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​​2024 Academic Advisory Committee Meeting and Senior Design Project Presentations

Thursday, May 16, 2024


The Paper Science & Chemical Engineering Academic Advisory Committee (AAC) Meeting is an annual event held each spring.

Each year, representatives from the paper and allied industries gather with the Paper Science & Chemical Engineering faculty and staff to listen and assess the Senior Design Project Presentations and provide students with constructive feedback on their projects.  After the presentations the committee meeting will consist of breakout groups to discuss topics important to the depratment, a department update will be provided separately to those that register, in an email. We encourage participants to provide constructive feedback on all discussion topics.    

Registration

If you would like to be a part of the Academic Advisory Board meeting and/or be a part of the Senior Design Projects, please contact the Paper Science & Chemical Engineering Department and we will be sure to email you with further details on how to join this event. We are planning an in person event this year with an option of virtual as needed.

Questions? Please contact Angie at 715-346-4817 or engineering@uwsp.edu

Schedule for May 16, 2024

In Person at the University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point, Stevens Point, WI

​8:30 am Registration, continental breakfast

8:45 am Welcome and instructions

9:00 am Senior Design Project Poster Presentations: Chemical Engineering

10:00 am Senior Design Project Presentations: Paper Science Engineering (break out rooms)

11:00 am Academic Advisory Committee meeting with breakout discussions on PS&ChE important topics.

12:00 pm Adjourn for Lunch


 
Chemical Engineering: Senior Design Project, Spring 2023

2024 to be updated in early spring.

Project Problem Statement: ​The plant at which you are employed manufactures ethylbenzene and styrene. Your company recently acquired this plant in a takeover, and a team of engineers (including you) has been assigned to solve problems observed over the last few years. The unit to which you are assigned, Unit 400, converts the ethylbenzene into styrene, producing 100,000 metric tons per year of 99.8 wt % styrene. Your first task is to create a CHEMCAD model of the existing process. Then address the following problems.​

  1. ​A problem in the steam plant will require quite some time to fix, and the main source of high-pressure steam is unavailable. There is an excess capacity of medium-pressure steam that could be used to replace the high-pressure steam. Identify what changes in operating conditions must be made to run the plant at the maximum production rate of 99.8% styrene. No new equipment can be purchased for this issue.
  2. Same as #1, except using an excess capacity of low-pressure steam to replace the high-pressure steam. No new equipment can be purchased for this issue.
  3. There is a problem with one of the burners in H-401, the fired heater. The heater is limited to 70% of the design duty (25 MW) until a replacement burner is available. Your task is to identify what changes in plant operating conditions must be made to run the plant at the maximum production rate of 99.8% styrene. No new equipment can be purchased for this issue.
  4. ​​Any significant improvements in the economic performance of Unit 400 will help the bottom line. Identify two long-term projects that will improve the process economics. You may assume for this part of the assignment that the issues in the steam plant (problems 1-3) have been successfully addressed​. New equipment can be purchased for this scenario. The two projects must be justified (or rejected) based on capital and operating costs.​

​S​tudent Design Teams: 

  1. Daniel Ebensperger, Autumn Lakari, Marcie Nelson, Grant Parr​

  2. George Chukwuemeka, Megan Joyce, Connor Metzler, Alex Thompson

  3. Nathan Koch, Tim Lamoureux, Jesse Pliska, Adam Schmidt

  4. Sam Brodhagen, Luke Jarock, Ryan Kaufman, Jarod Schultz​


Paper Science and Engineering: Senior Design Projects, Fall 2023

​​Project  1. The Headbox approach flow system- focus on issues with basis weight variability, sheet formation improvement, and any other quality issues you identify.  

Team:  Connor Metzler*, Nathan Roth, John Schaefer, Kirstin Wroblewski, and Kayla Zimmerman

Project 2. The Headbox design - focus on issues with basis weight variability, sheet formation improvement, and any other quality issues you identify. 

Team:  Nolan Ganser, Edie Keung, Sara Traxel, and Isaac Woelffer​

​*Graduated in December 2023


 
 

 



 
 








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