University of Kentucky Helps Students Prepare for Real World Engineering

A critical problem in educating students in the key aspects of process control is that many undergraduate engineering programs lack advanced, industry-relevant equipment as well as the expertise needed to run and maintain it. This has led to difficulty in the chemical process and allied industries in acclimating new graduates to the rigors of manufacturing and plant environments.

UK and Experitec worked together to merge technology and education through a comprehensive automation program using the existing demonstration-scale biodiesel pilot plant on the UK Paducah campus. The installation of an industrialized operating process was the missing link needed to provide a learning environment to augment the core of the engineering curriculum while fostering interaction between students and industry. Despite some specific challenges and pitfalls in establishing this joint effort, the result has been the creation of a learning environment that benefits students and local industry.

One of the specific challenges in implementing this project was the lack of technical expertise in installing and configuring the distributed control system (DCS) hardware and software on a university campus. To help mitigate this challenge, the partnership created opportunities for UK students to participate in co-op semesters. The first co-op student, Maxwell Croft, recently finished an engineering co-op as a plant performance services engineer at Experitec.

The process to be automated was the existing pilot plant used to convert used cooking oil from the campus cafeteria into biodiesel. This project extended the ability of the UK Paducah Campus to provide interactive, advanced process controls experience as part of the overall course curriculum for undergraduates in both the chemical and mechanical engineering departments. The installation of industrial-grade instrumentation and controls as well as a DCS and data historian system formed the foundation of this modernized program. To date, the equipment has been integrated into two courses in chemical engineering core curriculum and plans call for the development of a multidisciplinary elective in advanced process control.

Global Service Learning and Engineering

Another on-campus experience for students is the Global Service Learning and Engineering program headed by Professor Jeffrey Seay. In this program, students have the opportunity to travel around the world to implement their biodiesel process.

In developing countries, state-of-the-art instrumentation and sophisticated process controls are simply not available or not practical. However, producing biodiesel does require control to ensure a quality product. Taking the lessons from the lab and the class rooms, students have taken on service learning projects related to biodiesel.

The project in Cameroon focused on developing a grass-roots, non-automated process for producing biodiesel. This process was built using only an oil drum, used car parts and a wood fire for heat. The project in India focused on the upgrade and repair of an existing biodiesel pilot plant. The process featured several single loop controllers, but nothing as sophisticated as a PLC or DCS.

Although both processes differed greatly from the system on campus, the lessons learned translated well to the projects in less developed regions of the world. In the end, the students learned a valuable lesson, not just about process control, but also about the role that engineers play in the world.

Jeffrey Seay is associate professor of chemical engineering at the University of Kentucky, Paducah, Kentucky. Contact him at jeffrey.seay@uky.edu. The authors would like to gratefully acknowledge the contributions of Emerson and Experitec, specifically Chris Helbling and Bruce Wallace for making this partnership possible.