Title

Integration of Process Safety from Introduction to Chemical Engineering to Reaction Engineering

Document Type

Conference Proceeding

Publication Date

11-9-2015

Conference Name

2015 AIChE Annual Meeting

Abstract

Process safety is essential to undergraduate chemical engineering education to adequately prepare students to be conservative, yet innovative chemical engineers in practice. Even at schools where industrial cooperative education is integral to a college degree, it is important to emphasize chemical process safety throughout the curriculum to reinforce safety topics exposed on the job, or due to the variety of employers, introduce students to concepts that they may not have experienced. It is important that chemical engineering students are exposed to process safety starting their freshman year to prepare them for cooperative employment and have this carry through to the senior year. At Kettering University students were introduced to industrial hygiene, risk management, and literature review on plant disasters in a new freshman introduction to chemical engineering course in Fall 2014. In unit operations and separations laboratory courses, students prepare safety case studies. Safety is further reinforced in reaction engineering with case studies, reviews of MSDS, examples of consequences from run-away reactions, and student-inspired safety presentations. An elective course covers risk management plans and the associated issues when considering the design and start-up of chemical plants. Finally graduating seniors have the opportunity to take an independent study course on Process Safety where the deliverable is case studies for use in lower-level courses. The integration and impact of how safety is presented in the Kettering University chemical engineering curriculum will be presented.

Rights Statement

Copyright © American Institute of Chemical Engineers

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