Design and Assessment of a Team-Based Mini-Lab Integrated into Chemical Process Engineering Curriculum

With a growing emphasis on sustainable development, chemical process engineering education must equip students with skills in industrial system optimization. Drying, a common but energy-intensive operation, highlights the importance of efficiency in process design. Foundational courses such as mass and heat transfer introduce these concepts, while the "mini-lab" provides senior undergraduates with a practical, flexible alternative to traditional experiments. By addressing the time and stress constraints of final-year students, the mini-lab enhances engagement and learning effectiveness in process optimization. The goal is to enhance their interest and learning enthusiasm through hands-on activities and competition-based learning, enabling them to more efficiently learn about the drying process and fit within their demanding schedules while still achieving key learning outcomes. After students had mastered the fundamental principles of drying operations and understood the influencing factors of drying efficiency, such as temperature, air velocity, and contact area, they then used Aspen Plus as a design tool. A completed industrial-scale drying process model will be provided to the students, and based on this scaled drying equipment model, they will design a high-efficiency and high-productivity process by modifying different operating conditions. More importantly, through evaluations and student feedback, the teaching model introduced in this paper can be widely applied to various engineering courses, especially those with significant theoretical content. The combination of theory and practice not only increases student engagement but also brings students closer to real-world industrial applications, positively impacting their future development.