laboratory
The chemical engineering
laboratory is located in room 520 in the engineering building. The laboratory
tecnician's office can be found in the workshop next door in room 526.
Room 520 - Chemical
Engineering Laboratory
Room 520A - Process
Control Laboratory
Room 520B - Storage
Room
Room 526 - Laboratory
Workshop
Room 526A - Technician's
Office
general
instructions
1. Before you start
the experiment, thoroughly examine and familiarize yourself with the apparatus.
Trace all the flow lines through the experiment and back to their origins
in the laboratory. Understand what will happen if you open a valve or
throw a switch before you do it!
(You cannot achieve
this by simply standing in front of the equipment and looking at it -
walk around, go behind the apparatus if appropriate - in the case of the
distillation experiment climb to the top of the columns.)
2. Unless you are
provided with a calibration curve or instructed otherwise, you must calibrate
any flowmeters. Do not assume the reading will be accurate.
When measuring flow
for a calibration you may either:
- measure a large
quantity over a relatively long time for each flowrate
or
- measure a small
quantity over a relatively short time and repeat several times for each
flowrate and calculate the average result
3. Each experiment
description given in this manual provides you with the minimum amount
of information you need to carry out your experiments. You are expected
to supplement your understanding of the systems, the experiment objectives
and your results through researching literature resources, team discussions
and discussions with the laboratory instructor.
4. A good rule of
thumb is: "If you can measure it - then measure it!"
Even if it is not
apparent that a measurement is needed for an experiment it is good laboratory
practice to measure various parameters, especially if they are easy to
measure and record. For example, it is simple to measure and record the
pressure and temperature in the laboratory rather than just assuming the
conditions are standard room temperature and pressure. Similarly, the
temperature of flows and reactants should be measured. Also, if the mass
density of a fluid is needed it is a simple matter to record its temperature
and weigh a known volume of the fluid rather than turn to literature values
to estimate the density. (Be sure to compare your measured value with
literature based estimates in your discussion.)
5. In many of the
experiments the analysis requires that readings are taken when the process
has reached equilibrium. This is often indicated by a condition of "steady-state".
Do not merely leave the apparatus operating for a few minutes and assume
equilibrium has been reached. You must establish that equilibrium
(steady-state) has been reached and describe how you have assessed it
has reached this condition in your report.
6. Your analysis should
include a thorough presentation of the statistical significance of the
results, including, but not limited to, error analysis, means and
standard deviations and correlation coefficients. You should discuss the
impact your statistical analysis has on you interpretation of your results.
7. You must compare
your results with information, data and theory available in texts and
technical literature.
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