Course Content
Fundamentals
- Basic structure of chemical production plants, compound structure of the chemical industry, difference between laboratory and production processes, characterization and representation of chemical processes in flow diagrams
- Engineering thermodynamics and kinetics
- Reactors: laboratory stirred tank (discontinuously or semi-continuously operated), heat removal from reactors, scale-up, safety aspects, continuously operated stirred tank, tubular reactor, stirred tank cascade, residence time
- Reactor design and process engineering using ammonia synthesis as an example, heterogeneous catalysis, use of ammonia
- Balancing of material and heat, basic cost accounting, optimization of chemical plants
- Distillation: laboratory distillation (operated discontinuously), rectification (as repeated, continuously operated distillation), balancing of a rectification column, McCabe-Thiele method, influence of the reflux ratio, technical designs
- Other basic thermal operations: Absorption (application example gas scrubbing in natural gas processing), adsorption, extraction, countercurrent principle as a common feature, technical design forms (tray and packed columns), basic mechanical operations (stirring, filtration), pumping
Processes
- Fossil raw materials (crude oil, natural gas, coal)
- Organic basic chemicals I (steam crackers)
- Organic basic chemicals II (C2 chemistry)
- Organic basic chemicals III (C3 to C5 and aromatics chemistry)
- Organic end products I (polymers)
- Organic end products II (detergents, dyes, pharmaceuticals, pesticides)
- Selected inorganic products: e.g. sulfuric acid, chlorine, caustic soda, cement, pig iron / steel, aluminum, semiconductor silicon
- Field trip to a chemical industry plant
Aquired competences
Desired learning outcomes
Upon successful completion of this module, students should be able to:
- Recognize the differences between the production of substances in the laboratory and on an industrial scale and consider them for application
- Apply the fundamentals of thermodynamics, phase equilibria, reaction kinetics, mass and heat transport, and mass and heat balancing to explain the operating principles of the major chemical reactors and separation processes
- Discuss the possible applications of the various basic types of chemical reactors
- Explain the action of heterogeneous and homogeneous catalysts and the reaction processes involved
- Carry out stage designs taking into account phase equilibria and mass balances as a basis for the design of separation processes
- Understand the design and function of essential equipment in chemical plants and describe their advantages and disadvantages for specific applications
- Describe a chemical process with the aid of a process flow diagram
- Explain the production of essential inorganic and organic precursors, intermediates and final products of the chemical industry using process flow diagrams
- Describe the processes carried out in the practical experiments including their industrial significance
- Explain the essential chemical / physico-chemical theoretical principles of the experiments
- Present the measurements carried out and their evaluation
- Discuss the large-scale designs and applications of the reaction and separation apparatus discussed in the practical course experiments
Key competencies taught
Essential skills for a successful career in the chemical industry are taught:
Methodological skills
- The ability to evaluate a chemical process not only from a chemical point of view but also from an engineering, equipment, economic and ecological point of view
- The combination of theoretical knowledge with practical experience from the internship
Social skills
- Learning about engineering issues improves the ability to work in a team with graduates of chemical engineering and other disciplines
- The execution and evaluation of the internship experiments in groups of three students promotes the ability to work in teams
Further Details
Exam | Written - Duration not indicated in the Modulhandbuch zum Bachelorstudiengang Chemie |
Preliminaries | Fundamentals of inorganic, organic, and physical chemistry. |
Literature | D.W. Agar, A. Behr, J. Jörissen „Einführung in die Technische Chemie“, Spektrum Akademischer Verlag, Heidelberg, 2010. W. Reschetilowski „Technisch-Chemisches Praktikum“, Wiley-VCH, Weinheim, 2002. Praktikumsskripte der Technischen Chemie The slides of the course and any additional materials such as literature lists and website recommendations will be published in the virtual workrooms in Moodle provided for this purpose. Details will be announced at the beginning of the course. |
Only the information found in the LSF and the most recent edition of the Modulhandbuch der Fakultät Bio- und Chemieingenieurwesen is binding. The content on this page may not reflect the most up-to-date information.
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Location & approach
The campus of TU Dortmund University is located close to interstate junction Dortmund West, where the Sauerlandlinie A 45 (Frankfurt-Dortmund) crosses the Ruhrschnellweg B 1 / A 40. The best interstate exit to take from A 45 is “Dortmund-Eichlinghofen” (closer to South Campus), and from B 1 / A 40 “Dortmund-Dorstfeld” (closer to North Campus). Signs for the university are located at both exits. Also, there is a new exit before you pass over the B 1-bridge leading into Dortmund.
To get from North Campus to South Campus by car, there is the connection via Vogelpothsweg/Baroper Straße. We recommend you leave your car on one of the parking lots at North Campus and use the H-Bahn (suspended monorail system), which conveniently connects the two campuses.
TU Dortmund University has its own train station (“Dortmund Universität”). From there, suburban trains (S-Bahn) leave for Dortmund main station (“Dortmund Hauptbahnhof”) and Düsseldorf main station via the “Düsseldorf Airport Train Station” (take S-Bahn number 1, which leaves every 20 or 30 minutes). The university is easily reached from Bochum, Essen, Mülheim an der Ruhr and Duisburg.
You can also take the bus or subway train from Dortmund city to the university: From Dortmund main station, you can take any train bound for the Station “Stadtgarten”, usually lines U41, U45, U 47 and U49. At “Stadtgarten” you switch trains and get on line U42 towards “Hombruch”. Look out for the Station “An der Palmweide”. From the bus stop just across the road, busses bound for TU Dortmund University leave every ten minutes (445, 447 and 462). Another option is to take the subway routes U41, U45, U47 and U49 from Dortmund main station to the stop “Dortmund Kampstraße”. From there, take U43 or U44 to the stop “Dortmund Wittener Straße”. Switch to bus line 447 and get off at “Dortmund Universität S”.
The AirportExpress is a fast and convenient means of transport from Dortmund Airport (DTM) to Dortmund Central Station, taking you there in little more than 20 minutes. From Dortmund Central Station, you can continue to the university campus by interurban railway (S-Bahn). A larger range of international flight connections is offered at Düsseldorf Airport (DUS), which is about 60 kilometres away and can be directly reached by S-Bahn from the university station.
The H-Bahn is one of the hallmarks of TU Dortmund University. There are two stations on North Campus. One (“Dortmund Universität S”) is directly located at the suburban train stop, which connects the university directly with the city of Dortmund and the rest of the Ruhr Area. Also from this station, there are connections to the “Technologiepark” and (via South Campus) Eichlinghofen. The other station is located at the dining hall at North Campus and offers a direct connection to South Campus every five minutes.
The facilities of TU Dortmund University are spread over two campuses, the larger Campus North and the smaller Campus South. Additionally, some areas of the university are located in the adjacent “Technologiepark”.
Site Map of TU Dortmund University (Second Page in English).