The following article is a dialogue with Shari Libicki, Adjunct Professor in Chemical Engineering, discussing the creation of her new course, Chemeng 65Q: Chemical Engineering for Sustainability.
The inspiration behind Chemeng 65Q
For the past 30 years, environmental engineering has focused on removing contaminants from the environment, and preventing new contamination. Ultimately, this is a chemical engineer’s job. Chemical engineers understand how to make chemistry work on an industrial scale. I am convinced that if you wanted to be an effective environmental engineer, you should be trained as a chemical engineer. The additional aspects of environmental engineering, such as policy evaluation, was something I learned on the job.
About 10 years ago, we saw more focus on sustainable engineering as we accelerated ways to reduce our energy dependence and minimize our footprint on the planet. Chemical engineering examines efficiencies and process changes that can minimize our overall impact. Around five years ago, we saw the rise in carbon tech/carbon engineering, leaving the petroleum age that we had been in since the 1920s, entering the new sustainable age.
Going forward, everything we do is based on moving beyond a petroleum-based economy. When I was coming up, chemical engineering was mostly about turning petroleum into our everyday needs. Today, more chemical engineers are working in the vast field of sustainability which is critical to our future. Showing First-years and sophomores a way to work for the future was my motivation for creating and teaching Chemeng 65Q.
About the course
Chemeng 65Q is a sophomore seminar that serves as an introduction to the field of sustainable chemical engineering. The primary focus of the course explores how we evaluate new technologies as chemical engineers. We also discuss heat and mass balances, engineering estimation, and reactions and mass transport. Additionally, we spend time on techno-economic analysis, where we look at the economics and technology of a process and how to improve it.
Furthermore, the class analyzes examples of sustainable chemical engineering from new companies. We review a range of startups including mature startups working to reduce the impact of electronics on the environment and newer startups who are taking carbon dioxide and water out of the air to make fuel. The class takes several field trips together. Afterward, we have student presentations looking at the various chemical engineering startups and analyzing them from a chemical engineering point of view.
The course concludes with students examining engineering estimates for multiple companies. For example, a company claimed they could pull 20 tons of carbon out of the air and make a karat of diamonds. When you dive deeper into the claim, it turns out that they are going to use the value of the diamond to sequester carbon. The claim is valid, but they are not sequestering 20 tons of carbon in a diamond. These real-world applications are interesting for the students and easy for them to understand.
Why the course is important
The course tagline is, “become a sustainable chemical engineer, save the world.” This course is important because the world of chemical engineering has radically changed in the last five years. Students need to understand that chemical engineering is now vast and different—it is no longer just petroleum or petrochemical engineering. Chemical engineers are now trying to determine how to make our current standard of living sustainable. Climate change is an existential crisis that we are all currently facing. I believe that sustainable chemical engineering is one of the most important ways to solve this. This is a real career and there is a huge demand for sustainable chemical engineers right now.
Final Thoughts
One of the most interesting things about the course is that it is evolving very fast. Every year, the course will change from the last year because the technology is continuously progressing. That is incredibly exciting and it makes this a great field to be in right now. I had a lecture that I wrote on the Sunday before class one week. By Monday, news emerged that made part of the lecture obsolete. If lifelong learning is your goal, this is a wonderful field to work in. Everything is changing so fast, and it is amazing to be a part of that.
