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Solvent extraction as environmental benign separation technique can be modeled in physical detail by population balance of the droplet size distribution. However, much information on the droplet generation and coalescence is necessary for representative results. In this contribution, we present a comparison of AI‐evaluated experimental and simulated data on the behavior of a stirred solvent extraction column with an inner diameter of 32 mm. Lab experiments were performed using the standard test system with n‐butyl acetate, acetone, and deionized water. A digital camera is placed in front of the middle section as well as the head of the column. Droplet size evaluation is performed using a retrained neural net (Mask R‐CNN). The stirred DN32 extraction column is modeled and simulated using a 1D CFD population balance software. The simulation allows for behavior analysis, trends comparison, and validation of the hydrodynamics and mass transfer performances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the culmination of the Chemical Engineering curriculum, students face the challenging and stimulating elaboration of a whole design project that integrates all the knowledge gained throughout the course. The subject is divided into two parts, gaining a theoretical background in the ninth semester and a proposed teamwork project design with the aid of a process simulator in the tenth semester. This paper presents the challenge of designing a whiskey distillery elected by a group of students applying the project‐based learning methodology. As a strategy for a more efficient design, the process is divided into three blocks: prefermentation, fermentation, and distillation. Calculations involve mass and energy balances and the design of the different units, including the optimization of a distillation column assisted by the ASPEN HYSYS® simulator. Students must publicly present their results in front of the class and a jury formed by chemical engineers. A survey was carried out to assess the student's satisfaction and feedback. The results manifested the significance of the subject for the future and the satisfaction of the proposed teaching strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Data‐driven process monitoring and control techniques and their application to industrial chemical processes are gaining popularity due to the current focus on Industry 4.0, digitalization and the Internet of Things. However, for the development of such techniques, there are significant barriers that must be overcome in obtaining sufficiently large and reliable datasets. As a result, the use of real plant and process data in developing and testing data‐driven process monitoring and control tools can be difficult without investing significant efforts in acquiring, treating, and interpreting the data. Therefore, researchers need a tool that effortlessly generates large amounts of realistic and reliable process data without the requirement for additional data treatment or interpretation. In this work, we propose a data generation platform based on the Tennessee Eastman Process simulation benchmark. A graphical user interface (GUI) developed in MATLAB Simulink is presented that enables users to generate massive amounts of data for testing applicability of big data concepts in the realm of process control for continuous time‐dependent processes. An R‐Shiny app that interacts with the data generation tool is also presented for illustration purposes. The app can visualize the results generated by the Tennessee Eastman Process and can carry out a standard fault detection and diagnosis studies based on PCA. The data generator GUI is available free of charge for research purposes at https://github.com/dtuprodana/TEP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays, the use of computational tools in classroom is quite habitual and important by making the learning process more constructive and dynamic. The objective of this work is to introduce a support didactic material for use in computational classes of Chemical Reaction Engineering. The development of the work is based on a direct implementation of examples of the well-known Fogler's textbook 'Elements of Chemical Reaction Engineering' in an equation-based dynamic simulator: EMSO. The problems were implemented in a way to preserve the structure of the problem as described in the textbook. The results are illustrated by graph plots generated in the simulator, allowing comparisons with the results presented in the textbook and detailed analyses for effects of variables in the problem. The problems are easily modified, allowing the student to analyze several possibilities, changing equations and values of variables, for example, and observing the results. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Comput Appl Eng Educ 18: 607-618, 2010; View this article online at ; DOI 10.1002/cae.20255 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]