Through the Investigation of Commercial Beer

Historically, design courses in the chemical engineering curriculum focus on teaching process design rather than product design. A traditional program may contain one or two design courses at the senior level— the first generally addresses the design of unit operations such as physical separators, distillation columns, heat exchangers, turbomachinery, and other process components, while a subsequent capstone design course provides an opportunity for students to combine what they have learned in previous courses such as thermodynamics, reaction engineering, and transport phenomena. In the capstone design course, students’ efforts are usually geared toward designing a process to manufacture a commodity chemical, such as cumene or styrene. This traditional design education originated and was driven by the needs of the chemical commodity industry that dominated the chemical industry during the twentieth century. Recently, Cussler indicated the importance of including product design in the capstone design course. His view is consistent with a new industry reality where the traditional oil and chemical companies are introducing major changes to remain competitive. Process optimization, energy integration, and alternative raw matrials are no longer sufficient to provide chemical companies with a leading edge. This new business reality suggests that producing shorter-life products and being the first on the market is the “new” way to succeed in business and stay profitable.