DESIGN PROJECT CHEMICAL ENGINEERING - 2026/7

Module Overview

The detailed design of a chemical process paying appropriate consideration to sustainability, economic and operational feasibility and engineering practicality is a key skill for chemical engineers and requires a detail and robust understanding of all aspects of chemical engineering.  This module comprises a sequence of learning opportunities designed to integrate and consolidate most of the fundamental science and engineering expertise acquired during the previous levels of the degree programme. The assessment is designed with 67% based on individual work and 33% based on group activity. The equipment design tasks, referred to as Advanced Study, are classified according to their level of difficulty. In line with the University¿s requirement to distinguish between MEng and BEng programmes, MEng students are required to undertake a more challenging equipment design (Grade C or higher).

Module provider

Chemistry and Chemical Engineering

Module Leader

PHAN Anh Thi Van (Chst Chm Eng)

Number of Credits: 45

ECTS Credits: 22.5

Framework: FHEQ Level 6

Module cap (Maximum number of students): N/A

Module Availability

Semester 2

Prerequisites / Co-requisites

None.

Module content

Indicative content includes:

Process Design - involves planning, developing, and optimizing the processes used to convert raw materials into valuable products

1. Process development
2. Block diagrams and operating conditions
3. Material and energy balances
4. Process integration 
5. Equipment selection and sizing
6. Process control scheme
7. Layout
8. Sustainability & Hazop

Business Plan- How projects are developed, costed, funded and evaluated, including capital costing, and profitability and sustainability assessments.

Equipment Design - Equipment design involves the detailed design of a single unit within a specific process area, enabling more accurate cost estimation and greater certainty.

Assessment pattern

Alternative Assessment

In cases where a student fails the module, or where assessments are deferred, the failed or deferred units of assessment must normally be retaken in the following academic year. The only exception is the equipment design component, for which an alternative individual equipment design (re)assessment may be taken during the late summer assessment period

Assessment Strategy

The assessment strategy is designed to provide students with the opportunity to demonstrate the full range of learning outcomes via written submissions and oral presentation. The assessment has been designed to allow individual assessment for 60% of the assessed activity with 40% based on group activity. To facilitate these individual responsibilities within the group activities are selected by student and these are so designed that information transfer between group members and effective coordination of the overall group activity is essential to the satisfactory completion of the project.

Thus, the summative assessment for this module consists of:

• Contribution to Assessed Feedback/Guidance meetings - 10% (LO1 and LO2)
• Process Design Report & Presentation - 45% (LO1, LO2, LO3, LO4, LO8)
• Business Plan - 18% (LO2, LO5, LO8)
• Equipment Design Report - 27% (LO6, LO7. LO8, LO9)

Formative assessment and Feedback

Weekly verbal feedback/assessment during feedback/guidance meetings, written feedback and assessment on area simulations, equipment sizing procedures, area equipment sizing calculations, area PFDs, capital and operating cost estimations, sustainability analysis and impact on process design and equipment design specification, design procedures and calculations

Comprehensive verbal feedback/assessment on the last day of the semester on the submitted reports (double marking all the reports and giving feedback before this date is impossible).

Module aims

• A systematic appreciation and critical awareness of industrial scale process and equipment design and their importance to chemical industry
• The experience of integrating the design methodology and fundamental analysis taught earlier in the programme through the completion of the process design of a complex industrially relevant production process working within a small compatible group of BEng and MEng students
• A comprehensive appreciation of the complexity of interactions (process, economic, sustainability , operability and safety)  which must be considered and analysed during a process design with understanding of the business criteria to be met for the project to be approved for project execution.
• A critical awareness of the importance of properly integrating equipment design with the optimisation of a process design
• A comprehensive appreciation of the need for accurate and verifyable physical property data for us in design
• The experience of carrying out an optimised detailed design of a complex item of chemical process plant

Learning outcomes

Methods of Teaching / Learning

The learning and teaching strategy is designed to:

• Allow students to work in a group (5 to 7 members for the process design, costing and sustainability and 2 members for the equipment design) and experience the design process appropriate to that required (i) by the IChemE Accreditation for BEng students in Chemical Engineering and (ii) by the advanced design requirement for IChemE Accreditation for MEng students in Chemical Engineering.

• Allow students to experience a learning environment of supervised feedback/guidance meetings with two supervisors in which they report on their progress against targets set during the previous meeting and receive immediate verbal feedback, ask for and receives clarification of their understanding/interpretation and agree a set of targets for their group and individual work to be achieved by the next meeting.

• Act as independent learners supported by the tutorial system with additional timetabled but voluntary contact hours with supervisors, controlled by a docket system. Each design groups has dockets (2 per group member) each permitting 10 minutes discussion with a supervisor for either the entire group or part of the group and each group member has 13 dockets (8 for Process Design/Business Plan and 5 for Equipment Design) permitting 5 minute of contact on a one-one basis with a supervisor. Non docketed contact time with supervisors is strongly discouraged.

The learning and teaching methods include:

• Lectures 6 hours per week for 2 weeks

• Group/individual feedback/guidance meetings 2 hour per week for 13 weeks (average)

• Independent learning 31 hours per week for 13 weeks (average)

Indicated Lecture Hours (which may also include seminars, tutorials, workshops and other contact time) are approximate and may include in-class tests where one or more of these are an assessment on the module. In-class tests are scheduled/organised separately to taught content and will be published on to student personal timetables, where they apply to taken modules, as soon as they are finalised by central administration. This will usually be after the initial publication of the teaching timetable for the relevant semester.

Reading list

https://readinglists.surrey.ac.uk
Upon accessing the reading list, please search for the module using the module code: ENG3193

Other information

The School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering is committed to developing graduates with strengths in Employability, Digital Capabilities, Global and Cultural Capabilities, Sustainability, and Resourcefulness and Resilience. This module is designed to allow students to develop knowledge, skills, and capabilities in the following areas:

Digital capabilities ¿ Students are instructed in the basics of the chemical process simulation package Aspen HYSYS/ChemCAD and then asked to use it, if possible, to produce a heat and mass balance for their area. Students may also use a sustainability database for their environmental impact calculations. Students are introduced to the use of AI tools for rapid evidence assessment in business plan, enabling them to efficiently gather, evaluate, and synthesise information from multiple sources, and to iteratively refine their ideas using AI-assisted feedback. Emphasis is placed on the critical evaluation of AI-generated outputs, effective prompt design, and the responsible and ethical use of AI in developing robust, evidence-based business plans.

Employability ¿ This module corresponds to the very common activities in industry of process and equipment design. As such this is the module that best prepares students for the workplace and is very often a module that students are asked to discuss at second interview.

Global and cultural capabilities ¿ The process design section is interactive and collaborative with groups that are selected on mixed ability that commonly represents a wealth of nationalities and backgrounds. This reflects the highly globalised world of chemical engineering which uses the common languages of Mathematics, chemical equations and English (most big projects outside China and Russia will employ companies and individuals from many nations and use English for verbal and written communication)

Resourcefulness and resilience ¿ Students are supported in the teamworking element of the process design by meetings with an industrial project manager (a former project manager for BP Chemicals at the time of writing). Working in teams is part of the student experience but are also very relevant to the workplace. The feedback from these sessions is aimed at increasing resourcefulness and resilience.

Sustainability ¿ About half of the business plan and a section of sustainability metrics in Process Design are about quantifying the environmental impact of the chemical process being proposed. Students are also prompted to think about environmental impact of the route they are using earlier in the project. The other half of the business plan is about economic viability of the process which if positive will lead to employment in the place where the plant will be built. Therefore, the three pillars of sustainability are covered in detail in this report.

Programmes this module appears in

Please note that the information detailed within this record is accurate at the time of publishing and may be subject to change. This record contains information for the most up to date version of the programme / module for the 2026/7 academic year.