Sustainable Separations Through Chemical Engineering
Students use common household items to separate potting soil into its components.Copyright Dr. Betsy Lawrence
Students participate in hands-on activities that introduce them to chemical engineering and sustainability. They explore various separation methods, such as distillation, crystallization, and adsorption, and apply these techniques in real-world scenarios. The activity concludes with an engineering design challenge, where students must design a system to separate the components of potting soil and develop strategies to recycle the separated materials, applying their understanding of sustainability and separation processes.
Chemical engineers design and optimize processes to separate, purify, and produce substances such as chemicals, fuels, and other materials. They develop methods to separate chemicals from mixtures, ensuring that each component is isolated and refined for use in various products. Engineers also focus on improving efficiency, safety, and sustainability in industrial production. They work to reduce environmental impacts, as seen with refrigerants, by developing eco-friendly alternatives to harmful chemicals such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs). Through their work, chemical engineers create practical solutions to complex global challenges, including sustainability, climate change, and resource management.
After this activity, students should be able to:
- Explain the history of climate change.
- Describe various ways that chemical engineers separate mixtures.
- Engineer a way to separate plant food from potting soil to then use the water to grow plants in a hydroponic system.