Chemical and Materials Engineering Courses
Prerequisite/Corequisite:
Enrolment in a program offered by the Gina Cody School of Engineering and Computer Science is required. If prerequisites are not satisfied, permission of the Department is required.Description:
This introductory course provides the fundamentals of chemical process design and thinking like a chemical engineer. Students are introduced to principles of plant economics, unit conversions, process simulation, and various ways to represent process organization, such as block and process flow diagrams. Fitting correlations to chemical plant data and an introduction to sensors and measuring devices are also included. Basic relationships between physical properties of liquids and gases and chemical reactions are expanded, and material balances are studied in detail. An introduction to engineering software, such as ASPEN, for the modelling of chemical processes is covered.Component(s):
Lecture 3 hours per week; Tutorial 2 hours per weekPrerequisite/Corequisite:
The following courses must be completed previously: CHME 220; ENGR 251.Description:
Sustainable development concepts are discussed as they apply to chemical processes. Green chemistry principles and the design of sustainable chemical processes are introduced. Waste minimization, materials recycling, energy conservation and environmental remediation are also covered, as well as sustainability assessments and safety evaluations (HAZOP).Component(s):
Lecture 3 hours per week; Tutorial 1 hour per weekPrerequisite/Corequisite:
Enrolment in a program offered by the Gina Cody School of Engineering and Computer Science is required. If prerequisites are not satisfied, permission of the Department is required.Description:
This course focuses on the fundamentals of scripting and writing simple programs. Students learn programming logic, variables and types, operators and expressions, conditional and repetitive statements, input and output, file access, functions, program structure and organization, and introduction to classes and objects. These concepts are applied to solve basic chemical engineering applications.
Component(s):
Lecture 3 hours per week; Laboratory 2 hours per weekNotes:
Prerequisite/Corequisite:
The following course must be completed previously: CHME 215 or equivalent (COEN 243; COMP 248; MECH 215; MIAE 215).Description:
This course deepens the application of programming for data acquisition and visualization using popular Python libraries and Arduino platform. It introduces in a practical way how data can be acquired with sensors and interrogated remotely. A project is part of the course in which students build a small system to remotely monitor sensor data and visualize them in appropriate plots.
Component(s):
Lecture 3 hours per week; Laboratory 2 hours per weekPrerequisite/Corequisite:
The following course must be completed previously or concurrently: MIAE 221.Description:
This course provides students with a basic understanding of key material properties, the relationships between the structure-properties-processing-application of materials, and the methods of characterizing materials structures and materials properties. In addition to solid materials, fluid properties of gases and liquids are addressed. Students are expected to apply this knowledge towards solving problems in engineering applications.Component(s):
Lecture 3 hours per week; Tutorial 2 hours per weekPrerequisite/Corequisite:
The following courses must be completed previously: CHME 200, CHME 351. The following course must be completed previously or concurrently: ENGR 361.Description:
This laboratory course emphasizes the practical aspects of introductory chemical engineering topics. Experiments in this course include temperature measurements, calorimetry, pressure measurements, and flow measurements. The theoretical concepts learned in the classroom are demonstrated through application in the laboratory setting using lab- and pilot-scale versions of industrial equipment and software.Component(s):
Laboratory 6 hours per week, alternate weeksPrerequisite/Corequisite:
The following course must be completed previously: CHME 200.Description:
This course provides an overview of prominent chemicals and production routes in the chemical industry. Processes for bulk chemical production using conventional and novel routes are investigated, including oil refining, polymers, hydrometallurgy, and commodity chemicals. Concepts of sustainability, plant economics and PFDs for bulk chemical processes are studied. Simulations of bulk chemical production processes are also conducted using ASPEN software.Component(s):
Lecture 3 hours per week; Tutorial 1 hour per weekPrerequisite/Corequisite:
The following courses must be completed previously: CHME 200, CHME 351.
Description:
This course reviews the fundamentals of reaction rates and kinetic parameters and discusses their experimental determination. Mathematical equations for isothermal and non-isothermal batch, semi-batch, continuous, and plug flow reactors are covered and applied to reactor design and sizing. Additional topics include selectivity and optimization of reactors with multiple reactions; heterogeneous catalysis in packed bed reactors; and enzyme catalysis and the Michaelis‑Menten mechanism for bioreactors.
Component(s):
Lecture 3 hours per week; Tutorial 2 hours per weekPrerequisite/Corequisite:
The following courses must be completed previously: CHME 216; ENGR 371, ENGR 391.Description:
This course is designed to cover the theoretical and practical areas pertinent to modern data analysis and machine learning in engineering. Topics include traditional machine learning algorithms based on feature engineering (Linear regression, Logistic Regression, Bayesian classifier, K-nearest neighbors, Bagging and boosting, Random Forests), bias and variance, model selection and regularization, features selection, and introduction to neural networks.Component(s):
Lecture 3 hours per week; Tutorial 1 hour per week; Laboratory 2 hours per week, alternate weeksPrerequisite/Corequisite:
The following course must be completed previously: CHME 220.Description:
This course focuses on advanced materials, technologies, and processes for mechanical systems in various industries. Topics include advanced structural and functional metallic, ceramic and polymer materials, their composites, and nanostructured materials in the context of their processing, characterization, performance, and applications. Strong emphasis is placed on failure mechanisms and analysis as well as design problems with advanced materials systems in references to industrial applications. Additional topics include processing of advanced materials in order to achieve desired mechanical behaviour, design optimization with advanced materials, as well as the economics of such systems. Various case studies are included throughout the course. The course includes team discussions and laboratory work followed by a comprehensive technical report.Component(s):
Lecture 3 hours per week; Tutorial 1 hour per weekPrerequisite/Corequisite:
The following course must be completed previously: CHME 320.Description:
This course discusses chemical and materials products, from their synthesis to their processing into final products in various industries. Topics include design, optimization, and manufacturing of chemicals and materials, material characterization, material performance and applications. Important aspects of the product design process, such as material selection and failure mechanisms, are discussed in detail. This course demonstrates various case studies and requires team discussions, laboratory work and a comprehensive technical report.Component(s):
Lecture 3 hours per week; Tutorial 2 hours per week, alternate weeksPrerequisite/Corequisite:
The following courses must be completed previously: CHME 301, CHME 361; ENGR 311.Description:
Process dynamics and control of chemical processes are the fundamentals of this course, focusing on process modelling, controller design, and implementation. Differential equations are used to model dynamic systems and understand responses of first- and second-order systems to set point and disturbance changes. System stability with and without automatic control is assessed. Software is utilized to simulate the dynamic response of systems with/without automatic control and to design controllers.Component(s):
Lecture 3 hours per week; Tutorial 1 hour per weekPrerequisite/Corequisite:
The following courses must be completed previously: CHME 240, CHME 301, CHME 361.Description:
This laboratory course emphasizes the practical aspects of various chemical engineering topics. Experiments in this course are designed to study reaction kinetics in continuous and plug flow reactors, calculate operational characteristic curves and efficiency of centrifugal pumps, compare different heat exchangers, and estimate diffusion coefficients. The theoretical concepts learned in the classroom are demonstrated through application in the laboratory setting using lab- and pilot-scale versions of industrial equipment and software.Component(s):
Laboratory 6 hours per week, alternate weeksPrerequisite/Corequisite:
The following course must be completed previously: ENGR 251. The following course must be completed previously or concurrently: ENGR 311.Description:
This course reviews and applies fundamental principles of thermodynamics, including chemical and phase equilibrium. The course covers application to various chemical processes including pure and multicomponent phases, equilibria in complex chemical reactions, and equilibria in separation processes. The course also covers thermodynamics of non-ideal pure and multicomponent phases.Component(s):
Lecture 3 hours per week; Tutorial 1 hour per weekPrerequisite/Corequisite:
The following course must be completed previously: CHME 351.Description:
This course covers fundamentals of applied thermodynamics to energy systems, with a focus on renewable power systems. Topics include principles of energy conversion and thermodynamic engine cycles, analysis of energy consumption, conversion, and storage in power and transportation systems, with emphasis on efficiency, performance, and environmental impact.Component(s):
Lecture 3 hours per week; Tutorial 1 hour per weekPrerequisite/Corequisite:
The following courses must be completed previously: CHME 351; ENGR 311, ENGR 391.Description:
This course discusses the principles of heat transfer in various geometries and configurations. Topics include shell energy balances; steady and unsteady state heat transfer via conduction; free and forced convection and radiation; heat exchangers; heat transfer in laminar and turbulent boundary layers.Component(s):
Lecture 3 hours per week; Tutorial 1 hour per weekNotes:
- Students who have received credit for MECH 352 may not take this course for credit.
Prerequisite/Corequisite:
The following course must be completed previously: CHME 360 .Description:
This course covers the fundamentals of mass transfer including diffusive and convective mass fluxes. Mass transfer models leading to ordinary and partial differential equations in various geometries are discussed as well as mass transfer calculations for design of continuous single-stage separation units with fluid interfaces such as absorption, stripping, and liquid-liquid extraction. The course introduces mechanical operations and Piping and Instrumentation Diagrams (P&ID).Component(s):
Lecture 3 hours per week; Tutorial 1 hour per weekPrerequisite/Corequisite:
The following course must be completed previously: CHME 361.Description:
This course reviews the fundamentals of heat and mass transfer, and phase equilibrium for ideal and non-ideal systems, including the equilibrium stage concept and cascades of stages with and without reflux. Applications in the separation of components by multi-stage processes including distillation, absorption, stripping, extraction, and leaching are covered as well as applications of simultaneous mass and heat transfer calculations for the design of continuous separation units with fluid interfaces.Component(s):
Lecture 3 hours per week; Tutorial 1 hour per weekPrerequisite/Corequisite:
The following courses must be completed previously: CHME 201, CHME 301, CHME 321. The following courses must be completed previously or concurrently: CHME 330, CHME 362; ENGR 301.Description:
This course discusses the main steps in engineering systems design and operation with an emphasis on economics, safety, equipment performance, environment, and flexibility. Students work independently and in groups on problem-solving assignments and a term project. There are weekly tutorial sessions focusing on various aspects of process simulation using Aspen software.Component(s):
Lecture 3 hours per week; Tutorial 2 hours per weekPrerequisite/Corequisite:
The following courses must be completed previously: CHME 201, CHME 300.Description:
This course reviews the principles of green chemistry and presents alternatives to conventional routes for producing commodity and fine chemicals. Production of value-added chemicals from sustainable feedstock such as biomass and co-products/residues is discussed. Similarly, established catalytic reactions are compared with alternate production routes such as electrochemical or photochemical synthesis while highlighting the barriers facing these technologies. Economics, energy consumption, risk and environmental trade-offs are used as key metrics for assessing sustainable production.Component(s):
Lecture 3 hours per weekPrerequisite/Corequisite:
The following course must be completed previously: CHME 390 .Description:
This course aims to familiarize students with sustainable design principles in industries to reduce their overall energy consumption (particularly non-renewable resources) and minimize their negative impacts on health and the environment. This course is built based on three major modules: 1) Sustainability analysis and life cycle assessment; 2) Process integration and intensification for minimal environmental impact; and 3) Optimization of industrial processes.Component(s):
Lecture 3 hours per weekPrerequisite/Corequisite:
The following courses must be completed previously: CHME 351, CHME 352.Description:
This course introduces concepts of renewable energy resources and processes for sustainable chemical production and energy storage. Existing and future energy conversion technologies are analyzed from an engineering perspective, including renewable electricity sources (e.g. wind and solar) and advanced power generation technologies such as chemical looping combustion and gasification, solid oxide fuel cells, and oxyfuel combustion. Energy storage for enabling additional penetration of these technologies is also investigated. Valorization of biomass and waste as valuable chemical feedstock and a variety of thermochemical and biochemical conversion processes provide the introduction to sustainable industrial chemical production. Deep industrial decarbonization is also included by analyzing carbon capture, sequestration and utilization concepts, and technologies.Component(s):
Lecture 3 hours per weekPrerequisite/Corequisite:
The following course must be completed previously: CHME 351.Description:
This course demonstrates the fundamentals of electrochemistry using modern applications such as batteries, fuel cells, electrolysis, wastewater treatment, electrodeposition and electrosynthesis. The first part of the course covers the core concepts of thermodynamics, kinetics, and mass transport to explain the design principles common to all electrochemical technologies. The second part of the course focuses on more advanced topics such as electrocatalysis, porous electrode theory, and experimental methods.Component(s):
Lecture 3 hours per weekPrerequisite/Corequisite:
The following courses must be completed previously: CHME 321, CHME 352.Description:
This course develops student knowledge in clean energy based on different energy storage and conversion systems. Students are familiarized with fundamentals, materials design, characterization and evaluation, and industrial applications of different energy storage and conversion systems. The course brings together some of the world's most pre-eminent researchers in the clean energy field to share their knowledge and expertise. Several important energy storage and conversion systems are introduced, such as electrochemistry, hydrogen, solar, and other systems.Component(s):
Lecture 3 hours per weekDescription:
This course provides an overview of the main concepts of environmental engineering. Topics include chemical principles applied to natural aquatic systems, biological and ecological principles, environmental risk assessment, air and water quality, and principles of waste management.Component(s):
Lecture 3 hours per weekDescription:
Life cycle assessment (LCA), which is critical for any engineering and design work, is an analytical framework used within the field of industrial ecology to assess the environmental impact across the entire life cycle of a product, process, or service. This course explores the fundamental principles, standards, and application of LCA to inform diverse public policy, business, supply chain, community development, and other decisions. The course follows the principles, methods, and recommendations of the ISO14040-44 standards, applying a stepwise approach to LCA including project definition, data collection, impact assessment and interpretation. Students apply the principles of the framework using calculation tools in addition to purpose-built software (OpenLCA) and databases (ecoinvent) to become familiar with the most common methodologies for conducting LCA and demonstrate their capability and knowledge. Students develop an in-depth and hands-on understanding of the frameworks, principles, tools, and applications of LCA to evaluate the cradle-to-grave impacts of any product or system.Component(s):
Lecture 3 hours per weekPrerequisite/Corequisite:
The following courses must be completed previously: CHEM 205; CHME 351; ENGR 391.Description:
This course presents various computational tools used in molecular and multiphysics modelling. The lectures provide an overview of the underlying foundational concepts; the tutorials present practical chemical engineering problems and demonstrate how to use the software with hands-on sessions. The topics include numerical thermodynamics and multiphysics simulations using COMSOL. A brief introduction to density functional theory (DFT) and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations is provided. The course includes lectures with hands-on tutorials.
Component(s):
Lecture 3 hours per week; Tutorial 2 hours per weekPrerequisite/Corequisite:
The following course must be completed previously: CHME 215 or equivalent (COEN 243; MECH 215; MIAE 215).Description:
With the trend of digitalization, industry is implementing automated data processing technologies. This course covers the theoretical and practical issues in modern data streaming and processing in engineering with particular focus on chemical process and manufacturing data. Topics include structured and non-structured data, database modelling and SQL language, data streaming using publish subscribe paradigm, introduction to data lakes, ETL versus ELT, introduction to Kafka and Kafka streams, stateless and stateful processing, automating a data pipeline, and data streaming frameworks in industry for manufacturing/production data (MTConnect, MQQT and OPC-UA).Component(s):
Lecture 3 hours per weekPrerequisite/Corequisite:
The following course must be completed previously: CHME 320.Description:
This course covers chemical and engineering aspects of nanomaterials. Topics include synthesis, characterization, properties, and applications of a variety of nanomaterials, with a focus on representative inorganic nanomaterials, as well as carbon nanomaterials such as fullerenes, carbon nanotubes, and graphene.Component(s):
Lecture 3 hours per weekPrerequisite/Corequisite:
The following course must be completed previously: CHME 320.Description:
This course reviews crystal structures, phase diagrams, and crystal defects. The theory of alloys and solid solutions is discussed. Physical, electrical, magnetic, optical and mechanical properties of metals and alloys are covered. The preparation, melting and casting of metals and alloys is reviewed. The class investigates steel, lithium, iron, nickel, aluminum and titanium alloys as well as the corrosion and protection of metals. Characterization techniques of metals are taught including light and electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and thermal analysis. Case studies and industrial applications are included in class materials.Component(s):
Lecture 3 hours per weekPrerequisite/Corequisite:
The following course must be completed previously: CHEM 221.Description:
Topics include the advanced theory and industrial practice of polymers, polymer chemistry, and polymer reactor engineering. The course covers polymer chemistry and polymerization kinetics for various types of polymerization, including condensation, free radical, cationic, anionic, and coordination polymerization, polymer reactor engineering, polymer materials structure and property characterization, and recent developments in the field.Component(s):
Lecture 3 hours per weekPrerequisite/Corequisite:
The following course must be completed previously: CHME 351.Description:
Topics include a review of the principles of batteries and fuel cells, including electrodes and electrolytes. This includes discussion of thermodynamics, reaction kinetics, transport phenomena, electrostatics and phase transformations of various energy storage materials, particularly lithium-ion batteries and fuel cells. Experimental methods are discussed and key parameters of energy storage materials are studied, focusing on a materials science approach.Component(s):
Lecture 3 hours per weekPrerequisite/Corequisite:
The following course must be completed previously: CHME 220.Description:
This course develops student knowledge and understanding of the structure, chemical, and surface properties of materials. Students are familiarized with tools to use for materials analysis and characterization for current and future research, as well as for industrial applications. Strong emphasis is placed on the principles, techniques, and analysis used in the characterization of energy storage materials including chemical, microstructural, electrochemical, and surface analysis. In-situ and operando characterization techniques are also included in the course.Component(s):
Lecture 3 hours per weekPrerequisite/Corequisite:
The following course must be completed previously: CHME 351.Description:
Hydrometallurgy is the refining of metal ores based on aqueous solutions. Topics include an overview of ore minerals and their critical importance in today’s economy, kinetics, equilibrium and thermodynamics in aqueous media, leaching, precipitation, reaction displacement and deposition, cementation, electrochemical methods, metal extraction and purification. Environmental issues are also considered. Applications to chemical analysis, mining, and process design are discussed.Component(s):
Lecture 3 hours per weekPrerequisite/Corequisite:
The following course must be completed previously: CHME 330.Description:
This course reviews the fundamentals of process control with chemical engineering applications and introduces advanced topics such as data reconciliation and model predictive control. Topics include process modelling and dynamic systems; step response curves; data reconciliation; classic PID control; alternative strategies for chemical process control; process model identification; dynamic chemical process simulation; model-predictive control; and assessment of controller performance.Component(s):
Lecture 3 hours per weekPrerequisite/Corequisite:
The following course must be completed previously: CHME 330.Description:
This course introduces the basic concepts of mathematical optimization, with special interest for chemical engineering applications. Fundamental optimization algorithms such as simplex and branch-and-bound are introduced. Concepts of linear, quadratic, binary, integer, mixed-integer and nonlinear programming are explored using graphical and mathematical techniques, as well as through the use of software for larger problems. Common applications in chemical engineering design and operation are used to highlight the usefulness of these optimization techniques. The primal optimization problem and its dual representation are presented, as well as the relationship between them. Sensitivity analysis of optimization models is shown through the dual representation.Component(s):
Lecture 3 hours per weekPrerequisite/Corequisite:
The following course must be completed previously: CHME 390.Description:
In this course, the primary aspects of safety in the design and operation of process plants are covered. Students gain an understanding of the standards and procedures, such as HAZOP, that must be considered to achieve a safe design. The codes, standards, and recommended practices for designing safety facilities for the protection of equipment are reviewed. Various types of relief systems and devices (e.g. safety valves, rupture discs) are introduced. Furthermore, the procedures to identify the primary hazardous scenarios, such as fire, equipment protection, operational failure, and solid formation, are discussed. Calculations for the required relief capacities are developed. The design and rating of the relief systems and the sizing of the flare network for the safe disposal of relieved materials are the last parts of safety engineering covered in this course. Aspen Safety Analysis and Aspen Flare System Analyzer are used to examine the dynamic behaviour of the relief devices and flare systems.Component(s):
Lecture 3 hours per weekPrerequisite/Corequisite:
The following courses must be completed previously: CHME 330, CHME 340, CHME 362.Description:
This laboratory course emphasizes the practical aspects of chemical engineering topics in the final years of study. Experiments in this course include distillation, absorption, drying, process dynamics, and process control. The theoretical concepts learned in the classroom are demonstrated through application in the laboratory setting using lab- and pilot-scale versions of industrial equipment and software.Component(s):
Laboratory 6 hours per week, alternate weeksPrerequisite/Corequisite:
The following course must be completed previously: CHME 301.Description:
This course reviews chemical kinetics and their use in chemical reactor design and chemical plant operation. Both homogeneous and heterogeneous kinetics, including catalysis, are considered. Topics include residence time distribution; multiphase and dispersed plug flow reactors; radial mass and heat transfer limitation; mass and heat transfer limitation in and around porous catalysts.Component(s):
Lecture 3 hours per weekPrerequisite/Corequisite:
The following course must be completed previously: CHME 351.Description:
Topics include principles, concepts, and laws/postulates of classical and statistical thermodynamics and their link to applications that require quantitative knowledge of thermodynamic properties from a macroscopic to a molecular level; basic postulates of classical thermodynamics and their application; criteria of stability and equilibria; constitutive property models of pure materials and mixtures, including molecular-level effects using statistical mechanics; equations of state; phase and chemical equilibria of multicomponent systems; and thermodynamics of polymers. Applications are emphasized through extensive problem work relating to practical cases.Component(s):
Lecture 3 hours per weekPrerequisite/Corequisite:
The following courses must be completed previously: CHME 301, CHME 351.Description:
Basic and recent concepts in catalysis are described with particular emphasis on heterogenous catalysis. The course starts with fundamentals of catalysis, such as catalyst structure, characterization, kinetic theory, reaction mechanisms, and catalyst preparation. Then industrial catalytic applications are covered, including the technical, economic and environmental aspects. The processes to be studied are chosen from the petroleum industry, the natural gas industry, and the treatment of industrial pollutants with catalytic converters.Component(s):
Lecture 3 hours per weekPrerequisite/Corequisite:
The following course must be completed previously: CHME 362.Description:
Topics covered in this course include a review of basic chemical and mechanical separations; multicomponent separations; membrane separations; adsorption; chromatographic separations; and ion exchange.Component(s):
Lecture 3 hours per weekPrerequisite/Corequisite:
The following courses must be completed previously: CHME 301, CHME 362.Description:
Topics include the interaction of chemical engineering, biochemistry, and microbiology; and mathematical representations of microbial systems. Kinetics of growth, death, and metabolism are also covered, as well as studies of continuous fermentation, agitation, mass transfer, scale-up in fermentation systems, and enzyme technology. A project is required.
Component(s):
Lecture 3 hours per weekNotes:
- This course is cross-listed with graduate course CHME 6061.