Chemical Engineering Computations

Course Description

Chemical Engineering Computations teaches the numerical methods that chemical engineering problems actually require, and in practice it is the course where the discipline learns to program. The statewide description: an introduction to the central concepts of practical numerical techniques using computers for solving chemical engineering problems.

⚠ Almost nothing in the rest of the degree solves in closed form. Cubic equations of state, multicomponent flash calculations, reactor design equations and the transport partial differential equations are all numerical problems, and this is the course that makes them tractable. Taken seriously it makes the rest of the major noticeably easier.

Carried by three Florida public institutions.

Learning Outcomes

Required Outcomes

• Write, debug and document programs in the language the institution uses — MATLAB, Python or both.
• Solve systems of linear equations and understand conditioning.
• Solve non-linear equations and systems by bisection, Newton-Raphson and quasi-Newton methods.
• Perform interpolation, curve fitting and regression on process data.
• Carry out numerical differentiation and integration.
• Solve ordinary differential equations and initial-value problems numerically.
• Apply these to chemical engineering problems — equations of state, flash calculations, reactor equations, unsteady balances.

Optional Outcomes

• Boundary-value problems and partial differential equations.
• Optimisation methods.
• Statistical analysis and design of experiments.
• Process simulation software alongside the hand-written code.

Major Topics

Required Topics

• Programming fundamentals in MATLAB or Python.
• Errors, precision and conditioning.
• Linear systems and matrix methods.
• Roots of non-linear equations and systems.
• Regression and curve fitting.
• Numerical integration and differentiation.
• Numerical solution of ODEs.
• Applications to chemical engineering problems.

Optional Topics

• PDEs and boundary-value problems.
• Optimisation.
• Statistics and experimental design.
• Symbolic computation.

Resources & Tools

• Chapra & Canale, Numerical Methods for Engineers, is the common text; Cutlip & Shacham, Problem Solving in Chemical Engineering with Numerical Methods, is the discipline-specific one.
• MATLAB is the usual environment; Python with NumPy and SciPy is increasingly used and is free, which matters after graduation.
• Polymath appears in some Florida programmes, particularly alongside reactor design.

Career Pathways

Named on the Chemical Engineer career path. Programming is now assumed of process engineers — for data analysis, for plant historian work, and for the modelling that sits under any optimisation project. ⚠ It is also the most transferable skill in the degree, and the one that opens data and simulation roles to chemical engineers who want them.

Special Information

⚠⚠⚠ The statewide prerequisite resolves nowhere, and here is the arithmetic

SCNS records the gate as ECH 3264, CGS 3460, MAP 3305. The carriers of this course are FAMU, Florida State and USF. Against that:

⚠⚠ Both dangling numbers are University of Florida numbering — ECH3264 is UF’s transport course and CGS3460 is the shape of UF’s programming-for-engineers numbering. The prerequisite was contributed by an institution that does not teach the course.

⚠ It is worth knowing as a general lesson and not only about this number: a statewide prerequisite is contributed by one institution and is not a promise about yours. Read the gate from your own catalogue, every time.

Credits, and what the extra one buys

FAMU and Florida State carry it at 4 credits; USF at 3, under the broader title Engineering Computations. ⚠ The difference is usually a scheduled computer laboratory session rather than additional theory. A transfer student moving from USF to the FAMU-FSU college is a credit short against the requirement, which is the sort of thing that surfaces in a final audit.

⚠⚠ Only four Florida institutions teach this, and two of them are one college

Chemical engineering is awarded by four Florida public institutions in three cities: the University of Florida (110 bachelor’s degrees a year), the University of South Florida (73), Florida State (27) and Florida A&M (4). Florida State and Florida A&M share the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering, a single joint college in Tallahassee, which is why their records for this prefix are identical down to the title.

⚠⚠ So a carrier count in this prefix overstates how many independent programmes exist. A course carried by “FAMU and FSU” is one programme’s course, not two institutions agreeing. Read the hedging on this page accordingly, and treat anything stated about content as a description of a small number of specific curricula rather than a Florida-wide norm.

⚠ Neither UCF nor FIU awards a chemical engineering degree — the two largest universities in the state by enrolment. See the Chemical Engineer career path for what that means if you live in Orlando or Miami.

Accreditation and licensure

All four Florida programmes are accredited by ABET’s Engineering Accreditation Commission, which is what employers screen on and what carries the four-year route to Professional Engineer licensure under s. 471.013(1)(a), Florida Statutes. ⚠ Accreditation attaches to a named programme at a named institution, not to a course list — verify the specific programme in ABET’s own search.

Most chemical engineers never license: process plants fall under the industrial exemption. ⚠ The Florida exceptions are environmental and water engineering consulting, where work is sealed for public clients. Sit the FE examination in your final year regardless — the chemical FE is written for the curriculum you have just finished and will never be easier.