ABOUT US
The Department of Chemical Engineering was founded in the Faculty of Engineering in 1989. Currently, the department comprises of 17 active academic staffs (+8 staffs on Ph.D study leave), 6 technical staffs, and 8 administrative staffs.
Our department offers Bachelor of Engineering Degree in Chemical Engineering (4-year program), which involves the applications of engineering and chemical process principles to various manufacturing processes, e.g. petrochemical, chemical, polymer, biochemical, pulp and paper, food, and electrochemical industry. So far, the department has produced more than 800 chemical engineers. At present, there are more than 240 undergraduate students enrolled in both regular and evening programs.
The Master of Engineering program in Chemical Engineering was started in June 1996, and the Doctor of Engineering program in Chemical Engineering was started in June 2000. From June 2005, the international Master and Doctor of Engineering programs in Chemical Engineering were lunched. Currently, there are more than 120 graduate students enrolled in all graduate programs. Various thrust research areas are established in the department. They can be roughly categorized into 6 areas: (1) Chemical engineering fundamental, (2) Chemical reaction engineering, (3) Biochemical and bioprocess engineering, (4) Materials and powder technology, (5) Process simulation and control, and (6) Process energy, environment, and safety. These research works have resulted in a number of national and international conference proceedings, publications, and patents.
Cooperation and consulting works to private and government agencies have also been done regularly. Overseas visiting professors have been arranged to come to give lectures at the department every year to provide the students with an international experience.
The following pdf files provide more information about our department.
Introduction to KU-ChE
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Discovery of so many new materials in the recent years induces the desire to adapt them to increase the performance of existing devices and systems, as well as for new field of applications. The knowledge of the microstructure of these materials can help to understand their properties and the involved mechanisms. Furthermore, deposition of these materials as thin film or layers on various substrates necessary for many applications creates new problems concerning the surfaces and interfaces. Doping, intercalation, substituting or heterojunction are often necessary to increase the performance of the materials.
Efficiencies, performance and utilization of energy in chemical processes are always important and necessary to various processing. In so doing, research requires the integration of various process equipments with energy measurement analysis as well as engineering economics and management. A closely related research is to minimize the impact of chemicals and wastes, generated in the industrial processes, on the environment. So there is an attention on seeking the ways to deliver the fuels and chemicals with minimal environmental consequences. There is also an awareness of the need to produce degradable products, to reduce wastes, and to convert unavoidable wastes and byproducts into substances that are environmental friendly. In addition, there is growing need for more effective pollution abatement to meet the increasingly stringent emissions regulations. Clean technology and waste treatment technology using various methods will also be investigated.
PROCESS SYSTEM AND CONTROL
Automatic control is applied to processes to give more uniform and higher quality products and safe operations. Currently, computers are being used to operate and automatically control processing system. The synthesis and analysis of a product and/or its manufacturing process as a holistic system is the key to improve efficiency, product quality, and human safety, while reducing the environmental impact of their operations. As a system, it brings together advances in chemical engineering science, mathematics and computer science to take a holistic view of chemicals manufacturing.
This is the core strategic direction of the department. Most research of this area serves as the fundamental to the other areas. Therefore, various topics are undergoing to develop theories and the design of various major unit operations used in process industries, including multiphase reactors, distillation column, liquid-liquid extraction, solid-liquid extraction, filtration, and drying.
Reaction engineering is one unique area of chemical engineering that differs from other engineering disciplines. Various kinds of reactors, their design, configurations, and operations are used to convert feed materials (or reactants) into other chemical products that are more benefit to mankind. Essence of reaction engineering involves synthesis, modeling, simulation and application of information in thermodynamics, chemical kinetics, momentum, heat and mass transfer and economics with an aim in proper reactor design, construction, operation, and maintenance.