Abstract:

Computer and programming skills are quite useful for today Chemical Engineering students. Nowadays, both skills are essentials not only in research labs but also in industry, and they can be applied in many areas, such as process modeling, analysis, control, or maintenance to mention just a few. Unfortunately, programming languages are taught separately from these areas in many graduate programs, and when software is involved in non-computing courses, the most common practice requires the use of dedicated software solutions. Thus, the chemical engineering curriculum usually does not utilize computer-based methods for enhancing problem-solving skills. In this work, we report the development of a virtual laboratory game for teaching chemical reaction kinetics by using a Matlab-based code. The game we suggest is divided in three different skill levels. In the first one, students are provided with a version of the code consisting in a conventional simulation tool that calculates the numerical solution for different reaction mechanisms and their kinetic parameters to solve a collection of exercises that illustrates the basics of chemical reaction kinetics. In the second level, the teacher sets up a reaction mechanism and fixes the thermodynamic and kinetic constants in the source code. Students receive a compiled version of this source code, and the overall reaction selected by the teacher, while the kinetic parameters and detailed reaction mechanism remain hidden. When executed, a graphical interface allows the students to configure a virtual experiment by setting a collection of parameters like temperature range, experiment duration, concentration of reagents, sample rate, detectors of diverse accuracy, and so on. Students receive a budget from the software for the experiments they have proposed. If accepted, concentration profiles are generated by the code on the basis of the reaction kinetics and the conditions selected for the experiment. Students can use any tool of their choice for assessing the reaction mechanism and estimating the kinetic parameters. A contest for reaching the solution using the most economical budget can be proposed in class. In the last level, the source code is opened to students. The details regarding the algorithms utilized for the numerical solution of the problems are discussed. Afterwards, students modify the code by adding basic concepts of reactors and heterogenous catalysis. At this point, they can compile their modified code, propose reaction mechanisms and kinetic parameters on their own and challenge other students to discover them.

Keywords:

Gamification, Matlab, Chemical Engineering, programming skills.