Skip to main content

CHE 596 606 Core Chemical Engineering Concepts I

3 Credit Hours

Core ChE Concepts: I and II is a two-semester online chemical engineering sequence offered in Fall/Spring and Spring/Summer semesters through the Engineering Online program at NC State. These courses are designed only for students who do not have a previous chemical engineering degree. Students who have an undergraduate degree in chemical engineering may still register for this course but resulting credit will not count towards their MS ChE.

View Course Overview Video

Prerequisites

It is strongly recommended that students have completed math courses through calculus III and differential equations.

Course Overview

  • Designed to prepare students with backgrounds in chemistry, biology or other engineering degrees for successful graduate study in chemical engineering.
  • Individual modules feature short video lectures, worked examples, conceptual quizzes, and interactive features for student support.
  • Together with the following course (Core Chemical Engineering Concepts II), these online courses count as two electives (6 credit hours) towards NC State’s MS in Chemical Engineering.
  • Excellent continuing education option for engineers and scientists who want an overview of core chemical engineering concepts.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this course, students should be able to:

  • Solve steady state and transient material and energy balance problems for single and multiple unit processes, with and without reaction, involving components in both vapor and liquid phases.
  • Describe and analyze transport processes for flows of Newtonian fluids.
  • Perform thermodynamic analyses of closed and open systems based on first and second laws. Relate thermodynamic properties of interest to measurable physical parameters and calculate the thermodynamic properties for a specified change of state.

Course Topics

  • Fundamentals of Material Balances
  • Single Phase Systems and Volumetric Properties of Pure Fluids
  • Multi-Phase Systems
  • Energy and Energy Balances
  • Energy Balances on Non-Reactive Processes
  • Energy Balances on Reactive Processes
  • The Second Law of Thermodynamics
  • Thermodynamic Properties of Fluids
  • Application of Thermodynamics to Flow Processes
  • Fluid Mechanics and Shell Momentum Balances
  • Equations of Change for Isothermal Systems and Navier-Stokes Equations

Reference Textbooks

MATERIAL AND ENERGY BALANCES:

  • Elementary Principles of Chemical Processes, 4th Edition – Richard M. Felder, Ronald W. Rousseau, Lisa G. Bullard

THERMODYNAMICS:

  • Introduction to Chemical Engineering Thermodynamics (8th Edition) – J.M. Smith, Hendrick Van Ness, Michael Abbott, and Mark Swihart (primary)

TRANSPORT:

  • Transport Phenomena (revised 2nd Edition) – R. Bryon Bird, Warren E. Stewart, Edwin N. Lightfoot (primary)

Updated: 10/31/2022