Department of Chemical Engineering

Chair

T. Kyle Vanderlick

Director of Graduate Studies

Pablo G. Debenedetti

Professor

Ilhan A. Aksay

Jay B. Benziger

Pablo G. Debenedetti

Christodoulos A. Floudas

Yannis G. Kevrekidis

Morton D. Kostin

Athanassios Z. Panagiotopoulos

Robert K. Prud’homme

Richard A. Register

William B. Russel

Dudley A. Saville

Sankaran Sundaresan

T. Kyle Vanderlick

James Wei

Assistant Professor

Stanislav Y. Shvartsman

David W. Wood

Associated Faculty

Emily A. Carter, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

George W. Scherer, Civil and Environmental Engineering

Salvatore Torquato, Chemistry

 

The Department of Chemical Engineering offers programs of graduate study leading to the degrees of Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Master of Science in Engineering (M.S.E.), and Master of Engineering (M.Eng.). All three programs are based on the principles of chemical engineering, chemistry, mathematics, physics, and related science and engineering disciplines.

Further information may be obtained from the Director of Graduate Studies, Department of Chemical Engineering, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08544-5263, or via the Web at chemeng.princeton.edu.

Master of Engineering

Candidates for the M.Eng. degree must successfully complete at least eight graduate-level courses and, if enrolled full time, will normally satisfy that requirement in one 10-month academic year. (For part-time study, see page 163.) No research or thesis is required, and financial support is normally not offered. A minimum of six of these eight courses must be technical, having their primary listing in a department or a program within the natural sciences or engineering. A minimum of four of these six courses must be chosen from graduate offerings in the Department of Chemical Engineering; options include any of the five core courses for the Ph.D. degree (CHE 501, 502, 503, 504, 505), as well as numerous graduate-level chemical engineering electives chosen according to the student’s area of interest. To complete the set of eight courses, students with an interest in economics, entrepreneurship, finance, or public policy may choose up to two graduate-level courses from the Department of Economics or the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. Students must have a “B” (3.0) average or better at the time they complete the program requirements in order to receive the degree.

Students are encouraged, although not required, to focus their course choices so as to develop significant expertise in a particular area. Possible specializations, and some courses that fall within each area, include: (1) materials, CHE 522, 531, 532, 541, 543, 544; MSE 501, 502, 503, 504, 505, 515, 519, 531; MAE 562, 563, 564; ELE 541, 549, 551; CHM 507, 511, 522; PHY 525, 526; GEO 501; (2) environmental engineering, CHE 522, 546; CEE 571, 576, 581, 582, 586, 587; MAE 571; GEO 524, 526, 537; WWS 582b, 584, 585b, 586c; (3) systems engineering, CHE 521, 527, 528, 530, 554; MAE 541, 545, 546, 548; ELE 521; ORF 522, 526, 562; COS 525; and (4) bioengineering, APC 514; CHE 532, 533; CHM 515, 516, 543, 544, 550; MOL 504, 505, 506, 507, 551, 558; WWS 586a. Any of the core chemical engineering courses (CHE 501, 502, 503, 504, and 505) can be used to complement selections from any of these areas.

Master of Science in Engineering

Candidates for the M.S.E. degree normally require from one-and-one-half to two years (three to four academic terms and the summer in between) to complete the degree. The student must successfully complete a minimum of six graduate-level courses from either the chemical engineering curriculum, or approved technical electives. Candidates must prepare and submit an original thesis as well as present an open seminar on the research.

Doctor of Philosophy

The program leading to the Ph.D. degree involves advanced studies in engineering and science. Formal study in courses, coupled with independent study and research, prepares the student for research, teaching, and professional leadership in industry, academia, and government. To be considered for admission to the program, the applicant should normally have completed, with distinction, in an institution of recognized standing, a broad undergraduate program of study in chemical engineering or a related field.

Research in the field of engineering or related applied sciences is the central requirement of the doctoral program. Each student is also required to spend one term assisting in instruction in the department, normally during the second year of residence, and to present a departmental seminar on his or her research.

For Ph.D. students whose native language is not English and who have not earned a bachelor’s degree in the United States, proficiency in spoken English is evaluated as explained in the section describing the policies of the School of Engineering and Applied Science (please see that section, found elsewhere in this catalog). Students must pass the Princeton Oral Proficiency Test, or be exempted therefrom, by May of their second year of enrollment in order to continue as Ph.D. candidates. Those who do not will be recommended to take the M.S.E. degree as their final degree.

Satisfactory completion of 12 courses for the core course requirement is required for this degree, including five departmental core courses (CHE 501, 502, 503, 504, and 505). Among the remaining seven courses a minimum of four are required to be technical graduate-level courses. Exemptions from certain of the core courses may be granted for students who have completed a similar course at another institution; exemptions should be sought in writing from the director of graduate studies.

The general examination has two components. The first is mastery of graduate-level chemical engineering material, which will be considered to have been demonstrated by a grade of B- or above in each of the five departmental core courses. A grade of C+ and lower means that the doctoral candidate will have to retake the corresponding course (not for credit), possibly after auditing a relevant undergraduate course. Course materials of students repeating a core course will be made available by the course instructor to a committee of faculty, who make a recommendation to the faculty as a whole as to whether or not the student has mastered the subject matter. The second component is the first proposition defense, which is a written document outlining plans for dissertation research, including progress already made. This document is submitted in the fall of the second year of residence and is defended orally before a committee of faculty members. Satisfactory completion of the core course requirements and the first proposition defense is required to achieve post-generals degree candidacy. Both must be passed no later than May of the second year of residence.

Each student must also submit a second research proposition, which is an original proposal within the broad area of chemical engineering, but on a topic not directly related to the dissertation. The second proposition is conceived of and written entirely by the student. This document must be submitted by the beginning of the fourth year of study, and it is reviewed and must be approved by a knowledgeable member of the faculty.

The doctoral dissertation must demonstrate the student’s independent research and mastery of the field and must extend existing knowledge or present a significant new interpretation of known phenomena. The dissertation must be approved by the student’s research adviser and a knowledgeable second reader.

The final public oral examination culminates the student’s graduate studies. A faculty committee examines the student’s technical mastery of the material in the dissertation and the second proposition. Typically, five years are required from matriculation to the final public oral examination.

Students with a strong interest in materials science and engineering may elect to pursue the Ph.D. in chemical and materials engineering. This degree option is conducted jointly with the Princeton Institute for the Science and Technology of Materials (PRISM) through its graduate program. Students on this degree track must demonstrate mastery of core areas in both chemical engineering and materials science, and produce original research at the nexus between these two fields. Most of the requirements and procedures for this degree are identical to those for the Ph.D. in chemical engineering, but three key differences exist. First, students pursuing the Ph.D. in the chemical and materials engineering program must be pursuing a materials-related thesis. Second, while satisfactory completion of 12 courses is also required, the detailed requirements differ. Students must satisfactorily complete CHE 501, 502, 503, 504, and 505; MSE 502; either MSE 501, 503, 504, or 505; and a third 500-level MSE course, for a total of eight required courses in chemical engineering and materials. Two additional technical courses at the graduate level are required; these may be in chemical engineering, materials, or any other department or program in the natural sciences or engineering. Third, there is an additional component to the general examination, in materials; this examination has both written and oral parts.

All Ph.D. students enter declared for the Ph.D. in chemical engineering, and advance to post-generals status once all parts of the general examination are satisfactorily completed. Students may move onto the track for the Ph.D. in chemical and materials engineering at any point prior to their final public oral examination by completing the course requirements and the materials component of the general examination.

Fellowships and Assistantships

All first-year Ph.D. students are supported by University fellowships, consisting of full tuition and fees, and a competitive stipend.

Assistantships in research are available for continuing Ph.D. students; the work carried out is the basis for the dissertation. Assistantships in instruction are also available for continuing students. Departmental doctoral students must fulfill a teaching requirement of six hours, or the equivalent of one full term of teaching. Salaries for assistantships are fixed, as indicated in the general section of this catalog on awards and financial assistance. Additional awards are available to graduate students for the summer months.

All financial aid is normally renewable for up to five years of residence on the basis of the student’s satisfactory academic performance.

Research Facilities

Laboratories, facilities, and libraries are available within the Engineering Quadrangle and PRISM, and other departments and centers on campus. Each week during the academic session, seminars are presented by both internal and external speakers on new developments in chemical engineering research.

Research areas currently include aerosol physics and chemistry; applied mathematics; atmospheric chemistry; biochemical engineering; biomaterials engineering; biomimetic processing; ceramic materials; chemical reactor design, dynamics, and stability; colloid, interfacial, and particulate science; complex fluids; computational biology, chemistry, and materials; electrohydrodynamics; environmental applications of catalysis; fluid mechanics; gas phase and homogeneous kinetics; granular and multiphase flow; heterogeneous catalysis; kinetic theory; materials properties and processing; microfluidics; modeling of biological processes; optimization; polymer morphology, properties, and rheology; process control and synthesis; protein and enzyme engineering; statistical and quantum mechanics; surface science; supercooled liquids and glasses; systems modeling; thermodynamics; and transport phenomena.

Courses

CHE 501 Fluid Mechanics

Sankaran Sundaresan

Elements of fluid mechanics relevant to simple and complex fluids are studied, beginning with macroscopic balances; derivation of differential balance equations and applications to unidirectional flows; treatment of nearly unidirectional flows through the lubrication approximation; low-Reynolds-number flows; inviscid flows and boundary-layer theory; introduction to turbulent flow, flow through porous media, capillary flows, dispersed two-phase flows, and hydrodynamic stability.

CHE 502 Mathematical Methods of Engineering Analysis II (see MAE 502)

CHE 503 Advanced Thermodynamics

Athanassios Z. Panagiotopoulos

A systematic treatment of chemical thermodynamics from an advanced point of view. Explores the equilibrium properties of chemical systems under a wide range of conditions and applications to problems of a chemical engineering nature, with an emphasis on multicomponent mixtures and reactive systems.

CHE 504 Chemical Reactor Engineering

Stanislav Y. Shvartsman

The elements of chemical-rate processes; reactor properties in continuous flow; staged, steady-state, and transient operations; optimal distribution of properties; and stability. The effect of physical transport rates, when coupled with chemical rates on reactor design and characteristics, is examined.

CHE 505 Advanced Heat and Mass Transfer

Dudley A. Saville

A comprehensive study of heat and mass transfer processes: review of mathematical methods; scaling and approximation methods; transport by pure diffusion; heat and mass transfer in forced convection; buoyancy-driven flows; turbulent transfer; multicomponent processes; macroscopic balances and transfer coefficients; radiation, condensation, and evaporation; and Taylor dispersion.

CHE 506 Chemical Process Control

Staff

A study of the principles involved in the control of chemical processes and dynamic analysis and modeling of lumped, distributed, and delay processes; stability; design strategies for scalar and multidimensional systems; and optimal control.

CHE 508 Numerical Methods for Engineers

Morton D. Kostin

The analysis and application of modern numerical procedures is studied. The course focuses on the combined use of numerical and analytical methods, with the purpose of understanding and solving a wider range of mathematical equations. Topics include numerical solutions of linear and nonlinear systems, stability analysis, initial-value problems, boundary-value problems, partial differential equations, integral equations, and stochastic methods.

CHE 521 Advanced Chemical Reactor Engineering

Yannis G. Kevrekidis

Dynamic behavior of chemical reactors; steady-state multiplicity and oscillations; phase-plane characteristics; and bifurcation theory, singularity theory, and their computational aspects are studied. Software packages for automatic bifurcation analysis in multiparameter space are examined. Coupled and periodically forced reactor dynamics are explored as are nonlinear dynamics of reactors under control.

CHE 522 Colloidal Dispersions I

Dudley A. Saville

An overview of the behavior of small particles dispersed in liquids. Assessment is made of the hydrodynamic, Brownian, electrostatic, and dispersion forces acting among particles. Electrokinetic phenomena generated by an applied electric field; stabilization and flocculation of aqueous dispersions; and collection of particles in deep-bed filters are studied.

CHE 524 Introduction to Statistical Mechanics (also CHM 503)

Pablo G. Debenedetti, Salvatore Torquato

Understanding equilibrium and nonequilibrium properties of matter in terms of the microscopic details of molecular interactions and structure. Topics include Gibbs ensembles, microscopic basis of the laws of classical thermodynamics, noninteracting systems, virial expansion, distribution function theory, Monte Carlo and molecular dynamics simulation techniques, critical phenomena, percolation theory, renormalization group methods, and Boltzmann equation and applications.

CHE 527 Nonlinear and Mixed-Integer Optimization: Fundamentals and Applications

Christodoulos A. Floudas

Topics in convex analysis; unconstrained and constrained nonlinear optimization; duality theory; mixed-integer linear optimization; mixed-integer nonlinear optimization; modeling issues in process synthesis; and process synthesis applications in energy recovery, separations, reactors, and flowsheets.

CHE 528 Advanced Process Flowsheeting and Process Control

Christodoulos A. Floudas

Sequential modular, simultaneous modular, and equation-oriented approaches; sparse systems of linear equations; algorithms of nonlinear equations; decomposition approach in systems of nonlinear equations; control of lumped parameter systems; linear and nonlinear multivariable control; controllability; generic rank; connectability; structural controllability; observability; and plant-wide control strategies.

CHE 529 Hydrodynamic Stability

Dudley A. Saville

Instability phenomena at fluid interfaces; and effects of surface tension, adsorbed layers, effects due to heat and mass transfer, flows in porous mediums, Rayleigh-Taylor and Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities, and electrohydrodynamic effects. Convective instabilities in stratified fluids and rotating systems; shear flow instability and stability of thin films; and nonlinear phenomena are examined.

CHE 530 Systems Engineering

Yannis G. Kevrekidis

An introduction to steady-state and dynamic simulation, process synthesis, and process operations. Topics include mathematical modeling techniques; advanced linear algebra; nonlinear systems of equations; dynamic simulation; optimization theory; and case studies.

CHE 531 Synthesis and Processing of Ceramic Matrix Composites (also MSE 530)

Ilhan A. Aksay

A comprehensive study of the processes used in synthesis and processing of ceramic composites. Three generic processing methodologies are contrasted: (1) powder consolidation and heat treatment (sintering), (2) conversion of molecular precursors (liquid or vapor) to ceramics, and (3) ceramic formation on organic templates. The objective is to provide a fundamental understanding of the processes for controlling properties through nanostructural design.

CHE 532 Interfacial Science and Engineering

T. Kyle Vanderlick

Study of the structure and properties of interfaces and associated interfacial materials, such as membranes. Thermodynamics and mechanics as applied to interfacial systems. Interfacial phenomena such as wetting, adhesion, and membrane fusion are studied. Experimental methods in interface science are studied as well.

CHE 533 Molecular Recognition and Biomolecular Engineering

Jeffrey D. Carbeck

Course focuses on biomolecular engineering and biomaterial design. The role of biomolecular recognition in the structure and function of biological systems, from macromolecular complexes to cells, is described. The ways in which these systems are altered to achieve technological goals, using tools from biology, chemistry, and materials science, are discussed.

CHE 535 Computational Biology of Cell-Signaling Networks

Stanislav Y. Shvartsman

Computational tools for analyzing dynamics, control, and signal processing capabilities of cell-signaling and gene-expression networks. Analysis of reaction and diffusion processes in receptor-mediated cellular processes. Foundations of the quantitative assays of cell-signaling systems. Pattern formation in development. Models of the eukaryotic cell cycle. Deterministic and stochastic models of gene-regulatory networks; Monte Carlo simulations. Model robustness and parameter estimation. Mathematical background at the level of an undergraduate ODE course is desirable.

CHE 536 Glasses and Supercooled Liquids

Pablo G. Debenedetti

Glasses are disordered materials that lack the periodicity of crystals, but behave mechanically like solids. The most common way of making a glass is by cooling a viscous liquid fast enough to avoid crystallization. Although this route to the vitreous state—supercooling—has been known for millennia, the molecular processes by which liquids acquire amorphous rigidity upon cooling are not fully understood. The course addresses both the theory and the applications of supercooled liquids and glasses.

CHE 541 Polymer Synthesis (also MSE 534)

Richard A. Register

Fundamentals and practice of polymer synthesis, at both the laboratory and the industrial scales. Mechanism, kinetics, and range of application of important polymerization methods: condensation, free-radical, anionic, cationic, coordination; polymerization thermodynamics; chemical reactions on polymers; selected industrial processes (e.g., polyesterification, emulsion polymerization, high- and low-pressure routes to polyethylene).

CHE 542 Polymeric Liquids and Networks

Staff

An examination of equilibrium and dynamic properties from dilute solutions to the melt state. Explores scaling concepts; Flory-Huggins theory; polymer blends; network structure and elasticity; diffusion and viscoelasticity; influence of chain architecture and temperature; and molecular theory.

CHE 543 Solution Properties of Polymers

Robert K. Prud’homme

Equilibrium and dynamic properties of polymers in dilute solution. The emphasis is on experimental measurements used to characterize polymer size, molecular weight, and interactions and the theories of equilibrium chain statistics and dynamics. Concepts covered include random-walk chain statistics, excluded volume interactions, polyelectrolyte effects, diffusion, sedimentation, viscosity, osmotic pressure, and light scattering.

CHE 544 Solid-State Properties of Polymers (also MSE 544)

Richard A. Register

Amorphous polymers, including the glass transition, modulus-temperature behavior, linear viscoelastic and dielectric measurements, and yielding and fracture in glassy polymers; semicrystalline polymers, including crystal structure by X-ray diffraction; and other multiphase and multicomponent polymers, including block and segmented copolymers, blends, and ionomers. Rheo-optical techniques, including optical birefringence and infrared dichroism; small-angle scattering techniques, including light, X-ray, and neutron.

CHE 547 Mechanics of Granular Materials and Gas-Particle Flows

Sankaran Sundaresan

Regimes of granular rheology. Plasticity theory for quasistatic flow. Kinetic theory for rapid flow. Examples of granular statics and quasistatic flow. Stability of rapid flow. Locally averaged equations of motion for gas-particle flows. Examples of the role of interstitial gas. Stability of fluidized suspensions. Hierarchical structures in gas-particle flows.

CHE 552 Topics in Chemical Engineering

Staff

Advanced topics relevant to chemical engineering research drawn from current literature as well as classical work are studied.

CHE 553 Topics in Interfacial Chemistry

Jay B. Benziger

Chemical reactions at fluid-solid interfaces are studied. Thermodynamics of surfaces; electronic structure; adsorption bonding; adsorption isotherms; heterogeneous catalysis; electrochemical reactions; interactions of electrons with surfaces; interaction of light with surfaces; energy transfer at surfaces; thin-film deposition; and tribology are studied as well.

CHE 554 Topics in Computational Nonlinear Dynamics (also APC 544)

Yannis G. Kevrekidis

The numerical solution of partial differential equations (finite-element and spectral methods); computational linear algebra; direct and interactive solutions and continuation methods; and stability of the steady states and eigen problems are studied. Time-dependent solutions for large systems of ODEs; computation and stability analysis of limit cycles; and Lyapunov exponents of chaotic solutions are explored. Vectorization and FORTRAN code optimization for supercomputers as well as elements of symbolic computation are studied as well.

CHE 555 Topics in Polymer Materials: Molecular Structure and Properties

Staff

An introduction to the relationship between molecular structure and properties of bulk matter. Atomic bonding, elements of statistical mechanics, polymer physics, and biophysical chemistry are studied.

CHE 556 Quantum Theory and Applications

Morton D. Kostin

Presentation of the basic principles of quantum theory and statistical mechanics, with an emphasis on their applications to high-technology engineering and science. One of the main purposes of the course is to discuss what can and cannot be done with quantum theory.