G. Open-Ended Problems
The following are summaries for open-ended problems that have been used as term problems at the University of Michigan. The complete problem statement of the problems can be found on the CRE Web site, Web Appendix G.
G.1 Design of Reaction Engineering Experiment
The experiment is to be used in the undergraduate laboratory and costs less than $500 to build. The judging criteria are the same as the criteria for the National AIChE Student Chapter Competition. The design is to be displayed on a poster board and explained to a panel of judges. Guidelines for the poster-board display are provided by Jack Fishman and are given on the CRE Web site.
G.2 Effective Lubricant Design
Lubricants used in car engines are formulated by blending a base oil with additives to yield a mixture with the desirable physical attributes. In this problem, students examine the degradation of lubricants by oxidation and design an improved lubricant system. The design should include the lubricant system’s physical and chemical characteristics, as well as an explanation as to how it is applied to automobiles. Focus: automotive industry, petroleum industry.
G.3 Peach Bottom Nuclear Reactor
The radioactive effluent stream from a newly constructed nuclear power plant must be made to conform with Nuclear Regulatory Commission standards. Students use chemical reaction engineering and creative problem solving to propose solutions for the treatment of the reactor effluent. Focus: problem analysis, safety, ethics.
G.4 Underground Wet Oxidation
You work for a specialty chemicals company, which produces large amounts of aqueous waste. Your chief executive officer (CEO) read in a journal about an emerging technology for reducing hazardous waste, and you must evaluate the system and its feasibility. Focus: waste processing, environmental issues, ethics.
G.5 Hydrodesulfurization Reactor Design
Your supervisor at Kleen Petrochemical wishes to use a hydrodesulfurization reaction to produce ethylbenzene from a process waste stream. You have been assigned the task of designing a reactor for the hydrodesulfurization reaction. Focus: reactor design.
G.6 Continuous Bioprocessing
Most commercial bioreactions are carried out in batch reactors. The design of a continuous bioreactor is desired since it may prove to be more economically rewarding than batch processes. Most desirable is a reactor that can sustain cells that are suspended in the reactor while growth medium is fed in, without allowing the cells to exit the reactor. Focus: mixing modeling, separations, bioprocess kinetics, reactor design.
G.7 Methanol Synthesis
Kinetic models based on experimental data are being used increasingly in the chemical industry for the design of catalytic reactors. However, the modeling process itself can influence the final reactor design and its ultimate performance by incorporating different interpretations of experimental design into the basic kinetic models. In this problem, students are asked to develop kinetic modeling methods/approaches and apply them in the development of a model for the production of methanol from experimental data. Focus: kinetic modeling, reactor design.
G.8 Cajun Seafood Gumbo
Most gourmet foods are prepared by batch processes, i.e., a batch reactor. In this problem, students are challenged to design a continuous process for the production of gourmet-quality Cajun seafood gumbo from an old family recipe. Some of the most difficult gourmet foods to prepare are Louisiana specialties, owing to the delicate balance between spices (hotness) and subtle flavors that must be achieved. In preparing Creole and Cajun food, certain flavors are released only by cooking some of the ingredients in hot oil for a period of time.
We shall focus on one specialty, Cajun seafood gumbo. Develop a continuous-flow reactor system that would produce 5 gal/h of a gourmet-quality seafood gumbo. Prepare a flow sheet of the entire operation. Outline certain experiments and areas of research that would be needed to ensure the success of your project. Discuss how you would begin to research these problems. Make a plan for any experiments to be carried out (see Chapter 7, R7.5, page 273).
Following is an old family formula for Cajun seafood gumbo for batch operation (10 quarts, serves 40):
1 cup flour
1
cups olive oil
1 cup chopped celery
2 large red onions (diced)
5 qt fish stock
6 lb fish (combination of cod, red snapper, monk fish, and halibut)
12 oz crabmeat
1 qt medium oysters
1 lb medium to large shrimp
4 bay leaves, crushed
cup chopped parsley
3 large Idaho potatoes (diced)
1 tablespoon ground pepper
1 tablespoon tomato paste
5 cloves garlic (diced)
tablespoon Tabasco sauce
1 bottle dry white wine
1 lb scallops
1. Make a roux (i.e., add 1 cup flour to 1 cup of boiling olive oil). Cook until dark brown. Add roux to fish stock.
2. Cook chopped celery and onion in boiling olive oil until onion is translucent. Drain and add to fish stock.
3. Add 
of the fish (2 lb) and of the crabmeat, liquor from oysters, bay leaves, parsley, potatoes, black pepper, tomato paste, garlic, Tabasco, and 
cup of the olive oil. Bring to a slow boil and cook 4 h, stirring intermittently.
4. Add 1 qt cold water, remove from the stove, and refrigerate (at least 12 h) until 2 h before serving.
5. Remove from refrigerator, add cup of the olive oil, wine, and scallops. Bring to a light boil, then simmer for 2 h. Add remaining fish (cut to bite size), crabmeat, and water to bring total volume to 10 qt. Simmer for 2 h, add shrimp, then 10 minutes later, add oysters and serve immediately.
G.9 Alcohol Metabolism
The purpose of this open-ended problem is for the students to apply their knowledge of reaction kinetics to the problem of modeling the metabolism of alcohol in humans. In addition, the students will present their findings in a poster session. The poster presentations will be designed to bring a greater awareness to the university community of the dangers associated with alcohol consumption.
Students should choose one of the following four major topics to further investigate:
1. Death caused by acute alcohol overdose
2. Long-term effects of alcohol
3. Interactions of alcohol with common medications
4. Factors affecting metabolism of alcohol
General information regarding each of these topics can be found on the CRE Web site.
The metabolism and model equations are given on the CRE Web site. One can load the Living Example problem for alcohol metabolism directly from the CRE Web site.
G.10 Methanol Poisoning
The emergency room treatment for methanol poisoning is to inject ethanol intravenously to tie up the alcohol dehydrogenase enzyme so that methanol will not be converted to formic acid and formate, which cause blindness. The goal of this open-ended problem is to build on the physiological-based model for ethanol metabolism to predict the ethanol injection rate for methanol poisoning. One can find a start on this problem by the Professional Reference Shelf Material on Physiologically Based Pharmacokinetic (PBPK) Models in Chapter 9 that is on the Web.