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See also information about our Safety Engineering master's and certificate.
Process Integration
The research in this area focuses on process synthesis, design, operation,
integration, and optimization, molecular and product design, as well
as industrial pollution prevention. The key theme is the development
of systematic methodologies that enable chemical engineers to identify
optimum, sustainable, and creative strategies that lead to productivity
enhancement, yield improvement, debottlenecking, pollution prevention,
and energy conservation. Fundamental chemical engineering principles
are coupled with systems engineering approaches to develop graphical,
algebraic, and computer-aided optimization tools that are generally applicable
and can address a wide variety of existing and new processing facilities
such as the petroleum, petrochemical, fiber, pharmaceutical, food, mineral
processing, and micro-electronics industries.
Process Modeling, Analysis, and Control
An effective research program in process modeling and control is necessarily
interdisciplinary in nature. Systems engineering overlaps with applied
mathematics and computer science. Furthermore, applications of systems
engineering can be found in almost any engineering discipline as well
as in physics and biology. The main focus of research in this area is
on applying sophisticated systems engineering techniques to, and developing
novel techniques for, complex dynamic systems in order to understand
their intrinsic characteristic up to the point that predictions about
future behavior under different conditions are possible.
The tools for the analysis of complex dynamic systems can be cathegorized as follows: methods related to the analysis of the input-output behavior of a system and techniques based upon identifying critical points in the parameter space of a system. The gained information is applied to improve operation, safety, and control of processes; to reduce the size of a given controller; to identify which parts of a model contribute to its dynamic behavior; to optimize processes; or to improve experimental design. In order to perform modeling and analysis of these systems, large-scale nonlinear models have to be developed that require modern computational approaches for their solution, parameter estimation, and optimization. The systems under study range from traditional chemical engineering processes to the life sciences, where research in recent years has created a large volume of experimental data that needs to be analyzed and interpreted.
Process Safety
The objective of the Mary Kay O'Connor Process Safety Center is to minimize
risk to personnel, process equipment, and the environment associated
with handling hazardous materials. Risk assessment must consider both
the probability of occurrence and severity of an undesirable event and
permit prioritization of actions and resource allocation. Our research
involves the application of fundamental engineering principles to enhancing
the safety of processes starting with inherent concepts through the design,
operation, and maintenance of processes, plant, and equipment. Current
research involves design principles for emergency relief systems for
complex flows, reactivity screening and characterization of chemicals,
characterization of runaway reactions, explosive characteristics of flammable
gases, reliability of equipment, processes, and procedures, risk-based
engineering practices, and consequence analysis.
