Canama's BSChE e-Portfolio
Design and Development of Solutions
Upon determining the problems that occurred in a system and investigating the root causes of that problems, solutions must be developed to resolve such problem. As chemical engineers whose roles is diverse in varied industries and processes, several solutions can be designed and developed. But in generating solutions, the considerations of health, safety, and efficiency must be observed. Thus, rigorous and justified selection processes are to be made so that an optimal solution to the problem.
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In my experience, this section can dwell on the conceptual design projects that were made, from process equipment to plant design. In connection, providing solutions can be shown in the presentation of innovations based on the problems that are present in the society.
Product Pitches
On one perspective, solutions can be generated based on the needs of a particular community. This may come as a product that consumers may use wherever they are or services which assists consumers in their needs. With the variety of aspects that can be look into, from healthcare, food, leisure, and financial management, several products can be thought of and be created. It is just a matter of having a creative mind in exploring such innovation.
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In the university, Technopreneurship classes are available to engineering student to foster the innovative minds of the student and create an avenue to widen doors for product development and business ventures. Topics in this class would include consumer evaluation, marketing strategies, and product pitching. During my time in such class, we were grouped together to create a particular product based on the pandemic situation that happened across the world. Our group thought of creating a UV-based disinfectant for high-touch surfaces such as phones and furniture.
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Here is a PowerPoint pitch created our group during the final assessment which is to do a business pitch similar to the show "Shark Tank". Along with this is a product advertisement created for the UV-Clean product. The contribution that I have made in the product pitch is to assess the timeline of the development of the UV-clean product. The promotional video was made by Laichi Arrieta, a groupmate of mine in our Technopreneurship class.
Aside from our product pitch in our technopreneurship class, we also had thought of producing antibacterial coating for phone screen protectors during or Nanotechnology elective course. With the knowledge that we have on the properties of metal nanoparticles and the process of producing such material, we were tasked to come up with an innovative product that are made from nanomaterials. Here is a file that contains the project proposal that we made as part of our final requirements of the said course. Interestingly, this has been our research project as capstone to our ChE journey in USC.
Process Equipment Design
Another perspective in solving problems is by looking at it at an industrial perspective in selecting and designing equipment in industrial processes. In our ChE program in USC, there were several process equipment designs that were produced over course of our stay. Based on the major design subject, the final requirement is to come up with a conceptual design which would suit to a particular process and would fit to the requirements that is expected from the system.
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An example to this is the reactor design (See Engineering Knowledge tab for the artifact) where we designed a dicyanobutene reactor system. Another is a separation equipment design where we were tasked to choose among the possible process options which would yield the best/optimal result in the recovery of pyridine from a catalysis reaction. The options were: (1) liquid-liquid extraction, (2) membrane separation via pervaporation, and (3) adsorption. Over the course of making the design project, I was assigned to design a Pervaporation Membrane Equipment and assess its design parameters. Further, I contributed to the quantitative matrix on the assessment/comparison of the options stipulated. Based on the quantitative comparison and design calculations, it was suggested that pervaporation (which I was assigned to) would be the better candidate. Click on the link to know more about this equipment design project.
Chemical Product Development and Process Design
Culminating what we have learned in our foundational subjects is the conceptual design of an entire plant, considering all factors such as equipment sizing, mechanical engineering calculations, process control and safety, waste management, and economics. With such a huge task, this project was done in a group comprising of at most six (6) members. Each group is a assigned to design a develop a product and design a conceptual plant that produces such product. We were assigned to make a biosurfactant from wastewater substate and must undergo fermentation process with a microbial catalyst.
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With this challenge, our group designed a production plant for surfactin using Bacillus subtilis and cassava wastewater substrate. For starters, we developed a basis of design based on economic market data and factors in the supply of needed materials in the production process. These assumptions was backed with logical references to support such claim. This also eased the sizing and design procedures as it initiates primary details on how the product is made, the amount required to be produced, and the constraints towards the process of such product. Click on the button to know more about the Basic Engineering Document we have made over the semester.