Chemical Product Engineering and Design: Active Learning Through The Use of Case Studies

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Chemical Product Engineering and Design: Active

Learning through the Use of Case Studies


Fernando P. Bernardo1, Raquel Costa2, Pedro M. Saraiva1, Geoff D. Moggridge2
1
GEPSI-PSE Group, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Coimbra
Rua Slvio Lima, 3030-790 Coimbra, Portugal. e-mail: [email protected]
2
Structured Materials Group, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom

Abstract This paper presents a recently developed web product engineering and chemical product design have been
resource of sample problems to teach chemical product emerging within chemical engineering science and practice
design, which is still a not very well established discipline [2-5].
within chemical engineering. The website is organised One of the major challenges in the teaching of chemical
according to a general template for product development product design is to find and develop plausible and
and incorporates some recently proposed concepts to illustrative examples, in part because industrial innovation
systematise the discipline of chemical product practices are largely undisclosed. The Engineering Subject
engineering. A case study of a cosmetic lotion is Centre (UK) has recently sponsored a project aiming at
presented in more detail, illustrating the benefits of producing a website with examples for chemical product
inductive learning as well as specific topics, namely design teaching, which will be presented in this paper. A
integrated product/process design and the relationship particular example of a cosmetic product will be explored in
between product composition and structure and product more detail.
performance.
CHEMICAL PRODUCT DESIGN WEBSITE
Index Terms Chemical product design, Chemical product
engineering, Emulsions, Learning through case studies. The core of the website is organised in six sections (Table
I), each of them corresponding to a different stage of
INTRODUCTION product development [1]. Each section presents an overview
of approaches and tools relevant for the corresponding
New product development, which involves the integration of design stage and one or more case studies illustrating the
strategic and management actions with technical efforts, is a kind of problems addressed in that particular stage. The case
crucial activity to the success of any corporation. studies were developed to motivate students to deal with
Whilst in some industrial and engineering sectors, such marketing and management topics, which are typically not
as the mechanical and electronic, the technical side of incorporated in their curricula, as well as show them how
product development has always been heavily emphasised chemical engineering core concepts (for example
[1], in the chemical process industries the systematic and thermodynamics and transfer phenomena) can be applied to
efficient design of new products is a relatively recent design a new chemical product. In addition, they illustrate a
concern. Traditionally, the design of chemical products, wide variety of chemical products including formulated
such as a hair conditioner, has been led as an empirical art consumer products (paints, beverages, perfumes and
relying on companies internal background, trade secrets cosmetics), functional materials (fiber-reinforced polymers)
and trial-and-error formulation procedures. However, this and physico-chemical-based devices (cooling system for
approach has become incompatible with the current dynamic drinks).
and demanding markets, and the concepts of chemical

TABLE I
CORE SECTIONS OF THE WEBSITE AND CORRESPONDENT CASE STUDIES.
Section Case study
Identify customer needs Developing a new concept of paint
Set target performance specifications Comfort in beverages: a portable cooling system for drinks
Generate product ideas A long lasting fizzy drink
Select product ideas 1. Developing a UV barrier film
2. Computer-aided design of a fibre-reinforced polymer
composite for application in a storage tank
Set final product specifications Engineering a perfume
Process design Integrated product and process design
for a hydrating body lotion

Coimbra, Portugal September 3 7, 2007


International Conference on Engineering Education ICEE 2007
In the introductory section of the website, a conceptual COSMETIC LOTION CASE STUDY
model for the chemical product engineering discipline [2] is
briefly discussed. Chemical product engineering is The case study here described in more detail exemplifies the
understood as the broad area of knowledge that supports the design of the manufacturing process for a formulated
operational task of of chemical product design, including product and also how product and process design decisions
product-related scientific topics that should be reinforced in may interact. Property, process and usage functions are
the chemical engineering curricula, such as molecular developed and used to derive an integrated product/process
modelling, colloid chemistry, rheology and dispersed optimal solution.
systems. One of the basic pillars of chemical product The main function of the body lotion under study is to
engineering is the development of property, process and maintain the skin moisturised by supplying water to skin and
usage functions, relating technical specifications (product reducing the water loss from it. Other important quality
composition, structure, processing and usage conditions) to factors are stability, flow properties and several sensorial
product functionalities, also designated as quality factors. attributes [6]. The product development process has reached
These relationships may be represented by the chemical a stage at which the formulation shown in Table II has been
product pyramid of Figure 1. specified for the new lotion. It is an oil-in-water emulsion,
The site also includes a section with references for with the oil-phase containing occlusive agents and the
further information and reading, gathered by subject and that aqueous phase a humectant (glycerol) and a thickener
can also be quickly accessed by clicking the respective (xanthan gum, a polysaccharide). The emulsion formation
numbers throughout the website. Finally, there is a section and stability are promoted by two emulsifiers whose
of experience sharing, where new sample problems can be molecules adsorb at the surface of oil droplets. A small
proposed and teaching and professional experiences amount of preservatives and fragrances is also included in
exchanged. the formulation. The product design variables not yet
For further details and a more vivid experience of specified are the mass percentages of xanthan gum (wT) and
chemical product design concepts, tools and examples, glycerol (wG) in the aqueous phase and the oil-phase volume
please visit the website, available since April 2007, on percentage (). These variables have to be set under the
http://www.engsc.ac.uk/an/mini_projects/cpd/index.html. limits shown in Table II.
The so far specified formulation guarantees most of the
product functionalities, and at this stage only two quality
factors are addressed: the so-called skin feeling, which
refers to the sensations experienced during lotion application
on skin, and the smoothness. Sensory panel tests reveal that
skin feeling is correlated with product viscosity and it is
known that smoothness is related to the size of oil droplets.
Viscosity depends on the product design variables not yet
specified and droplet size is in part controlled by the mixing
conditions in the lotion manufacturing process. These
dependences have to be quantified and the product/process
design problem then addressed in an integrated way. This is
accomplished in four steps as follows.

Step 1. Develop quality models for the product


Sensory panel tests [7], discriminated in sensations at the
beginning and end of lotion application on skin, indicate a
significant correlation between these two quality factors and
the lotion viscosity at the correspondent shear rates of
application, 1 and 2 respectively (performance indices).
FIGURE 1
CHEMICAL PRODUCT PYRAMID.

TABLE II
BODY LOTION FORMULATION.
Part A (10 to 15% (v/v) of the total) % (w/w) Part B % (w/w)
Stearic acid (occlusive) 25.5 Deionized water (solvent) q.s.
Cetyl alcohol (occlusive) 10.3 Glycerol (humectant) 5-12
Petrolatum USP (occlusive) 10.3 Xanthan gum (thickener) 0.5-1.5
Mineral oil, 70 mPa.s (occlusive) 20.5 100
Isopropyl palmitate (occlusive) 20.5 Part C (~0.25%(w/w) of the total)
Glyceryl monostearate (emulsifier) 10.3 Preservatives
PEG-40 stearate (emulsifier) 2.6 Fragrances
100

Coimbra, Portugal September 3 7, 2007


International Conference on Engineering Education ICEE 2007
From such results, Taguchi loss functions of the form Newtonian region for low shear rates and the strong shear
L = k( *)2 are derived for the initial and final skin thinning-region, calculated as the inflexion point of the
feeling, where L is the product lost value (in %) associated curve (). At the end of lotion application, the lotion is
with a deviation of the viscosity from its ideal value *, spread rapidly over a large skin area with a correspondent
and k is a loss coefficient. The ideal values are 1* = 374.7 large shear rate, whose typical value is 2 = 5000 s-1 [7].
Pa.s and 2* = 0.0242 Pa.s. Equations (1) and (2) relate the performance indices 1
Regarding smoothness and its relation with droplet size, and 2 to the composition of the lotion (in particular, wT, wG
the data are scarce and uncertain and hence a simpler and ), and therefore, in the language of the chemical
approach is taken, with the product being considered product pyramid (Figure 1), they are property functions. But
satisfactory once Dmax 10 m, where Dmax is the maximum these equations also incorporate the dependence of the
droplet diameter. performance indices on the shear rates at the beginning and
end of the lotion application (1 and 2), which are
Step 2. Develop property and usage functions parameters that describe the way the customer uses the
Experimental data are available for the viscosity of aqueous product. Thus, in a way, usage functions are integrated in
solutions of xanthan gum [8] (Figure 2), showing that three these property functions.
different regions may be distinguished: for lower values of
shear rate (), the behaviour is approximately Newtonian; Step 3. Develop a process function
intermediate values of shear rate correspond to a strong A batch process is considered (Figure 3) comprehending the
shear-thinning region; for high values of shear rate, the following operations [10]:
behaviour can be considered Newtonian again. These data 1. In tank T-1: (i) charge part A; (ii) dissolve solids, heat
are fitted to a Carreau model, in which the glycerol and mix;
contribution is incorporated assuming that it only influences 2. In tank T-2: (i) charge part B; (ii) heat and mix; (iii) add
the limiting viscosity for high shear rates. One thus obtains a part A; (iv) cool and mix (pre-emulsion formation); (v) add
model for the viscosity of the lotion continuous phase: part C and mix;
c = c(wT,wG,). The theoretical model of Yaron and Gal-Or 3. Homogenization in colloid mill CM-1 (continuous
[9] is then used to predict emulsion viscosity from single- operation);
phase individual viscosities: = (c,d,), where d stands 4. Filling and packaging.
for the oil-phase (Newtonian) viscosity equals to 0.0654 A model for the process is developed, including mass
Pa.s. The complete model for the viscosity of the body and energy balances, droplet breakage relationships
lotion has then the form: = (wT,wG,,). The dependence predicting the oil droplets size [11, 12], kinetic models
of the lotion viscosity on the shear rate is similar to that predicting the heating, cooling and mixing times and also
of aqueous solutions of xanthan gum, shown in Figure 2. some considerations about process scheduling. The overall
process model has the following structure: inputs product
Viscosity of aqueous solutions of design variables (wT, wG, ), annual production (AP),
xantham gum (Pa.s) production per batch (PB), equipment dimensions, operating
1000 temperatures and mixing rates; outputs operating times,
consumed energies, number of batches per year (NB),
100 1.0% (w/w) of
annual operating time (AOT), effective batch time (EBT)
xantham gum
10 and maximum droplet diameter (Dmax). A relationship
between the maximum droplet diameter, which is a
1 0.5% (w/w) of structural attribute of the product, and process design and
xantham gum operation variables is incorporated in the model. This
0.1
relationship is, in the language of the chemical product
0.01 pyramid, a process function.
0.001
0.001 0.01 0.1 1 10 100 1000 10000 100000
-1 part A (oil) Pre-mixing and heating
Shear rate (s )
25 C (tank T-1) 70 C
part C
FIGURE 2
VISCOSITY OF AQUEOUS SOLUTIONS OF XANTHAM GUM (EXPERIMENTAL part B (water) Pre-mixing and heating Mixing and cooling Mixing
DATA AND FITTED MODEL). 25 C (tank T-2) (tank T-2) (tank T-2)
70 C
25 C
The model above can be used to predict the two
performance indices 1 and 2 once the correspondent shear Final Filling and Homogenization
product packaging (colloid mill CM-1)
rates of lotion application are known:
1 = 1 ( wT , wG , , 1 ) (1) FIGURE 3
LOTION MANUFACTURING PROCESS.
2 = 2 ( wT , wG , , 2 ) (2)
The initial viscosity is that perceived at the beginning of Step 4. Integrate product and process design
lotion application on skin, when the lotion starts to flow The integrated product/process design problem is
readily. This corresponds to the transition point between the formulated as follows: given the annual production required,

Coimbra, Portugal September 3 7, 2007


International Conference on Engineering Education ICEE 2007
find the product composition (wT, wG, ), production per establish efficient teaching strategies and practices. The
batch (PB), equipment dimensions and mixing rates that operational facet of the discipline is chemical product design
minimise an overall annual cost, equal to the sum of that should be in part taught and learnt based on case
investment, production and quality loss costs. Quality costs studies, due to its practical nature as well as the wide variety
are considered proportional to the total loss (L1 + L2) of products that chemical engineers have to deal with. In this
provoked by deviations in the performance indices 1 and regard, the web resource of examples here presented is a
2, and estimated as 30% of the production costs when valuable contribution. Furthermore, the website is designed
(L1 + L2) = 25%. according to a generic product design template [1] and also
The restrictions in the optimisation formulation include incorporates some concepts that have been recently
the property, usage and process functions discussed above proposed specifically for chemical products [2]. Therefore,
and the condition related to the acceptance of the lotion in it is also a valuable contribution to a more methodical
terms of smoothness (Dmax 10 m). teaching of the discipline.
The optimisation problem is implemented and solved Regarding the particular case study that has been
using GAMS/CONOPT3. For an annual production presented in more detail, through it general concepts of
AP = 2000 ton/yr, the results of Table III are obtained. The chemical product design (such as property, usage and
non-null quality cost (2.0 thousand Euro/yr) means that the process functions) become clearer, and the relevance of
product performance indices (1 and 2) are somehow specific questions, namely the importance of microstructure
sacrificed in order to obtain an optimal product/process in formulated consumer products and the interaction
performance that takes into account both product quality and between product and process design decisions, is
process costs. highlighted. Furthermore, several scientific topics (rheology,
The benefits associated with this integrated solution emulsification) and engineering tools (mechanistic and
may be assessed by comparing it with a decoupled solution. statistical modelling, optimisation tools) are managed,
When the product design problem is solved separately, one integrating knowledge from chemical engineering core
obtains a product composition (wT = 0.8515, wG = 12.0 and courses. In this manner, it has also been illustrated how
= 16.67) that perfectly matches the target specifications learning chemical product design through case studies may
be efficient to consolidate previously addressed scientific
1* and 2* and thus the quality cost is null. Then,
and technical topics.
designing the process to manufacture this product, one
obtains a total cost (investment plus production) of 335.4
thousand Euro/yr, which is 2.4 thousand Euro/yr greater ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
than the total cost for the integrated solution. This difference
The authors would like to thank The Engineering Subject
(which increases when the limit of 10 m in Dmax is
lowered) clearly illustrates that a decoupled sequential Centre (UK) for funding the Chemical Product Design
approach to product and process design may lead to website, as well as financial support from the Portuguese
Foundation for Science and Technology (PhD fellowship
suboptimal solutions, reinforcing the importance of adopting
SFRH/BD/18731/2004 and research project POCI/EQU/
an integrated perspective.
59305/2004).
TABLE III
OPTIMAL PRODUCT/PROCESS DESIGN SOLUTION. REFERENCES
Product design variables
wT = 0.8454 % (w/w) wG = 12.00 % (w/w) [1] K. T. Ulrich and S. D. Eppinger, Product Design and Development.
= 18.13 % (v/v) New York: McGraw Hill, 2003.
Product performance indices [2] R. Costa, G. D. Moggridge, and P. M. Saraiva, "Chemical Product
Engineering: An Emerging Paradigm Within Chemical Engineering,"
1 = 375.0 Pa.s 2 = 0.0256 Pa.s
AIChE J., vol. 52, pp. 1976-1986, 2006.
Dmax = 10 m
[3] E. L. Cussler and G. D. Moggridge, Chemical Product Design.
Process design and operation variables Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001.
PB = 3429 kg/batch EBT = 280 min/batch [4] K. M. Ng, R. Gani, and K. Dam-Johansen, "Chemical Product Design:
NB = 583 batch/year AOT = 2724 h/year Toward a Perspective throught Case Studies," in Computer-Aided
Tank T-2 (*) Colloid mill CM-1 (*) Chemical Engineering. vol. 23 Amsterdam: Elsevier, 2007.
D = 1.63 m D = 0.121 m [5] J. Wei, Product Engineering: Molecular Structure and Properties.
P = 12.5 kW P = 1.91 kW Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007.
N = 117 rpm N = 3600 rpm [6] D. F. Williams and W. H. Schmitt, "Chemistry and Technology of the
Costs (thousand Euro/yr) Cosmetics and Toiletries Industry," 2nd ed London: Blackie Academic
Investment 86.8 & Professional, 1996.
Production 244.2 [7] R. Brummer and S. Godersky, "Rheological studies to objectify
Quality 2.0 sensations occuring when cosmetic emulsions are applied to the skin,"
Total 333.0 Colloid. Surface. A, vol. 152, pp. 89-94, 1999.
(*)
D, P and N represent diameter, mixing power and mixing rate. [8] R. Pal, "Oscillatory, Creep and Steady Flow Behavior of Xanthan-
Thickened OIl-in-Water Emulsions," AIChE J., vol. 41, pp. 783-794,
1995.
CONCLUSIONS [9] R. Pal, "Evaluation of theoretical viscosity models for concentrated
emulsions at low capillary numbers," Chem. Eng. J., vol. 81, pp. 15-21,
Chemical product engineering as a systematic discipline is 2001.
still evolving and there is not yet a consensus about an [10] C. Wibowo and K. M. Ng, "Product-Oriented Process Synthesis and
Development: Creams and Pastes," AIChE J., vol. 47, pp. 2746-2767,
appropriate framework that would be essential namely to 2001.

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International Conference on Engineering Education ICEE 2007
[11] K. Shimizu, K. Minekawa, T. Hirose, and Y. Kawase, "Drop breakage
in stirred tanks with Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluid systems,"
Chem. Eng. J., vol. 72, pp. 117-124, 1999.
[12] J. A. Wieringa, F. van Dieren, J. J. M. Janssen, and W. G. M. Agterof,
"Droplet Breakup Mechanisms during Emulsification in Colloid Mills
at High Dispersed Phase Volume Fraction," Trans. IChemE A, vol. 74,
pp. 554-562, 1996.

Coimbra, Portugal September 3 7, 2007


International Conference on Engineering Education ICEE 2007

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