Principles of Green Engineering Applied to Education

Robert P. Hesketh, and C. S. SlaterRowan University, Glassboro, NJ

2004 AIChE Annual Meeting, Austin TX[7] - Principles of Sustainable Engineering

Wednesday, November 10, 2004Salon A - Hilton Hotel

What is Green Engineering?Design, commercialization and use of processes and products that are feasible and economical while minimizing:• Risk to human health and the environment• Generation of pollution at the source

Transforms existing practices to promote sustainable development.

The SanDestin Declaration of Green Engineering Principles(2003)

• Transforms existing practices to promote sustainability.

• Economically viable products, processes, and systems that – promote human welfare – while protecting human health – and elevating the protection of the

biosphere

• New criterion for engineering solutions.

1. Engineer processes and products holistically, use systems analysis, and integrate environmental impact assessment tools.

2. Conserve and improve natural ecosystems while protecting human health and well-being.

3. Use life cycle thinking in all engineering activities.

4. Ensure that all material and energy inputs and outputs are as inherentlysafe and benign as possible.

5. Minimize depletion of natural resources.

To fully implement green engineering solutions, engineers use the following principles:

6. Strive to prevent waste.

7. Develop and apply engineering solutions, while being cognizant of local geography, aspirations and cultures.

8. Create engineering solutions beyond current or dominant technologies; improve, innovate and invent (technologies) to achieve sustainability.

9. Actively engage communities and stakeholders in development of engineering solutions.

There is a duty to inform society of the practice of green engineering.

To fully implement green engineering solutions, engineers use the following principles:

Motivation for Teaching Green Engineering

• Stringent environmental regulations and escalating costs of pollution control.

Motivation for Teaching Green Engineering

• Stringent environmental regulations and escalating costs of pollution control.

• Little understanding of environmental issues and risks posed by chemical production.

Environmental Issues - Chemical Industry

• Energy Consumption• Smog Formation• Acidification• Water Quality• Ozone Depletion in

Stratosphere• Global Warming• Ecology Concepts• Life-Cycle Concepts• Product Stewardship

NOx

Fuel Combustion

Industrial Processes

Transportation

Miscellaneous

Risk = f (hazard, exposure)

Concentration in Air,

Water Soil

(g/m3)

Human Health & Ecosystem

Effects

Emission Rates(g/sec)

Duration(min,sec)

P/C and Fate Properties

Chemistry

Equipment Design

Minimize Risk Involves Reducing Both the Hazard (i.e. Toxicity) and Exposure

Motivation based on Accreditation• ABET Engineering Program Outcomes Criteria

(Accreditation Board for Engineering & Technology)

– understanding of professional & ethical responsibility

– understand the impacts of engineering solutions in global and societal context

– a knowledge of contemporary issues

• AIChE Program Criteria (American Institute of Chemical Engineers)– incorporate environment and safety aspects into all

courses

Professional Codes of Management Practice

• Responsible Care® Codes American Chemistry

Council

• Pollution prevention codes• continuous reductions in pollutant releases• reduce burdens to the environment from

facilities

• Product stewardship codes• life-cycle approach to consider environment,

health, and safety in process and product design.

MOTIVATION for Teaching Engineers

• Industry leaders moving to Sustainable Chemical Processing

• Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) World & DJSI STOXX (771 companies analyzed globally) launched in 1999

We are Behind!• Other National Accreditation Bodies:

produce graduates that have an understanding of sustainable technology and development Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom, Canada etc…

• The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) code of ethics

“engineers shall hold paramount the safety, health and welfare of the public and shall strive to comply with the principles of sustainable development in the performance of their professional duties”

And more!• UPC – Barcelona, Spain – Integration in all

departments• Delft University, Netherlands –University

initiative• Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden• University of Surrey, Oxford, Cambridge, UK • University of Windsor• A one to 3 courses are given at Universities in

the USA – Georgia Tech, Univ. Tennessee, University of Texas-El Paso, Carnegie Mellon, Berkeley, Univ. Texas – Austin, MIT, Rowan University.

Freshman Engineering Clinic 4 hrs

Sophomore Engineering Clinic – 2 Eng + 6 communications hrs

Chemical Principles I – 2 hrs Felder&Rousseau (Text)

Chemical Principles II – 2 hrs Felder&Rousseau (Text)

Fluid Mechanics – 2 hrs

Process Fluids – 2hrs

ChE Thermodynamics – 3 hrs

Heat Transfer – 2 hrs

Equilibrium Stages – 2 hrs

Separations – 4 hrs

Chemical Reaction Engineering – 4 hrs

Process Dynamics & Control – 3 hrs

Unit Operations Lab – 3 hrs

Chemical Plant Design – 3 hrs

Transport Phenomena – 3 hrs

Chemical Process Component Design – 4 hrs

Junior/Senior Engineering Clinic – 8 hrs Engineering ProjectsChemistry I&II

– 8 hrs

Calculus I & II – 8 hrsMath for Engineering I&II – 8 hrs

Physics I - 4 hrs

Biological Sciences I - 4 hrs

Organic Chemistry – 4 hrs

Composition I – 3 hrs

Humanities, Social Sciences – 12 hrs

Computer Science & Programming - 4 hrs

Microeconomics - 3 hrs

Material Science – 2 hrs

Physical Chemistry I – 3 hrs - Thermodynamics

Chemistry Elective - 3 hrs

ChE Electives(Green Eng.) - 6 hrs

Green CHEMICAL ENGINEERING CURRICULUM – 131 hrs

Introduction to Sustainable Development: Freshman EngineeringExample Discussion/Lecture• What role do engineers serve to society?• What challenges will engineers face in the

near future?– Energy– Other Natural Resources– Environment– Population growth and increase of material wealth

of developing nations (China)• What challenges will our children and

grandchildren face as engineers? (e.g. How do we continue to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs?)

Life Cycle Thinkingin Freshman Engineering

• Introduce students to the concept of examining the entire life cycle of a product or process

• Not a detailed life cycle assessment

• Simple Examples– Paper vs. Plastic– Beer Brewing– Coffee Machine

General Education Courses

• Change options for engineers or Give guides on courses

• Humanities

• Social Sciences

• History

• Engineering - Engineering Sustainable Technologies (at UT-Austin)

Examples of General Education Courses• Psychology and Sustainable Development (Psychology,

Hofstra University); • Hanford Social and Environmental History (Sociology,

Washington State University); Environmental Justice (Sociology, Brown University);

• Economy, Environment and Community (Economics, Tufts University);

• Strategies for Sustainable Development (McGill and University of Michigan);

• Western Environmental Policy (History, California Institute of Technology);

• Environmental Ethics (Philosophy, University of Alberta)• Biotechnology, Nature and Society (Biology, Tufts

University);• Strategies for Environmental Management (Business

School, University of Michigan);

Freshman Engineering Clinic 4 hrs

Sophomore Engineering Clinic – 2 Eng + 6 communications hrs

Chemical Principles I – 2 hrs Felder&Rousseau (Text)

Chemical Principles II – 2 hrs Felder&Rousseau (Text)

Fluid Mechanics – 2 hrs

Process Fluids – 2hrs

ChE Thermodynamics – 3 hrs

Heat Transfer – 2 hrs

Equilibrium Stages – 2 hrs

Separations – 4 hrs

Chemical Reaction Engineering – 4 hrs

Process Dynamics & Control – 3 hrs

Unit Operations Lab – 3 hrs

Chemical Plant Design – 3 hrs

Transport Phenomena – 3 hrs

Chemical Process Component Design – 4 hrs

Junior/Senior Engineering Clinic – 8 hrs Engineering ProjectsChemistry I&II

– 8 hrs

Calculus I & II – 8 hrsMath for Engineering I&II – 8 hrs

Physics I - 4 hrs

Biological Sciences I - 4 hrs

Organic Chemistry – 4 hrs

Composition I – 3 hrs

Humanities, Social Sciences – 12 hrs

Computer Science & Programming - 4 hrs

Microeconomics - 3 hrs

Material Science – 2 hrs

Physical Chemistry I – 3 hrs - Thermodynamics

Chemistry Elective - 3 hrs

ChE Electives(Green Eng.) - 6 hrs

Green CHEMICAL ENGINEERING CURRICULUM – 131 hrs

Risk Assessment - Start Simple- HAZARD

Exposure HazardRisk = f (

Simple Analysis of Laboratory ExperimentsFirst Year Chemistry Organic ChemistryBiologyEngineering Laboratories

MSDSNIOSH

IRIS (EPA)

Permissible Exposure Limit (PEL),

Threshold Limit Value (TLV),No Observable Adverse Effects Level (NOAEL), Reference Dose (RfD), Reference Concentration (RfC)

)

Exposure Exposure HazardRisk = X

Transmission Rate(m3/s)

Concentration in

Air, Water Soil

(g/m3)

Duration(s)

• Unit conversions: Freshman Engineering & Chemical Principles

• Prediction of Chemical PropertiesChemical Thermodynamics

• Where Do Chemicals Go?Mass BalancesTransport Phenomena

• Duration or PersistenceChemical Reaction Kinetics

EXPOSURE – Example for Sophomore Year

• Simple Exposure Models:Mass and Energy Balance Course

• Example: Calculate the concentration of gas in a room with a leaking cylinder.

Fresh Air

Exhaust AirGas

Leak

Life Cycle Assessment

Sophomore engineeringMass and energy balances to show life cycle basics.

Example of Fluorescent vs. Incandescent light bulbs

Life-Cycle Impact Assessments

Risk

Software or Tables

Impact Metrics (e.g. Global Warming Potential)

Exposure

Hazard

Green Engineering in Design (1 – 4th year)

Is it Possible to Teach Green Engineering?

• Overcrowded Curriculum

• Outside of Professors Research Areas

• Lack of Time to Prepare New Materials

• How do you integrate these materials into current courses?

IMPLEMENTATION

• Green Engineering Champion

• Green Engineering Text for 4 years

• Modules prepared for each course

• Strong Support of Chair & Dean

• Excited & Cooperative Faculty

GREEN ENGINEERING RESOURCES

• Workshops

• Textbook

• Modules

• Software

• Websites

Green Engineering Educator Workshops

Workshops: • 2 in 1999 at ASEE and AIChE Annual Meetings• 3 in 2000 – Regional Workshops• 2 in 2001 at the Green Engineering Conference and

2001 AIChE Annual Meeting in Reno, NV• 2002 ASEE/AIChE Chemical Engineering Summer

School, Boulder CO• 2003 University of Florida• 2005 ASEE Annual Meeting Portland, June

More information: Email Hesketh@rowan.edu

NEW TEXT!

Green Engineering: Environmentally Conscious Design of Chemical ProcessesAllen, David T and D. R Shonnard

• Easy to Utilize for a Green Engineering course

• Modules Created for Chemical Engineering Courses:

www.rowan.edu/greenengineering

Green Engineering Poster Contest at AIChE – Austin, TX

Need New Linked ModulesMapping of Green Engineering

Subjects with Course Text & Green Engineering Principles

• Selected Readings from Text• Example Problems• Homework Problems• Case Studies

                                                                                            

                                                                                                           

Coverage of Green Engineering Principles

Material Science Module

Natural resource depletion

minimization

Waste prevention

Development of solutions with stadeholders'

concerns

Solution based thinking beyond

current techs--invent for sustainability

Input and output safety/ reduction of

liability

Holistical approach and use of systems

analysis, impact assesment tools

Provide vehicle for stakeholder input to

solutions Conserve and improve natural

ecosystems

Life cycle thinking incorporation

http://www.rowan.edu/greenengineering

Rowan Green

Engineering WEBSITE

• Freshman Engineering• Material and Energy

Balances• Design• Material Science and

Engineering• Heat Transfer• Process Dynamics and

Controls• Separation Processes

• Transport Phenomena• Reaction Engineering• Thermodynamics

Modules Prepared

Modules In Progress

CONCLUSIONS• The Solution is a University Issue• Use Textbook and Modules for Curriculum• Start Teaching ChE Green from the First year -

– Utilize Active Learning– Projects & Case Studies– Use the new text starting in first year

• Integrate to Upper Levels - Reinforce & Build• Senior Design Course(s)• Research and Clinic Projects

with Industry

• Special Thanks to: Special Thanks to: Sharon Austin & Nhan NguyenSharon Austin & Nhan NguyenChemical Engineering Branch of the OChemical Engineering Branch of the Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics

• US EPA - Office of Pollution Prevention and US EPA - Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics and Office of Prevention, Pesticides, and Toxics and Office of Prevention, Pesticides, and Toxic SubstancesToxic Substances Grant: CX 827688-01-0 & X 83052501 Grant: CX 827688-01-0 & X 83052501

• NSF Division for Undergraduate EducationNSF Division for Undergraduate Education DUE-9850535 Multidisciplinary Membrane Process Laboratory DUE-9850535 Multidisciplinary Membrane Process Laboratory Experiments and DUE 0097549 REU in Pollution PreventionExperiments and DUE 0097549 REU in Pollution Prevention

• Rowan UniversityRowan University

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Acknowlegements

Example of mapping