Teaching Mixing to Undergraduate Chemical Engineers

Chemical engineers take raw materials and mix them so that they react to form valuable products and by-products.  The products and by-products are then separated.  While these steps are being performed the components may be heated or cooled as necessary.  Of these four basic operations, three are covered in the undergraduate chemical engineering curriculum.

Smith (Trans. IChemE, 1990) estimated that the US chemical industry loses approximately $ 1 billion a year due to problems associated with poor understanding of the role of mixing on the processes being operated.  Given the importance of mixing as a discipline, it is surprising that there are very few universities that offer a formal course on the subject.

After graduation engineers can take continuing education courses or webinars on mixing organized by, among others, the Center for Professional Advancement, the American Institute of Chemical Engineers and the British Hydromechanics Research Group.  Some larger companies that employ mixing specialists offer in-house seminars on mixing to their employees.

If a formal course on mixing cannot be included in the curriculum due to, for example time constraints, a single lecture could be included in other courses, such as fluid mechanics, reaction engineering and transfer processes, that would show how the concepts being taught can be extended to take the role of mixing into account.  These modules could be prepared as webinars aimed at undergraduate students rather than those offering continuing education for engineers in industry.