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• Curriculum
• Course Descriptions
• Spring 2006
• Detailed Descriptions:
  • ECHE 300
  • ECHE 311
  • ECHE 321
  • ECHE 322
  • ECHE 460 / 461
  • ECHE 465 / 466
  • ECHE 571
  • ECHE 572
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  • Research Communications Studio (RCS)
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To learn more about the Department of Chemical Engineering at The University of South Carolina, call or mail us at:

The University of South Carolina
Department of Chemical Engineering
2C02, Swearingen Engineering Center
301 South Main Street
Columbia, SC 29208

Ph 803.777.4181
Fax 803.777.8265

Maps: USC campus | Columbia, SC

ECHE 300: Chemical Engineering Process Principles

[Prereq: CHEM 112] Material and energy balances in the chemical process industry. Properties of gases, liquids, and solids. Two one-hour lectures and one three-hour laboratory period devoted to problem solving.

Chemical Process Principles provides a comprehensive introduction to chemical engineering unit operations and their integration into a process. As the first chemical engineering course undergraduates encounter, this class is designed to develop chemical engineering problem-solving skills. The student is introduced to fundamental chemical engineering principles involved in setting up and solving material and energy balances, and the application of these balances in the analysis of chemical process flowsheets. The integration of chemical engineering unit operations involving separation, heat exchange, and/or chemical reaction into an overall process is illustrated.

Outline of Syllabus:

• Processes and process variables.
• Fundamentals of Material Balances
• Single phase, Multiphase and Multicomponent systems
• Energy Balances
• Balances on reactive and non reactive processes.
• Phase change operations

Expected Knowledge and Skills In:

• Units and unit conversion concepts
• General chemistry concepts (moles, molecular weight, ideal gas, phases, density, stoichiometry [balance reactions], concentration, endothermic and exothermic reactions)
• General mathematics (algebra, exponentials, logarithms, trigonometric functions, definite integrals, differentiation, graphing of functions and data)

Expected Knowledge and Skills Out:

• Mastery of unit conversions
• Engineering problem analysis and solution skills
• Material and energy balance formulation
• Data analysis (graphing data, linear regression of data, finding roots of equations)
• Thermodynamic concepts (enthalpy, entropy, heat capacity, internal energy, adiabatic, isothermal, heats of reaction)
• Single-component phase equilibrium (vapor pressure estimation, boiling point, triple point)
• Equations of state for real gases (Virial, BWR, SRK, corresponding states, Kay's Rule)
• Gas-liquid systems (saturation, humidity, Henrys Law, Raoults Law, phase diagrams, bubble point, dew point)
• Immiscible and partially miscible liquids (binary and ternary systems), and solid-liquid systems (e.g., crystallization)
• Reactive systems (limiting and excess reactants, fractional conversion, extent of reaction, yield and selectivity, combustion)
• Recycle, purge
• Degrees of freedom

Numerical Skills Out:

• Interpolation of tabulated data.
• Linearization of non-linear data by appropriate choice of variables.
• Linear-least-squares fit of straight lines through the origin and with non-zero intercept.
• Solution of non-linear equations using Newton's method.
• Numerical integration using the trapezoidal rule and Simpson's rule.

Relation to Other Courses:

As a comprehensive overview to chemical engineering operations, this course lays the foundation for future chemical engineering courses. In particular, courses covering thermodynamics (ECHE-311), heat transfer (ECHE-321), and mass-transfer (ECHE-322) will expand on the fundamental principles of energy and material balances introduced in this course. Future courses will also expand upon the application of unit operations dealing with separation processes (ECHE-322 and 440), heat exchange (ECHE-321), chemical reactions (ECHE-430), and design of chemical processes (ECHE-465 and 466). The unit operations laboratory (ECHE-460 and 461) has experiments that provide the student with hands-on experience to concepts introduced in ECHE-300.