reflection on reaction engineering
Chapter 1 : Introduction To Mole Balance
First of all,,all of us were asked to recap back our previous video regarding first chapter which is introduction to mole balance,after that, we were assigned to choose a process in daily life that is similar to reactor process(PFR). Each of my team mates basically gave opinions and finally we chose blood capillary process as our analogy for PFR process. Then, we did the video presentation regarding this analogy.
I found this was interesting as i can feel the team work among us to achieve one goal. Moreover, this kind of learning style help me to gain more confidence to present and speak in front of others. However, at first, I cannot relate the other type of reactors process such as batch, PBR and CSTR to daily life as my group only discuss about PFR. But then, as each group need to post their video presentations on facebook, so that i can watch it and understand.
Furthermore, by this learning style, instead of be sitting in the class, we move around a lot and the main point was i did not sleeping. It was a good experience and fun learning even though at first i felt this kind of learning was not my style and i scared that I cannot adapt with this new learning style but it was beyond my expectation. For now i think i enjoy this learning style😊
Chapter 2 : Conversion and Reactor Sizing
For the class, our GA, Mr Afiq explained about the 4 type of reactors and what it was look like and basically i have the idea about those reactors. Then, as usual, we were assigned to work in group of 6-7 people and start doing the task that were given. We need to design and create batch reactor using transparent plastic bottles and straw that for me was the most simple one compared to the other group. Then, Dr Tazli did the explanation regarding the reactor and relate it to General Mole Balance Equation. My group was the first group to finish the task and we took the opportunity went to the another groups for their explanations.
So basically, today I learned about the parameters that affect each of the reactors. First and foremost, for batch reactor, it depends only on TIME,then CSTR depends on size which is the bigger the size, the better the reaction, PFR depends on the length of the the tube and for PBR depends on weight of catalyst.
In my opinion, this kind of activity was interesting and i learned a lot from it such as i can voice out my opinion and also i can have better communication and teamwork with other members and active learning somehow beyond my expectation. It was great.
Chapter 3 : Rate Law and Stoichiometry
For this week, we learnt chapter 3 which regarding rate law and stoichiometry. Basically what we did was, as usual, we were asked to recap everything in chapter 3 and we were asked to wrote everything that we were not sure about this chapter as the class begin. For first class of chapter 3, we did walking through gallery which each group need to recap informative information and write it on paper and paste it for other group to evaluate. We were not only evaluate it, we also learnt which point is important and thus we can get the answer that we doubt off in the beginning of the class. Basically, i can roughly go through all chapter 3 and take note of the important points from the gallery walk activity.
Next, we did jigsaw activity which each and everyone need to solve the problem and discuss with other members. As we lack of time, we did discussion out of the class regarding the particular question, and before that, i tried to did the solutions myself and basically it help me a lot. Basically, i have better understanding now with the exercises that been given by lecturer and so on.
For overall, i understood this chapter so far and i am looking forward to the next activities for the next chapter. I learnt about elementary and non-elementary rate law, activation energy, the stoichiometric table for batch and flow system and more. Thanks to lecturers. ;)
Chapter 4 : Isothermal Reactor Design
For two days class of reaction engineering, we learnt chapter for which is regarding isothermal reactor design. Basically what we did in the first class was that we learnt part 1 from this chapter which is to design structure for isthermal reactors and scale up of liquid phase batch ractor data to design of CSTR. We did some exercises on batch reactor and we need to fill up the know, unknow, assumptions, stoichiometry table, solutions and graph. On the next class, we proceed to part 2 and part 3. We were asked to recap back all the important points on the whiteboard and made it in mind map form. Two of my friends were asked to give brief explanations or summarized chapter 4 in overall. Then, we did another exercises which were, we need to solve the volume of single CSTR and CSTR in series.
The ideas that i get from this activity was that the important of Damkohler number, Da which is basically gives a quick estimate on the degree of conversion in CSTR and mostly calculation.
For overall, i am still a little bit unsure about this chapter. Besides, if i can make suggestion, i would like lecturer to teach us in a little bit slow pace. And regarding the exercise, yes you did give us a lot of exercises, but can you please give us the solutions, not only the answers, maybe after finish the whole chapter only then we can refer to it and we can tracking the one we did wrong because sometimes, i didnt get the answer that were given, therefore i wonder how actually the solution was.
Thank you;)
Chapter 5 : Collection & Analysis of Rate Data
Before lecture begins, as usual, as a student, reading materials and watching videos that were prepared by lecturer is a must for me to understand what i am going to learn in the class. For this chapter, lecturer gave the brief explanations and answer the questions that we doubt of from this chapter. Then, we did one exercises on differential method analysis and did graph. From that, we had the overview of this chapter. In the next class, we did fish bowl activity which each group need to choose one representative to be the fish. Before that, we were given a task to answer the questions from seniors and discussed that during fish bowl activity. In my team, i was chosen to become a fish and i thing it was the best experience as i can share my thoughts regarding the questions and also got some output from other groups as well. Then, to ensure our understanding on this chapter, we were asked to do the final exam questions and answers. From this, i realised how difficult it is to write the questions compare to answer the questions itself.
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From chapter 5, basically what i learnt was to obtain the rate data such as rate constant which is, k, and the reaction order by using two methods which are differential menthod and integral method.
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To conclude, i think i love this chapter the most as i believe i can do the questions that been given and the most important is that i understand this chapter well. I appreciate lecturer hardwork. ;)
Chapter 6 : Multiple Reactions
In multiple reactions chapter, most of the syllabus have been covered during the week of problem based learning. Besides, i watched videos that have been prepared by the lecturer and try to understand myself before i am coming to class and do PBL. In this chapter, my understanding increases when me myself and other group members did calculations and so on during the pbl. Me, basically know when to apply it. Then, we asked GA, Mr Afiq on how to solve the problems and etc. After the pbl, we did some exercises on parallel and series reactions. Mr Afiq gave explanations on how to solve the problems and i think i manage to understand the whole chapter very well. On the next class, Dr Tazli once again briefly explain regarding the solutions on PBL which covered the whole chapter of multiple reactions.
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Basically, what i have learnt in chapter 6 was that there are three types of reactions which are parallel, series and independent reaction. Hence, the yield and selectivity can be found by using certain steps. Besides, there are also some cases evaluation which are divided into 2 part, non-elementary and elementary reactions and from these, we can find which cases we are use in the calculation. Basically we find the alpha(order of the reaction). And lastly, which type of reactors we need to use in order to get higher selectivity and yield.
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To conclude, the activities that have been prepared by the lecturer in order to gain our understanding was awsome and yes, make me understand better.
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Thank You ;)
Chapter 8 : Steady State Non Isothermal Reactor Design
In this chapter is basically we assume the reactor is an adiabatic reactions. Then, i learnt about how the temperatureprofile might look like for an adiabatic, exothermic reaction. Then, we did some exercises on calculating the heat of reaction. Next, the extra informations have been given such as when achieve equilibrium, -rA=0 and it is either the reactions will moving forward or backward and another thing is we have been told about the rate of appearance and rate of disappearance. Besiedes, we did some exersises which is to find the graphof FA0/-rA vs X by using several steps. Assumptions that have been made such as Q=W=0, Homogeneous reation, catalyst does not give impact on the process, therefore, negligible, there is no expansion factor and we assume as reversible first order reaction.
Besides, we appplied what we have learnt in this chapter on the take home test which we were asked to make a question for final examination. From this, i think i gained better understanding towards this chapter. ;)
Thank you Dr for your hardwork for this semester in teaching us and i appreciate you as my lecturer.