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Session 1526

A Project-Based Approach to Teaching Membrane Technology

C. Stewart Slater (1), Kauser Jahan (2), Stephanie Farrell (1), Robert P. Hesketh (1), and Kevin D. Dahm (1) (1) Department of Chemical Engineering (2) Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Rowan University Glassboro, NJ 08028

Abstract This paper describes a NSF-funded Instrumentation and Laboratory Improvement (ILI) project on membrane process experiments funded through DUE-9850535. We have addressed teaching students about the emerging field of membrane processes through team projects. The development plan involves the innovative use of membrane technology, integrating it both vertically and horizontally throughout the engineering curriculum and exposing students to it through the use of team-oriented experimental projects in multidisciplinary engineering clinics. We have initially introduced membrane separation principles in various courses through lectures and small-scale mini-labs and demos. This lays the foundation for more comprehensive study in the engineering clinics. The integration of membrane process experiments for multidisciplinary team projects occurs in the Junior and Senior level Engineering Clinic courses. Some of the realistic and challenging experimental projects started so far include: reverse osmosis system design and function in water purification, gas permeation processes, membrane bioreactors and hollow fiber membrane gas transfer for environmental control, ceramic membrane reactors used in petrochemical processing, and electrodialysis and ultrafiltration processes for separation in the specialty chemicals industry. In these process research and development projects students, learn how to function in a team to solve complex problems, interpret and analyze data, utilize modern technologies, and understand environmental issues. Some projects have included industrial mentors. To broaden the impact of the project, the Rowan team has also used membrane technology to help attract high school students to engineering through the development of innovative demonstration modules.

Introduction Overview The effective teaching of membrane processes is an important issue to be addressed by the academic community. Leading-edge industries are using membrane technology for new gains. Educational initiatives are crucial to the continued technical growth and wide-scale commercialization of membrane processes. This project seeks an innovative use of membrane technology, building on the pioneering work of the lead author, who developed membrane experiments in a conventional chemical engineering laboratory setting [Sla94, Sla93, Sla92, Sla89, Sla87]. At Rowan University, the co-PI’s

Proceedings of the 2001 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright  2001, American Society for Engineering Education

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Kauser, J., & Farrell, S., & Hesketh, R., & Slater, C. S., & Dahm, K. (2001, June), A Project Based Approach To Teaching Membrane Technology Paper presented at 2001 Annual Conference, Albuquerque, New Mexico. 10.18260/1-2--9690