sol_blue_sm





 
Home
Course Info
Homework
Exams
Lecture Notes
Links
 
 


title

  Course Information and Schedule:

Lectures: Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 2:00-2:50 p.m., 106 Talbert
Recitation: Friday, 3:00-3:50 p.m., 106 Talbert

Instructor:
Mark T. Swihart
swihart@eng.buffalo.edu
506 Furnas Hall
645-2911 ext. 2205

Office Hours:
10:00 a.m. - 12:00 noon on Mondays
2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. on Thursdays
4:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. on Fridays
or by appointment.
Outside of these hours, students will usually be welcomed, but may sometimes told to come back later.

Teaching Assistant:
Sanjib Sikder
ssikder@buffalo.edu

Office Hours:
2:00 p.m.. - 4:00 p.m.on Thursdays
12:00 noon. - 2:00 p.m. on Fridays
in room 503 Furnas

Description: This course will provide an overview of applied chemical kinetics and reaction engineering at an intermediate to advanced level.  Coverage will be relatively broad and shallow.  The goal is to provide students with the vocabulary, modeling tools, and theoretical background to understand current chemical kinetics and reaction engineering literature and to tackle the sort of complex problems that they will encounter in their dissertation research and beyond.

Prerequisites: Students are expected to be familiar with the material commonly presented in undergraduate kinetics and reaction engineering courses (see for example the texts by Fogler, Schmidt, or Hill listed on the attached page).  Only a brief review of this material will be presented.  However, knowledge of it will be necessary to succeed on the course exams and (for many of you) the Ph.D. qualifying exams.  Background in calculus, ordinary differential equations, linear algebra, numerical methods, statistical mechanics, quantum mechanics, and general physical chemistry will also be helpful at various points in the course.

Grade Basis

Exams: There will be two exams, each determining 35% of the final grade.  The first exam (tentatively October 19) will cover the chemical kinetics portion of course.  The second exam (during finals week) will cover the reaction engineering portion of course.
     
Homework:  Problem sets will be assigned each Monday, due the following Monday.  These will count for 30% of the final grade.  Exam problems will be closely related to the homework assignments.  Working together on homework problems is encouraged.  Copying from homework solutions from past years is not allowed.  I am aware that many homework problems are similar to (if not identical to) ones that I have used in previous years, and I am aware that some of you may have access to my posted solutions from past years.  However, if you simply copy or adapt these previous solutions without fully understanding how to solve the problems, you are unlikely to be very successful on the course exams, and as a result are likely to do poorly in the course. Moreover, copying from these solutions constitutes academic dishonesty, which has severe consequences, as discussed further below.

Text:

There is no required textbook for this course.  Much of the material in the chemical kinetics portion of the course is based on ‘Chemical Kinetics and Dynamics’ by Steinfeld, Francisco, and Hase.  Much of the reaction engineering portion of the course is based on ‘Chemical Reactor Analysis and Design’ by  Froment and Bischoff.  Lecture notes will be posted on the course web page prior to class.  Other books that you may find useful are listed on the bibliography sheet linked here.
 


Tentative Course Schedule

Week

Monday

Wednesday

Friday

8/25-8/29

Review

Introduction and Review

Review

More review – definitions, classical approximation methods

Kinetic Simulations

Matrix methods for integrating rate equations

9/1-9/5

Labor Day

No Class

Kinetic Simulations

Stochastic methods and Kinetic Monte Carlo

Kinetic Simulations

Numerical methods and codes for stiff ODE’s

9/8-9/13

Kinetic Simulations

Sensitivity analysis and rate parameter fitting

Kinetic Simulations

Sensitivity analysis and rate parameter fitting

Reaction Rate Theory

Simple collision theory

9/15-9/19

Reaction Rate Theory

Potential energy surfaces

Frontiers in Engineering

No Class

Frontiers in Engineering

No Class

9/22-9/26

Reaction Rate Theory

Potential energy surfaces

Reaction Rate Theory

Transition state theory

Reaction Rate Theory

Unimolecular reactions

9/29-10/3

Reaction Rate Theory

Thermochemical and kinetic estimation methods

Condensed Phase and Surface Reactions

Reactions in liquids

Condensed Phase and Surface Reactions

Heterogeneous catalysis

10/6-10/10

Condensed Phase and Surface Reactions

Heterogeneous catalysis

Coupled Reaction and Transport

Interfacial gradient effects

Coupled Reaction and Transport

Intraparticle gradient effects

10/13-10/17

Coupled Reaction and Transport

Intraparticle gradient effects

Review session on first half of course

First Exam:  Chemical Kinetics

2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.

10/20-10/24

AAAR Meeting

No Class

AAAR Meeting

No Class

Fundamental Equations for Reactor Engineering

Presentation of balance equations

10/27-10/31

Fundamental Equations for Reactor Engineering

Simplifications for CSTR, PFTR

Batch and Semi-Batch Reactors

Basic models, Optimization

The Ideal Plug Flow Reactor

Basic models, Optimization

11/3-11/7

The Ideal Plug Flow Reactor

Optimal Temperature

The Continuous Stirred-Tank Reactor (CSTR)

Basic Cases, Optimal Operation

The CSTR (cont.)

Transient solutions, multiplicity, stability of steady states

11/10-11/14

Non-Ideal Reactors

Residence time distributions

Non-Ideal Reactors

Numerical Solution of Boundary Value Problems

11/17-11/21

AIChE Meeting

No Class

AIChE Meeting

No Class

Numerical Solution of Boundary Value Problems

11/24-11/28

The Fixed-Bed Catalytic Reactor

Fall Recess

No Class

Fall Recess

No Class

12/1-12/5

Detailed Example of Fixed-bed Catalytic Reactor Design

Detailed Example of Fixed-bed Catalytic Reactor Design

Complex Reactors

Fluidized beds

Additional Topics if time Permits

Complex Reactors

CVD reactors

Complex Reactors

Fermentation and biochemical reactors

Second Exam:  Reactor Engineering – TBD, during final exam week


STATEMENT ON ACADEMIC INTEGRITY

As part of the first homework assignment, you should read and sign the Policy on Academic Honesty and Integrity.  A more general statement on adacemic integrity, from the graduate school policies and procedures is given here:

Academic integrity is a fundamental university value. Through the honest completion of academic work, students sustain the integrity of the university while facilitating the university's imperative for the transmission of knowledge and culture based upon the generation of new and innovative ideas.

When an instance of suspected or alleged academic dishonesty by a student arises, it shall be resolved according to the procedures set forth in the Graduate School Policies and Procedures (see http://www.grad.buffalo.edu/policies/academicintegrity.php). These procedures assume that many questions of academic dishonesty will be resolved through consultative resolution between the student and the instructor.

Examples of Academic Dishonesty

Academic dishonesty includes, but is not limited to, the following:

  • Previously submitted work. Submitting academically required material that has been previously submitted -- in whole or in substantial part -- in another course, without prior and expressed consent of the instructor.
  • Plagiarism. Copying or receiving material from any source and submitting that material as one's own, without acknowledging and citing the particular debts to the source (quotations, paraphrases, basic ideas), or in any other manner representing the work of another as one's own.
  • Cheating. Soliciting and/or receiving information from, or providing information to, another student or any other unauthorized source (including electronic sources such as cellular phones and PDAs), with the intent to deceive while completing an examination or individual assignment.
  • Falsification of academic materials. Fabricating laboratory materials, notes, reports, or any forms of computer data; forging an instructor's name or initials; resubmitting an examination or assignment for reevaluation which has been altered without the instructor's authorization; or submitting a report, paper, materials, computer data, or examination (or any considerable part thereof) prepared by any person other than the student responsible for the assignment.
  • Misrepresentation of documents. Forgery, alteration, or misuse of any University or Official document, record, or instrument of identification.
  • Confidential academic materials. Procurement, distribution or acceptance of examinations or laboratory results without prior and expressed consent of the instructor.
  • Selling academic assignments. No person shall sell or offer for sale to any person enrolled at the University at Buffalo any academic assignment, or any inappropriate assistance in the preparation, research, or writing of any assignment, which the seller knows, or has reason to believe, is intended for submission in fulfillment of any course or academic program requirement.
  • Purchasing academic assignments. No person shall purchase an academic assignment intended for submission in fulfillment of any course or academic program requirement.