Fig. 5 shows the temperature profiles for the
cases of zero and 25K temperature differences at
the warm end. It is a plot not of specific enthalpy
but of total stream enthalpy, still keeping the high
pressure stream on a 1 mol/sec. basis. The low
pressure stream is based first on a 0.9175 mol/sec.

WINTER 1976

TABLE II
Energy Balances for Case I, Fig. 2

0�At - INFINITE AREA HEAT EXCHANGER
h6 = 2915 cal/mol; t = 300K
h, = 0 77K
hi = 2675 300K

h, x 1 mol/sec. = h,(x) + h6 (1-x)
x = .0825 mol liq/mol feed.
250At

h, = 0
ha = 2740
h1 = 2675

T = 77K
275K
300K

h, x 1 mol/sec. = h,(x) + h6 (1-x)
x = 0.0225 mol liq/mol feed.

350At
h, =0
h = 2675
h6 = 2675

T = 77K
300K
265K

H1 x 1 = hx + h,(l-x)

x = 0, no product

TOTAL STREAM ENTHALPY-1 ATM STREAM

T h H H
0.9175 mol/sec. 0.9775 mol/sec.

320 3046 2790 2970
260 2630 2410 2570
200 2210 2025 2155
140 1790 1640 1750
77 1310 1200 1280

basis for the zero temperature difference and then
on a 0.978 mol/sec. basis for the 25K difference,
in accordance with the calculations on Table II.
As these curves are not positioned properly at the
warm end in relation to the 300K assumed feed
temperature, one bodily moves the curves over to
the dotted line positions-quite a small correction
but this is just fortitious. Usually the displace-
ment is greater. The reason the two curves can be
moved horizontally with respect to each other is
that in a heat exchanger which is assumed to be
well insulated, the AH change in each stream is
equal, so that only relative enthalpies are im-
portant. Temperatures at the cold end of the heat
exchanger for the infinite area and for the finite
area are determined by dashed lines A and B,
fixed by the enthalpy of the saturated vapor leav-
ing the separator at 77K.

One can continue the calculations on Table II
for the case of a 35K temperature difference. At
this selected condition, the product rate turns out
to be zero, indicating the extreme importance in
this process of having a very efficient heat ex-
changer. (This is the story of the cryogenic indus-
try).
Now we can employ the demonstrator shown
in Fig. 1 which by design allows no liquid prod-
uct. We can conclude from the third calculation on
Table I that we will now have a 35K At regardless
of how large the heat exchanger is (in Fig. 2,
Case II, H1 = Hs). This is an interesting twist,
since the warm end At can no longer respond to
the area of the heat exchanger. One might inquire
how this can be. By now, it might be obvious that
if the temperatures are fixed at the warm end of
the exchanger, the pinch temperature difference,
which depends on the amount of area, must lie
either inside the exchanger or at the cold end. The
solution can be clearly seen on Fig. 4. This plot of
specific enthalpy versus temperature is also the
total enthalpy if each of the two streams is as-
sumed to have a flow rate of 1 mol/sec. (no prod-
uct withdrawal). The 35K At is shown at the
warm end. If one proceeds to the cold end, one
spots a zero At at about 93% liquid. Actually,
when one runs the demonstrator, the product in
the dewar collector seems closer to 100% liquid.
Since the data on Fig. 3 at the 200 atm pressure
are subject to considerable error at the low tem-
perature end, the demonstrator can give a check
of this accuracy even if its area is not infinite.
When heat exchangers are not infinite, then the

CHART UNITS
P, PRESSURE ABS. ATM
H, ENTHALPYKG -CAL./KG.-MOLE
REF PERRY'S CHEMICAL ENGINEERS'
HANDBOOK,4TH ED, MCGRAW-HILL
BOOK CO. 1973 L

o .- I ____ 50
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
ENTROPY S, KG.-CALAMOLEX'K)
FIG.-3 THERMODYNAMIC CHART
FOR NITROGEN

CHEMICAL ENGINEERING EDUCATION

?0I
180 --

140
0"AI 25�ATA
100
77- K
0 400 800 1200 1600 2000 2400 2800
SPECIFIC ENTHALPY, h - CAL/MOL

cold end temperatures move to the right on Fig.
4, with the 25K case being shown. Interestingly,
if the area is further decreased to give more than
a 35K difference, then the minimum At switches
back to the warm end.
The curves on Fig. 4 also should indicate to the
student that to size such a heat exchanger, one
must break it up into the evaporating portion and
the heating portion to allow the use of log-mean
temperature differences, since the stream heat ca-
pacity abruptly changes. Actually, one must also
estimate the film coefficients, as these are different
in the two sections, and constant film coefficients,
as well as heat capacities, are assumed when the
log-mean relationship is derived. With no phase
change, but with non-linear cooling curves (vari-
able heat capacity), one should size a heat ex-
changer by point-to-point integration rather than
the use of a log-mean driving force.

CONCLUSIONS

T HE GRADUATING chemical engineer should
go out on the job with a clear understanding
of the thermal equilibrium case in heat exchang-
ers (for infinite areas), for elegant heat transfer
theory and correlations are useless if the basic
equilibrium case is not even understood.
The use of the J-T Demonstrator is considered
a classical way of showing the floating nature of
the pinch-point, which shows up in many heat ex-
changers encountered on the job, when changes of
phase or flow rates are encountered. El

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I wish to thank Mr. Robert B. Currie, Prin-
cipal Development Engineer, Air Products and

Chemicals, Incorporated, for reviewing this paper.
He was responsible for the excellent hardware de-
sign on the demonstrator.

REFERENCES

1. Yim, Yong Jai, Paul Wellman, and Sidney Katell,
The Importance of Temperature Approach in Heat
Exchangers", Chem Tech, March 1972, p. 167.
2. Lewis, Radasch, and Lewis, Industrial Stoichiometry,
2nd Ed., McGraw-Hill, 1954.
3. Air Products and Chemicals, Inc., Advanced Products
Department, P.O. Box 538, Allentown, PA 18105.
Note: This product is no longer available, since its
production cost cannot be justified by those desiring
just a demonstration unit. Other units are designed
for maintaining a low temperature source with heat
input.

300 -- -- -- --- -- /T~-.
300 25 AT
FIG. 5 - TEMPERATURE VS TOTAL ENTHALPY ,
260

220-- --

180 AR

I I I ' NOTE- THE SOLID CURVES
140 ' WERE SHIFTED TO THE
, / CORRECT POSITIONS-
10 \ \ /, THE DOTTED LINES
100 -- --

60
0 400 800 1200 1600 2000 2400 2800
TOTAL ENTHALPY, H-CAL/MOL

LOVINGER & GRYTE: Reactor Analysis
Continued from page 32.
9. Haberman, C. M., Use of Digital Computers for En-
gineering Applications, Merrill Books, Inc., Columbus,
1966, pp. 166-173.
10. Grodins, F. S., Circ. Research, 10, 429 (1962).
11. Gonzalez-Fernandez, J. M., Circ. Research, 10, 409
(1962).
12. Lovinger, A. J., Analysis of the Applicability & Lim-
itations of the Precordial Dilution Technique for the
Calculation of Cardiopulmonary Parameters, Colum-
bia University thesis, #L435, 1971, pp. 39, 49, 67 ff.
13. Lovinger, A. J., Bull. N.Y. Acad. Med. (to be pub-
lished), 1975.
14. Newman, E. V., Merrell, M., Genecin, A., Monge, G.,
Milnorm, W. R., and McKeever, W. P., Circulation, 4,
735 (1951).
15. Kinsman, J. M., Moore, J. W., and Hamilton, W. F.,
Am. J. Physiol., 89, 322 (1929).
16. Lovinger, A. J., Hell. Academ. Medicine, 38, 58
(1974).
17. Abelman, W. H., Am. Heart J., 58, 873 (1959).

WINTER 1976

Laboratory Demonstration

COMBUSTION PROJECT: EXPLOSIVE LIMITS

S. SANDLER
University of Toronto
Toronto, Ontario, Canada

FOR SEVERAL YEARS an apparatus built ac-
cording to a description by G. W. Jones [1] has
been used by freshman engineering students tak-
ing the combustion option in the Department of
Chemical Engineering at the University of
Toronto, to study the explosive limits of a typical
hydrocarbon, as well as a number of basic physical
chemistry principles associated with the measure-
ment. It was felt that a modification of the ap-
paratus to make it suitable for demonstration
purposes using a "hands-on" approach was de-
sirable. The following criteria for such a design
were then established:

FIGURE 1. Explosive Limits Apparatus.

* It should be capable of illustrating certain principles
(e.g. existence of explosive limits, the vapour-pressure
temperature relationship, relative rates of flame propaga-
tion, approach to equilibrium).
* It should be simple to operate, requiring only the
pushing of buttons, and observation of the effects.
* It should be safe when operated by entirely un-
skilled people, including children at grade school level.
* It should yield reproducible results without requiring
the intervention of an operator.
* It should be essentially self-explanatory.
* The effects should be sufficiently impressive to at-
tract students to the apparatus and to stimulate them to
raise further questions and perhaps try further experi-
ments in this field.
* The unit should be essentially portable and yet
heavy enough so that it could not readily be removed from
any location in which it was set up.
The design to be described here apparently
satisfies these criteria. It is hoped that the de-
scription will serve to point out the problems and
the solutions associated with the re-design of a
relatively simple laboratory-scale apparatus to
conform to the rather more stringent criteria of a
demonstration unit.

DEMONSTRATION UNIT
A DIAGRAM OF SOME of the features of the
design of the demonstration unit as finally
adopted is shown in Figure 1. The vapour gen-
erator and combustion tube combination is made
of Pyrex glass and consists of a lower reservoir
for the fluid under test, 75 mm long and 25 mm in
diameter, which sits in the heated block at the
test temperature, and an upper separately heated
combustion chamber, 150 mm long and 30 mm in
diameter. A glass tube entering the reservoir near
the top extends to a position close to the bottom of
the reservoir and serves to lead air pumped by a
fish-tank aerator at the rear of the unit through
a tube partially packed with molecular sieve 5A
and restricted at the end, through the test fluid
and into the combustion chamber.
The air will pick up a proportion of the vapour

CHEMICAL ENGINEERING EDUCATION

/Z
Professor Sandier received his B.A.Sc. and M.A.Sc. from the Uni-
versity of Toronto. His principal research interest has been in kinetics
and mechanism of the oxidation, decomposition, ignition and detona-
tion of fuel vapours and gases as well as of the associated instru-
mental methods of chemical analysis. After ten years with Defense
Research Board of Canada as a Principal Scientific Research Officer on
combustion research, he joined the staff of the Department of Chem-
ical Engineering, University of Toronto. Besides his teaching and re-
search work, Professor Sandier is an active consultant on combustion
and analytical matters with Chemical Engineering Research Consultants
Ltd. He has also been very active in the Chemical Institute of Canada,
as chairman of the Toronto Section, as Councillor "A" of the national
body, as a tour speaker and as organizer and chairman of the first
three Toronto Symposia on Gas Chromatography. He is presently a
Fellow of the Chemical Institute of Canada.

of the test fluid which will depend on its vapour
pressure at the test temperature and the degree to
which equilibration of the air with the fluid is al-
lowed to occur. With the relatively low air flow
rate used and after passage of air for at least 30
seconds, a steady state condition is set up which
is not far from the equilibrium state. Hence, a
vapour pressure-temperature curve for the test
fluid (in this case, n-decane) with associated
vapour-air composition scales as in Figure 2 can
be used to estimate the mixture strength cor-
responding to operation at any test temperature,
as read on a pyrometer. An iron-constantan
thermocouple imbedded in the heater block pro-
vides the impulse for this reading. The heater for
the block is a 300 watt element in its base con-
trolled to within �0.5C� by a thermostat within
the block.
An auxiliary heater coil is necessary to pre-
vent condensation of the vapour in the combustion
chamber by maintaining it at or slightly above the
test temperature. This less critical temperature is
maintained constantly by providing an appropri-
ate voltage from a small transformer to the
auxiliary heater of each unit.

After creating the desired mixture of fuel
vapour and air, a spark is passed across a 1/4-inch
gap between two platinum electrodes located in
the lower part of the combustion chamber. The
liquid level in the reservoir is usually about 1/2
inch below the electrodes. However, the actual
position of the liquid with respect to the electrodes
is not critical and the unit may be operated for
several days before make-up liquid is required.
Flame propagation is signalled in a number of
ways. When the lights are turned off, it is possible
to see a flame, initially generated at the electrodes,
actually propagated through the mixture if it has
a composition somewhere within the explosive
limits. In addition, the pressure generated by the

MIXTURE
FUEL STRENGTH
VOL% %OFCCM
44 5.78 431
-----------UPPER EXPLOSIVE LIMIT---- -544
40 - - 526 392

36 - - 473 353
n-DECANE
VAPOUR PRESSURE (AND
COMPOSITION OF MIXTURE /
32 - WITH AIR) - 421 314
VS
TEMPERATURE
28- - 368 275
VAPOUR
PRESSURE
P
mm 24 - - 316 236
Hg

20 - - 263 196

16 - - 2.10 157

12 - 158 118
1 Sloch~ot33 - C C-M
Chemically Correct Mixture
8 - 105 78
-- ----- _ ---LOWER EXPLOSIVE LIMIT- -- O 85

40 150 60 70 80 t 90 0
48 87
TEMPERATURE t -C
FIGURE 2. Vapor Pressure Plot.

expanding gaseous products of the combustion
may be sufficient to lift the Nylon or Teflon stop-
per off the combustion tube and raise the alum-
inum guide holding this stopper to some level
above its rest position. If the explosion is suf-
ficiently vigorous, that is, if the flame velocity is
sufficiently great, this guide will travel all the way
up to strike the upper limiting plate. A cork shock
absorber is incorporated into the upper end of
this guide for the purpose. Subsequently, the guide

WINTER 1976

returns to its rest position and, if properly de-
signed, seats itself snugly into the mouth of the
combustion tube in preparation for the next test.
For proper reproducibility of the results, it has
been found necessary to machine the stopper out
of either Nylon or Teflon, to adjust the weight
of the guide to allow a vigorous return and seat-
ing of the stopper after an explosion without jam-
ming and to machine the stopper so that it will,
at one and the same time, seat solidly but along a

100

RELATIVE
BURNING
VELOCITY 60 -
% OF
MAXIMUM
40 33% n-DECANE
0 BY VOLUME
2060 80 C.C.M. 120 140 160 180 200
MIXTURE STRENGTH-% OF C.C.M.
WEAK -I- RICH
FIGURE 3. Relative Burning Velocities of n-Decane-Air Mixtures.

relatively narrow portion of its circumference. If
appropriately set up, such a device exhibits a max-
imum popping effect during an explosion and per-
mits unattended operation of the unit for a very
long time. The noise associated with the propaga-
tion of a flame and/or explosion is a third way in
which the event can be monitored.
A number of safety features have been in-
corporated into this design. A relatively high boil-
ing liquid (n-decane boils at 174�C) is generally
selected as the test fluid, although the device is
amenable to the study of lower boiling materials
with suitable modification. With this in view, the
normal vapour composition within the confines of
the large box containing the units is always well
below the lower limit of inflammability of the fuel.
However, to doubly ensure this, a fan has been in-
corporated into the box to expel any vapours to the
outside. Observations of the explosion effects are
made through a safety glass front and only the
push buttons for air and spark are exposed for
operation of the units. There is no combination of
operating parameters yet found which will result
in anything more vigorous happening than has
been designed into the apparatus. Operation of an
all-glass prototype of this apparatus by students
over the past three years under much less care-
fully controlled conditions has proceeded without

the slightest mishap. Even if the stopper does jam
into the mouth of the combustion tube, and an ex-
plosion is generated, it has been found that blow-
back of liquid occurs into the drying agent in the
air inlet tube and the explosive force is thereby re-
leased without shattering the container.

DISCUSSION
A S WILL BE OBSERVED, three of the com-
bustion tubes and associated apparatus have
been incorporated into the demonstration unit to
satisfy the educational criterion mentioned above.
Table 1, as posted on the unit, gives the generally
accepted limits of inflammability for the test
fluid, n-decane, in terms of both vapour-air com-
positions and the corresponding fluid temperatures
which would yield such mixtures. Combustion
tubes 1 and 3, which are respectively to the left
and right of the central apparatus in the unit, are
thermostatted at temperatures which will gen-
erate respectively a mixture just above the lower
explosive limit and a mixture just below the upper
explosive limit. The central unit is thermostatted
at a temperature corresponding to a mixture near
that which would propagate flame at maximum
velocity.
The general form of the relationship between
mixture composition, within the explosive limits,
and flame velocity is shown on the graph in Fig-
ure 3, also as posted on the unit. The observations
of the explosion intensity in each of the tubes may
be compared to this graph, to yield a preliminary
explanation of the effects in terms of differences
in flame velocities. An in-depth review of the more

TABLE 1
COMBUSTION
TEST FLUID
NORMAL DECANE

EXPLOSIVE VOL. % CORRESPONDING
LIMIT IN AIR TEMPERATURE-�C

LOWER 0.85 48
UPPER 5.44 87

rigorous precepts involved in this phenomenon is
beyond the scope of this paper. However, an ex-
tensive treatment is available in the text by Lewis
and von Elbe [2].
It is interesting when demonstrating this unit,
to ask students to predict the effect of the grad-

CHEMICAL ENGINEERING EDUCATION

ually increasing test temperature, especially after
they have made the observations of the explosion
intensity in the first two combustion tubes and
before they have observed the effect in the third
apparatus. The mildness of the "explosion" in the
third tube (at the highest temperature) generally
surprises people after they have seen the effects
in the other tubes.
It would be desirable to demonstrate, as well,
the inability of flame to propagate through the
gaseous mixture at compositions just below the
lower limit and just above the upper limit. Un-
fortunately, this would be incompatible with the
achievement of the other criteria for this demon-
stration unit without increasing the number of
combustion units to be maintained at different
constant temperatures or without increasing the
complexity of the operating instructions.
In an arrangement for a laboratory experi-
ment, only one combustion tube and its associated
hardware would be required to demonstrate the
principles already mentioned as well as several
others. Thus, a step-wise increase in temperature
and, hence, mixture strength can be achieved by
simply altering the thermostat settings appropri-
ately. The whole range of desired mixture
strengths could thus be scanned beginning below
the lower limit and extending beyond the upper
limit. Observations concerning the character of
the inflammation and the explosive violence could
then be made throughout. In addition, a variety
of inflammable liquids could be examined. For ex-
ample, in our combustion laboratory, the explosive
limits for a number of Jet Al fuels have been ex-
amined in such an apparatus. It is interesting to
note that the lower explosive limit for such fuels
is very close to that of n-decane. For present pur-
poses, however, it is preferable to operate with a
fuel of which the composition would be invariant
over the long period of use.
Another example of a more exotic application
of such an apparatus is in the determination of
the lower limit of inflammability of a 40% by
volume ethanol-water mixture (as in several alco-
holic beverages). The degree to which the vapour
pressure of alcohol in contact with such a solution
exceeds the value calculable on an ideal solution
basis, using Raoult's Law, can in fact, be esti-
mated from such a measurement if the vapour
pressure-temperature relationship and the lower
explosive limit for pure ethanol is known. The ex-
tension of the project to achieve this goal is out-
lined in Table 2. El

TABLE 2
Extension of Project No. 4-Combustion
Lower Limit of Inflammability of an Ethanol-Water Solution
Data: Ethanol (CH5OH - M.W = 46.08)
Density of pure ethanol = 0.789 g/mI at 20�C
Density of 40% v/v ethanol-water solution = 0.952 g/ml at
15.56�C
(% ethanol (W/W) = 33.1 %)

log1 PC2H50 = -0.2185 x 9673.9) + 8.827392
( K
where K = temperature in �K
P�C2H50H = vapour pressure of C2H.,OH in mm Hg.
Assume barometric pressure = 760 mm Hg (unless measured)
1. Determine, experimentally, the temperature at which a 40% v/v
solution of ethanol in water reaches the lower limit of inflammabil-
ity of ethanol vapour in air (determined in tests with pure ethanol
to be 4.3 % v/v).
2. Assuming ideal solution behaviour and attainment of equilibrium,
calculate the concentration of ethanol in air corresponding to the
experimentally determined temperature.
3. Using the vapour pressure-temperature relationship for ethanol (see
data from Handbook of Chemistry and Physics) and again assuming
ideal solution behaviour and attainment of equilibrium, calculate
the theoretical temperature at which a 40% v/v ethanol-water
solution would produce an ethanol vapour-air mixture at the lower
limit of inflammability (4.3% v/v).
4. Compare the results of 2 and 3 with 1 and explain the discrepan-
cies. Calculate the factor by which the calculated partial pressure
in 2 should be multiplied to give the lower limit mixture at the
experimentally determined temperature.
5. Would you expect an alcoholic beverage containing 40% v/v
ethanol as well as certain flavour components and sugar to produce
vapour at the lower limit of inflammability at a higher or lower
temperature than
(a) the theoretical temperature calculated in 3?
(b) the experimental temperature determined in 1?
Justify your answers.

REFERENCES
1. G. W. Jones, Inflammation Limits and their Practical
Application in Hazardous Industrial Operations. Pro-
ceedings of the First .and Second Symposia on Com-
bustion-as Reprinted in 1965 by the Combustion In-
stitute, pp. 248-264.
2. B. Lewis and G. von Elbe, Combustion, Flames and
Explosions of Gases, 2nd edition, Academic Press,
1961.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The demonstration unit described here was
constructed in the machine, electrical and glass-
blowing shops of the Department of Chemical En-
gineering at the University of Toronto. The author
is extremely grateful and thankful to Messrs. John
Aslin and Gord Kearns (machine shop), Ken
Adams, K. Atia, K. Kim (Electrical shop) and
Fred Leslie glassblowingg shop) for their invalu-
able assistance in bringing this project to fruition.

WINTER 1976

. curriculum

M.I.T.'S POLYMER PROGRAM

R. E. COHEN and E. W. MERRILL
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139

WHILE THERE IS substantial interest in
polymers in academic circles today, it is a
matter of history that early major breakthroughs
in polymer chemistry came from the industrial
laboratory. Most noteworthy is the classical work
of Carothers (1) at DuPont in the late 20's and
early 30's which put Staudinger's earlier macro-
molecular hypothesis (2) on firm footing. Ca-
rothers' work opened the way for the rapid de-
velopment of the polymer industry, but academic

A noteworthy strong point of
the polymer course selection is the
Polymer Science Laboratory. This course
has developed out of the recognition that,
for polymers in particular, there is
no substitute for first-hand experience.

chemistry departments did not immediately re-
spond to the challenge offered by the new tech-
nology. The polymer industry thus found it neces-
sary for many years to provide "on the job" train-
ing for its personnel in specific aspects of polymer
chemistry. Recent pressures (3) on academic in-
stitutions to increase their emphasis on polymer
chemistry have received more than casual atten-
tion due to the long awaited award of the Nobel
Prize for Chemistry to Professor Paul J. Flory,
whose own distinguished career began in an in-
dustrial environment (4).
The MIT Chemical Engineering Department
was one of the early academic institutions to
grasp the wide ranging importance of polymer
chemistry. In fact, as the MIT Department of
ChE evolved out of the Chemistry Department, a
significant part of its early research was in the
area of what would now be called polymer proc-
essing. Professor Warren K. Lewis, around 1920,

was working with his student Charles Almy on
the plasticization of cellulose by zinc chloride to
make a remarkably tough durable product com-
monly called "vulcanized fiber", and Lewis also
was involved in extensive research on the proc-
essing of leather, a classic example of chemical
conversion of natural polymers. The general spirit
of his work, and the insight of Lewis and his col-
leagues, are well represented by the book, Indus-
trial Chemistry of Amorphous and Colloidal Ma-
terials, Warren K. Lewis, Geoffrey Broughton &
Lombard Squires (MacMillan, 1942). Professor
Edwin R. Gilliland, one time head of the Depart-
ment, co-directed the synthetic rubber program of
the United States during World War II, a pro-
gram that called for the establishment of emul-
sion polymerization of styrene-butadiene on a vast
scale. Other members of the ChE Department such
as Herman P. Meissner, Lamott-duPont Professor
Emeritus of ChE, carried out early work on ad-
hesion of polymers and properties of thin films of
polymeric substances.
Since approximately 1935 a course on polymers
or polymer technology has been among the list of
offering of the graduate program. In the late
1950s and early 1960s the polymer program took
another major step forward when the teaching
was reorganized so as to give three independent
subjects: Physical Chemistry of Polymers, Syn-
thesis of Polymers and Structure-Properties Re-
lationships. These have evolved into the present
core courses offered today.
Thus the program outlined in the following
paragraphs reflects long standing activity in poly-
mers in the MIT ChE Department and a continu-
ing firm commitment to the subject of polymer
chemistry in the future. This commitment arises
from a conviction that ChE graduates will con-
tinue to contribute strongly in the polymer indus-
try.

COURSE AND DEGREE OFFERINGS
STUDENTS CAN FIND a wide range of poly-
mer-related subjects in the MIT ChE cur-

CHEMICAL ENGINEERING EDUCATION

riculum (see Table 1). Courses are offered over
the full range of academic levels, from the fresh-
man course in Polymer Chemistry to advanced
graduate seminars or such special topic courses
as Polymer Viscoelasticity, Anionic Polymeriza-
tion Techniques, etc. Those courses marked with
an asterisk are offered in parallel each fall semes-
ter and constitute the core structure of a highly
intensive M.S. program in polymer chemistry
which is discussed separately below. Other courses
marked with a dagger are integral parts of the
undergraduate or graduate ChE curriculum and
are offered on a regular yearly basis. The remain-
ing courses are offered routinely on a semiannual
basis or more often if there is sufficient student
demand.
A noteworthy strong point of the polymer
course selection is Polymer Science Laboratory.
This course has developed out of the recognition
that, for polymers in particular, there is no sub-
stitute for first-hand experience in the laboratory
even though a large array of lecture courses may

TABLE 1. Polymer Course Selection

COURSE TITLE
Intro. to Polymer Chem.

Structure and Prop. of
Matter
Macromol. Hydrodynamics
Surface and Colloid Chem.
Structure and Prop. of
Polym.

Viscoelasticity of Polym.

Polym. Science Lab.

Phys. Chem. of Polymers

Special Topics in Polym.

Principles of Polym.
Synthesis
Advanced Topics in Polym.
Synthesis
Network Formation in
Polym.
Compounding and
Processing of Polym.
Seminar in Polym. Chem.
BS Thesis
MS Thesis
PhD Thesis

TYPICAL TEXT
Williams, "Polymer
Science"
DeBenedetto "Structure
and Prop. of Materials"
NOTES
NOTES
Meares, "Polymers,
Structure and Bulk
Properties"
Ferry, "Viscoelastic
Prop. of Polymers"
Colins, Bares, Billmeyer,
"Experiments in Polymer
Science"
Flory, "Princip. of
Polymer Chemistry
Flory, "Stat. Mech. of
Chain Molecules
Flory, "Princip. of
Polymer Chemistry"
NOTES

NOTES

NOTES

Robert E. Cohen joined the faculty in 1973, after completing a
year's residence at Oxford University's Department of Engineering
Science as an ICI Research Fellow. He is currently a recipient of a
DuPont Young Faculty Award and is using the grant to further his
research interests in the area of elastomer structure-property relation-
ships. His teaching interests have focused on the development and
implementation of laboratory instruction in the polymer area as well
as lecturing on the various aspects of polymer properties. (left)
Edward W. Merrill is involved in numerous areas of polymer teach-
ing and research since 1948. His polymer research has resulted in more
than 100 publications and has evolved from early work on the rhe-
ology of synthetic polymers to increasing efforts in the area of blood
and biorheology, and currently concentrates on the subject of bio-
compatible polymers. The continuing evolution of the ChE polymer
program has been a large part of his teaching focus and the present
organization of the graduate curriculum reflects his efforts. He is cur-
rently the holder of the Carbon Dubbs Professorship. (right)

be available to stress underlying theory. The lab-
oratory acquaints students with a selection of
techniques employed in the synthesis and char-
acterization of polymeric materials. The experi-
ments have been chosen for their practical im-
portance and instructional value. Continuing em-
phasis is placed on the long-chain nature of the
polymer molecule and the influence of this mole-
cular feature on experimental procedures and re-
sults. A selection of experiments for the polymer
lab is shown on Table 2 and are described ade-
quately in the required text (Collins, Bares and
Billmeyer, Experiments in Polymer Science,
Wiley, 1973). Extensive notes have been prepared
to describe those experiments which do not appear
in the text. Several of the standard commercial
instruments used in the lab are indicated in
Table 2. Exposure to such widely used devices is
an important aspect of the course content.
Any of the courses listed in Table 1 may be
taken, with proper prerequisites, as technical elec-
tives by students who are pursuing a Bachelors

WINTER 1976

or Masters Degree in ChE. Such students often
elect to fulfill their BS or MS thesis requirements
by conducting a research project under the di-
rection of one of the ChE faculty with polymer
research interests. Upon successful completion of
the thesis the student then receives a BS or MS
degree with specification in ChE. A separate route
to a polymer intensive Masters degree without
specification in ChE is described below. The PhD
or ScD degree requires no formal participation in
polymer course work. However, graduate students
who intend to pursue a doctoral degree in a poly-
mer related area are strongly encouraged to select
courses which will assist in their research effort
and also to broaden their view of the polymer
field.

TABLE 2. Polymer Science Laboratory

POLYMER SYNTHESIS
*1. Free radical polymerization of lauryl methacrylate, fol-
lowing the kinetics by direct weighing techniques.
2. Condensation polymerization of wo-aminoundecanoic
acid, following the kinetics by end group analysis and
by bulk viscosity measurements.
3. Interfacial polymerization of ny'on 6,6.

POLYMER CHARACTERIZATION
*1. Light scattering determination of molecular weight;
Sofica Whippler Photometer.
*2. Dilute solution (intrinsic viscosity) determination of
molecular weight.
*3. Gel Permeation Chromatography determination of
molecular weight and molecular weight distribution;
Waters, Inc. Model 200 GPC.
*4. Equilibrium swelling of cross-linked networks.
*5. Nuclear magnetic resonance determination of copoly-
mer composition (in cooperation with Chemistry De-
partment). Hitachi-Perkin Elmer R-20B.
6. Wide angle X-ray scattering-morphology of crystal-
line polymers.
*7. Differential scanning calorimetry-analysis of melting
points and glass transition temperatures. Perkin-
Elmer DSC lB.
8. Differential Thermal Analysis, DuPont DTA and TMA
Model 900.
9. Transmission Electron Microscopy-Phillips EM200.

POLYMER PROPERTIES
*1. Tensile stress-strain and stress relaxation, Instron
Tensile Tester.
2. Dynamic Mechanical Properties-Rheovibron DDV-
II-C.
3. Tensile and shear creep and recovery.
4. Gas diffusion through polymers.
*Required experiments, others are optional.

MASTERS DEGREE

T HIS PART OF THE overall polymer program
is especially suited for students who as under-
graduates have had a strong training in chem-
istry. Such training may form part of the require-
ments for a BS degree in ChE and in certain
other disciplines. The degree of BA or BS in
Chemistry would virtually insure an appropriate
background. In any case, physical chemistry in-
cluding thermodynamics and a first course in or-
ganic chemistry should be part of the background.
Women graduating with any of the above degrees,
including those with no engineering background,
such as chemistry majors in liberal arts colleges,
are encouraged to consider applying for admission
to the program.
Beginning in the fall term, the first half of the
program provides intensive and coordinated in-
struction leading to a comprehensive view of poly-
mers, showing how the areas of specialization re-
late to one another - for example, how macro-
scopic properties are influenced by molecular
"microstructure" which in turn is influenced by
method of synthesis. Parallel with the basic sub-
jects of instruction the students have extensive
laboratory work in the principal techniques for
synthesis, analysis, and testing of polymers. Dur-
ing the fall term the student participates in a
weekly seminar. Several of these (see Table 3)
are devoted to discussions by visitors from indus-
try and other universities; other meetings are de-
voted to joint discussions led by the regular teach-
ing staff. Through the seminar the student gains
an additional perspective on polymers that will
assist him in selecting a topic for the research
that forms his MS thesis.
In the month of January, ordinarily a period
of Independent Activities at MIT, the student can
devote a major part of the time to the MS thesis,
preparing the literature review, acquiring the ap-
paratus and instrumentation appropriate to the
task, and beginning his work, which continues
through the Spring Term. The three summer
months are entirely open for research effort on
the MS thesis, thus virtually assuring completion
of the degree in one calendar year.
A principal objective of the undesignated MS
program is to prepare students to take up an im-
mediate professional career involving polymers
in a variety of industrial areas, including chem-
ical, textile, food, mechanical, electrical, pharma-
ceutical and aeronautical/space industries. Pres-

CHEMICAL ENGINEERING EDUCATION

ent indications are that the student who has re-
ceived the MS following this program will find a
wide and ever increasing range of offers of em-
ployment, at levels of starting salary significantly
above that for the graduate with the BS degree.
Alternatively, a student in the program has
the option of preparing for advanced study on
polymers leading to a doctorate in ChE. The stu-
dent who decides to continue an advanced pro-
gram of study beyond the MS degree can modify
the program to include one or more subjects
drawn from the core courses of the ChE depart-
ment in order to prepare for the doctoral qualify-
ing examinations.

POLYMER RESEARCH

The MIT ChE faculty carry on a vigorous and
wide ranging research program in numerous
areas of polymer science. There are adequate on-
going research projects, both experimental and
theoretical in nature, to suit the tastes and inter-
ests of nearly anyone interested in conducting a
thesis project in the polymer area. The considera-
ble facilities and specialized equipment for poly-
mer research are readily available to students
within the ChE department and there are num-
erous avenues available for cooperation within
the MIT community.
At present the ChE Department, owing to a
lack of adequate space, must conduct many of its
research projects, polymers included, in a number
of widely separated laboratories around the MIT
campus. However, in January of 1976, the depart-
ment will move into its new building the construc-
tion of which is now nearly complete. Nearly two
thousand square feet of laboratory space have
been set aside for polymer research and consid-
erable new research apparatus are being acquired.
This unification and improvement of the physical
facilities will serve to strengthen the existing re-
search effort in the polymer area, and will allow
for an expanded polymer research program in the
future.
A special aspect of the program is liaison
with the Center for Macromolecular Research
(CMR) in Strasbourg, which is affiliated with but
operates independently from the University of
Strasbourg under the Centre National de la
Recherche Scientifique of France. Visiting Pro-
fessor Paul Rempp is a director of research at
this center and has had a long history of associa-
tion with MIT dating back to his post-doctoral

TABLE 3. Visiting Seminar Speakers (Fall 1974)

SPEAKER & AFFILIATION
Dr. R. J. Roe, Bell
Telephone Labs
Prof. R. Stein, University
of Massachusetts

Dr. D. J. Meier, Midland
Macromolecular Institute
Prof. W. R. Krigbaum,
Duke University
Dr. T. Alfrey,
Dow Chemical Co.

TOPIC
Interfaces in Polymers

X-Ray and Light
Scattering Studies of
Multiphase Polymers
Block Copolymers

Polymer Interfaces

Mechanical Properties of
Polymers

fellowship with Walter Stockmayer in 1958. It is
planned to develop a continuing collaboration
with the Strasbourg group involving the exchange
of graduate students and post-doctoral fellows.
In the spring 1975 term, Dr. Rempp will offer
the subject Advanced Polymerization Processes
and will participate in the instruction of Network
Formation in Polymers. Dr. Philip Gramain, re-
nowned for his work combining synthesis of poly-
mers and physical characterizations will be Visit-
ing Research Associate in the Department. Pro-
fessor Henri Benoit, General Director of the
CMR, will be in residence for three weeks in the
spring of 1975 as speaker in the Polymer Sem-
inar.

SUMMARY
IN THE ABOVE paragraphs we have outlined
the polymer teaching and research program in
MIT's ChE department. The program is, and we
believe will continue to be, a valuable component
of the overall ChE curriculum. The department's
long standing interest in polymers has evolved
into the present coordinated effort which provides
diversity and flexibility in subject and degree of-
ferings. This program will continue to evolve to
keep abreast of the changing aims and goals of
education in the polymer field and will continue
to be responsive to the ever increasing needs of
the polymer-related industry. E
REFERENCES
1. Collected Papers of Wallace Hume Carothers on High
Polymer Substances, ed. by H. Mark and G. S. Whitby,
Interscience Publishers, N.Y. 1940.
2. H. Staudinger, Ber., 53, 1073 (1920).
3. See for example the editorial by P. H. Lindenmeyer,
"Wake up and Smell the Coffee," Chemical and En-
gineering News, Nov. 18, 1974.
4. A review of Flory's work appears in an article by
W. H. Stockmeyer, Science, 186, 724 (1974).

WINTER 1976

tno0 international

CHEMICAL ENGINEERING EDUCATION

AND RESEARCH IN POLAND

RICHARD G. GRISKEY
University of Wisconsin
Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53201

The present paper relates the activities of a
visit made by the author under the auspices of the
U.S. National Academy of Science to Poland. Es-
sentially, a detailed description of chemical engi-
neering education and research in Poland is given.
In addition, a thorough analysis is made of these
activities so that conclusions are reached with re-
gard to quality, problems and future directions.

WARSAW I
U PON ARRIVAL IN Warsaw I met Drs. Zahor-
ski and Ziabicki from The Institute for Basic
Problems of Technology (IBPT). My general im-
pression of the group in the Laboratory for Poly-
mer Physics (headed by Dr. Zahorski) was that
they were well qualified and involved in first rate
research. They suffered, however, from a serious
lack of laboratory equipment. Because of this,
most of their research was theoretical. There were
a large number of doctoral candidates working
for both Drs. Ziabicki and Zahorski (about twenty
or so). The background of these students was
varied-some were physicists, some chemists, en-
gineers and even biochemists. There appeared to
be less restriction in changing graduate fields
than in the United States. In fact, the boundary
between engineering and scientific disciplines was
much more fluid than in our country.
I was surprised to find that all doctoral candi-
dates were handled within the Polish Academy of
Science without involving a university. While
some scientists are jointly appointed to PAN and
a university, this is not very common; and con-
sequently, the academy grants its own doctorates.

Next I spent some time with the Laboratory
for Fluid Mechanics, also a part of IBPT. My con-
tacts here were Drs. Herczynski and Szaniawski.
This group had somewhat more extensive experi-
mental facilities. The research program in the
Fluid Mechanics Laboratory seemed to be directed
toward esoteric problems. They were, for example,
interested in shock tubes. There didn't seem to be
any push toward industrial or applied problems.
Generally, the Fluid Mechanics Laboratory seemed

Figure 1. The statue of Copernicus between the Polish
Academy of Science and Warsaw University.

CHEMICAL ENGINEERING EDUCATION

to be more isolated than the Polymer Physics
Laboratory. Perhaps part of the problem was that
the scientists in the latter group had been either
in Polish industrial laboratories or overseas, while
the Fluid Mechanics Group had essentially only
their PAN background.
I also continued to discuss research topics with
the Polymer Physics group. The principal efforts
were being directed to polymer-solvent systems,
viscoelasticity and statistical thermodynamics of
polymers.

ON TO CRACOW
M Y NEXT STOP was Cracow. I visited the
Technical University and specifically Dr.
M. Mrowiec, the Head of the Institute for Chem-
ical Engineering, and an Associate Dean of the
University.
In discussing Polish technical higher educa-
tion, it became apparent that great emphasis was
being placed on the training of engineers and ap-
plied scientists. There were no employment prob-
lems since the government provided jobs for all
such graduates.
The Polish system is based on a five-year pro-
gram which leads to the degree of Magister (i.e.,
Master's degree). The curriculum provides for
either an industrial practicum or a university
based project in the fifth year. In the applied
chemistry and chemical engineering areas the
course of study is essentially the same for the first
two years. Then, during the third and fourth years
the chemical engineering and applied chemistry
programs diverge. The general impression that is
given is that the chemical engineering degree is
more rigorous and demanding. Course content ap-
pears to be more practically oriented than in
American programs. There is, however, a strong
emphasis placed on the basic sciences.
The faculty at Cracow were dedicated and ap-
peared to be well qualified. Practically all of them
were educated entirely in Poland. The principal
exception was Dr. Mrowiec, who had received
German graduate training. Students seemed to be
bright and hard working. In Poland they are a
somewhat privileged class since they receive free
education, and special benefits such as trolley and
bus passes and various discounts. An impressive
feature was that the Cracow Technical University,
although a fairly new institution, had several
thousand students. In fact, it would have been
larger than nearly all U.S. Colleges of Engineer-
ing.

Richard G. Griskey received his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from
Carnegie-Mellon University in 1951. From 1951 to 1953 he was a First
Lieutenant in the Combat Engineers of the U. S. Army Corps of En-
gineers. In 1953 he entered Carnegie-Mellon where he was awarded
an M.S. (1955) and Ph.D. (1958).
The National Academy of Science appointed him as Senior Visiting
Scientist to Poland in 1971. In the same year he was appointed Dean
of the College of Engineering and Applied Science of the University
of Wisconsin-Milwaukee as well as Professor of Energetics.
He has had industrial and consulting experience with DuPont,
Celanese Fibers, Celanese Research, Phillips Petroleum, Thermo Tech
Inc., Hewlett-Packard, Litton Industries and the U. S. Veterans Ad-
ministration. He is a member of AIChE, Cryogenic Society, Society of
Plastics Engineers, ASEE, and the Society of Rheology.

Dr. Mrowiec went into quite a bit of detail in
describing Chemical Engineering education in
Poland. He indicated that there were five other
Institutes of Chemical Engineering located in the
Technical Universities of Warsaw, Lodz, Gliwice,
Wroclaw and Szczecin. The relative size of these
Institutes and their heads are shown in Table II.
Generally the Institutes at Warsaw and Lodz
are felt to be the best in Poland. It should be
noted that Professors Ciborowski and Hobler are
both members of the Polish Academy of Science,
a prestigious recognition in Poland. Hobler is the
"grand old man" of Polish Chemical Engineering,
and although in his seventies, is still active.
One point of interest was that the Technical
Universities all gave five year Master's programs
as a first degree, despite considerable sentiment to
return to the four year baccalaurate program as a
first degree. The Technical Universities also had
doctorate programs, although the effort in this
area at Cracow was just beginning.
Dr. Mrowiec also mentioned that there was a
rough Polish equivalent to the Bachelor of Tech-
nology degree now so much in vogue in the United
States. The Polish program took four years and
was apparently designed to produce personnel for

WINTER 1976

factory or field operations. None of the Technical
Universities offered this program. Instead, insti-
tutions, apparently several steps below the Tech-
nical Universities, in locations such as Bialystok
offer this curriculum.

NEXT STOP-LODZ
I LEFT CRACOW for the Institute of Polymers
of the Lodz Technical University, where I met
with Professor Dr. Marian Kryszewski. His opera-
tion at Lodz was quite interesting since he simul-
taneously was affiliated with Lodz Technical Uni-
versity and the Polish Academy of Science. Dr.
Kryszewski's laboratories were very impressive.
His equipment was highly sophisticated and the
purchased items were of the best quality. In addi-
tion, he had modified many devices and in some
cases fabricated novel experimental units. In many
ways his experimental facilities were the best that
I saw in Poland.
I spent two days at the Institute for Man-
Made Fibers. This unit was a directly super-
vised facility of one of the ministries of the Polish
government. In essence then, it was neither a uni-
versity nor a unit of the Polish Academy of Sci-
ence, but rather, a government laboratory. As
such, the emphasis was heavily on applied areas.
The laboratories were extremely well equipped
with Japanese, West German, U.S., and English
instruments. For example, they had a Hitachi
electron microscope and a Siemens X-ray unit.
The quality of the laboratory personnel was high.

The Polish system is based on
a five-year program which leads to
the degree of Magister (i.e., Master's degree).
The curriculum provides for either an
industrial practicum or a university
based project in the fifth year.

In fact, the scientists and engineers in the Insti-
tute would compare favorably with the best in the
industrial laboratories of the United States.
One problem which seemed to retard their ac-
tivities was a lack of direction from the govern-
ment. There did not seem to be a clear notion of
what fibers should be emphasized. Some of the re-
search, while interesting, did not give data that
would help those in the industrial area.

Figure 2. One of the oldest universities in the world,
Jagiellionian University in Cracow, was founded in
1364.

RETURN TO WARSAW
F OR MY FINAL week I visited two institutions
-the Institute of Chemical Engineering of
Warsaw Technical University and the Institute
for Industrial Chemistry (a government labora-
tory similar to the Institute for ManlMade Fibers
in Lodz).
My host at Warsaw Technical University was
Dr. Ciborowski, a member of the Polish Academy
of Sciences, and one of the most prominent engi-
neers in Poland. He has traveled widely and had
just returned from Cuba prior to my visit. Dr.
Ciborowski studied at M.I.T. just after World
War II under the auspices of UNRRA. Because of
this he had an excellent grasp of our system of
technical higher education.
His Institute was most impressive. Unlike
Cracow where there were space and equipment
problems, his facilities were spacious and fairly
well equipped. Much of his laboratory facilities
were fabricated in one of the best machine shops
I saw while in Poland. Dr. Ciborowski's sophisti-
cation also showed up in his curriculum and fac-
ulty.
The graduate program at Warsaw was most
impressive. There was a real effort to build up
sophisticated projects in such areas as chemical
reactor design, scale-up and optimization tech-
niques, and other areas of practical significance
requiring thorough fundamental treatment.
I should mention two members of Dr. Ciborow-
ski's faculty of note. One, Dr. Marcinkowski who
was working on his Dr.(Hab) in the area of
scale-up of chemical reactors. The sophistication
and innovation displayed were impressive. The
other, Dr. Selecki is a first-rate inorganic chemical
engineer who has a wide variety of unusual inter-

CHEMICAL ENGINEERING EDUCATION

ests relating to the application of inorganic chem-
istry.
Dr. Ciborowski himself should not be ne-
glected. He has continued to carry out impressive
research in the areas of heat transfer and fluid-
ized bed behavior. As a general impression I
would rank both the Institute of Chemical Engi-
neering at Warsaw and Dr. Ciborowski most
highly.
My final Warsaw visitation was made to the
Institute of Industrial Chemistry. Dr. A. Plo-
chocki, whom I had corresponded with over a
number of years, was my host.
This Institute, a government laboratory, was
most impressive in facilities and equipment areas.
They had both excellent chemical engineering and
plastics processing laboratories. In addition, they
seemed to have a sense of direction. Much of their
work was research that would directly benefit the
Polish economy.
Dr. A. Cybulski was doing very fine work on
chemical reactor systems, the utilization of which
would benefit the Polish economy. Dr. Plochocki
was doing the same kind of first class effort in the
area of Plastics Processing. There was a real ef-
fort to bring about greater understanding so that
the Polish plastics industry could grow in a mean-
ingful way.

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

M Y TRIP TO POLAND gave me an oppor-
tunity to survey the various types of lab-
oratories in that country, the status of technical
higher education and the general quality of re-
search in the area of polymers.
There are three principal types of laboratories
in Poland. The first are those under the jurisdic-
tion of the government (such as the Institute of
Man-Made Fibers in Lodz and the Institute for
Applied Chemistry in Warsaw). These labora-
tories are well equipped and even have sizeable
amounts of new and sophisticated units from hard
currency areas such as the United States, Japan,
West Germany, France and England. Their staffs
are high caliber and have good spirit de corps.
The next category was the laboratories of the
Polish Academy of Science. These units had prob-
ably the best technical people in the country. There
was good rapport with the universities or with
potential graduates through their own doctorate
programs. Generally, however, the facilities were
poor. The little equipment available came mainly
from Russia, Czechoslovakia or East Germany.

Finally there were the laboratories in the uni-
versities which were probably the poorest in
terms of facilities and equipment. There was a
dangerous separation in some cases from the
"real" world which has proven disastrous to grad-
uate students in this country. Faculty were, how-
ever, of high caliber and were able to do excellent
work when in contact with outside laboratories.
There seems to be strong sentiment to make a
four-year program the first degree. interestingly,
this is the opposite of current trends in U.S. en-
gineering education.
A typical ChE curriculum resembles a strong
traditional U.S. chemical engineering curriculum
of about fifteen years ago. Such courses as chem-
ical technology, machinery, and unit operations
no longer in vogue in the U.S. are still part of
the Polish curriculum. In spite of this, the pro-
grame appears to be sound and perhaps better
to be sound and perhaps better suited to Poland's
needs than our courses of study.

Students in Poland are a privileged
class since they receive free
education, and special benefits such
as trolley and bus passes and
various discounts.

The curricula in polymers are essentially poly-
mer chemistry with some physics intertwined.
There is absolutely nothing that resembles the
interdisciplinary U.S. programs which include en-
gineering, chemistry, physics and materials sci-
ence. A strong curriculum emphasizing polymer
engineering is badly needed in Poland. Especially
so if the polymer industries there are to progress.
One impressive feature of Polish technical
higher education was the large number of female
students. In some curricula they constituted a ma-
jority. There were large numbers who were not
only doctorate candidates, but also active research-
ers. Perhaps the example of Marie Curie and a
different societal viewpoint accounts for this.
I was very much impressed with the quality of
the research being carried out in Poland. Despite
equipment and facility limitations, the Polish en-
gineers and scientists performed consistently at a
high level. Particularly impressive were Drs.
Ziabicki, Zahorski, Kryszewski, Cybulski, Plo-
chocki, Selecki, and Ciborowski. It is my personal
feeling that more scientific interchange would be
beneficial to both nations. E

WINTER 1976

THE CHEMI PROJECT
Continued from page 17.
ate a student's achievement of those objectives." EMMSE
(Educational Modules for Materials Science and Engineer-
ing) held a one day meeting to arrive at some consensus
concerning the description of a module. The most important
agreement reached at the meeting was that each module
should be explicitly described in several dimensions, with
the length as the principle parameter. The following table
shows cross-referencing to other terminologies which de-
scribe length.

COURSE
DESCRIPTION
single aspect
single topic
1 classroom lecture
1 week's lectures
1 semester's

MODULE
DESCRIPTOR
(approximate
time)
5-min module
15-min module
1-hour module
2-hour module
45-hour module

BOOK
ANALOG
paragraph
section
'n' sections
chapter
book

lectures or
1 course

The descriptors for a given module might be as follows:
* Four modules on "Thermodynamics"
* Discipline/Level: Engineering/college juniors
* Length: 15 minutes each
* Medium: 16 mm color-sound technicolor movie cassette
For the CHEMI Project all the modules will be text (print)
modules on 8 1/2 x 11 paper. Each module will be roughly
from 7 to 15 pages in length (excluding problem solutions),
single spaced, with an educational content equivalent to
about a one hour lecture, and covering, in general, a single
concept.
The entire ChE community is invited to join in this ven-
ture by writing modules in their areas of interest. The fol-
lowing recognition and compensation will be given to module
authors.

* Wide distribution of modules to the ChE community with
identification of author and institution in the copy and
on the cover
* Announcement of the availability of modules in the
CACHE NEWSLETTER and in periodic news releases
to ChE journals.
* $50.00 Honorarium for each module.
* The review process is designed to enhance the profes-
sional recognition of the author's work and make it
comparable to that of research articles.
While many modules have already been commissioned,
many have not. If you are interested in writing a module,
please contact the appropriate editor listed below. He will
then send you a complete listing of module topics and an
author's kit including a sample module.
The project is directed by Ernest Henley (U. of Hous-
ton) and his assistant director is William Heenan (U. of
Puerto Rico). The editors in charge of the 7 curriculum
areas are: Kinetics-Billy Crynes (Oklahoma State U.)
and Scott Fogler (U. of Michigan), Thermodynamics-
Bernie Goodwin (Northeastern U.) Control-Tom Edgar
(U. of Texas), Transport-Ron Gordon (U. of Florida),

Stagewise Processes-Ernest Henley (U. of Houston), De-
sign-Bob Jelinek (State U. of New York, Syracuse) and
Bob Weaver (Tulane U.), Stoichiometry-Dave Himmel-
blau (U. of Texas).
The entire project is under the oversight of a steering
committee: Lawrence Evans (M.I.T.), Gary Powers
(Carnegie-Mellon U.), Ernest Henley (U. of Houston),
David Himmelblau (U. of Texas), Duncan Mellichamp (U.
of California), and Robert Weaver (Tulane U.). E
William A. Heenan and
Ernest J. Henley
University of Houston

REFERENCES

1. Wilson, S. W., "Interactive Lectures", Technology
Review, January 1972.
2. Miller, D. C., "Technology and Self Study", Journal
of Educational Technology Systems, Vol. 1, No. 1,
June 1972, p. 73.
3. Koen, B. V., "Self-Paced Instruction for Engineering
Students", Engineering Education, Vol. 60, No. 7,
March 1970, pp. 735-736.
4. The Engineering Concepts Curriculum Project
(ECCP) is an NSF supported High School Curric-
ulum Development.
5. Koen, B. V., The Bureau of Engineering Teaching,
University of Texas at Austin.
6. Tosti, D., President, Independent Learning Institute,
Cordomadera, California.
7. EMMSE (Educational Modules for Materials Science
and Engineering) Brochure Vol. 1, No. 1, May 1975.

Editor's Note:
At a talk given at the University of Florida, Prof. John J.
McKetta of the U. of Texas read the following note he re-
ceived from a student. The editor thought we would share
this with our readers.

Dr. McKetta is my Professor, I shall not pass.
He maketh me to exhibit my ignorance
on every quiz,
He telleth me more than I can write down,
He lowereth my grades.
Yea, though I walk through the corridors of the
classrooms of knowledge,
I cannot learn.
He tries to teach me,
He writeth the equations before me in hopes
that I can understand them,
He bombardeth my head with "rules of thumb".
My sliderule freezeth up.
Surely enthalpies and entropies shall follow me
all the rest of my life,
and I shall dwell in the College of
ChemEngineering forever.
AMEN

CHEMICAL ENGINEERING EDUCATION

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332 of our people

left their jobs last year.

We're proud

of that record.

Job hopping is something we encourage through our
Internal Placement Service.
We happen to believe our most valuable corporate
assets are people. The more our people know, the
stronger company we are. So just over a year ago
we initiated IPS. In the first year, 332 Sun people
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Here's how it works. Say you're an engineer.
You'd like to broaden your experience and feel that
you'd make a contribution in Marketing. You check
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A Diversified Energy and Petrochemical Company

	Front Cover
	Table of Contents
	Some thoughts on the nature of...
	University of Illinois-Urbana
	University of Florida's John P....
	Alkaline fading of organic dyes:...
	Book reviews
	Letters
	Digital simulation
	Simulation of the cardiopulmonary...
	A simple, instructive solid state...
	Temperature approach in counter-flow...
	Combustion project: Explosive...
	M.I.T.'s polymer program
	Chemical engineering education...
	News
	Back Cover

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