As promised in the previous post, I will do a brief module review on as many Technical Electives as I can. I do not know the full details, what is covered and the mode of grading for some of them but I will give a review based on feedback from friends who took the module. I will do Module Reviews for TEs on Sem 1 at a later time.
CN4201R: Petroleum Refining
This module is a good exposure for those who want to go into the oil & gas industry because the lecturers are all external lecturers (From SRC I believe) and they will share really valuable information on the petroleum process itself. I believe that the examinations are closed book and you will need to conceptualize the things learnt. My friends who took this module say that it is very interesting and you will learn much more advanced forms of separation processes, the post-processing and probably the mass/energy balances performed for the necessary calculations. A rather popular module too. Strongly recommended if you like this industry and do speak with the lecturers to gain deeper insight into the industry itself
CN4205R: Pinch Analysis and Process Integration
This is by far one of the most difficult TEs as even my dean-lister friend faced much difficulty in mastering the concepts. However, the payoff for him was good because he gained very important process knowledge which is useful for not only your design project but also for industrial purposes. This module has 3 tests, 1 project and no finals. The first part of pinch analysis is taught by Prof Rangaiah while the second part is taught by Dr. Sachin. You will learn Pinch Analysis, Process Integration and data reconciliation as well. Not recommended for the weak unless you are willing to take the challenge.
CN4211R: Petrochemicals and Processing Technologies
This module's lecturer is now changed to A/Prof Hong Liang. Therefore, I do not have any information and will have to see in this semester what is being taught and whether it is consistent with the previous information I have.
Previously this module focuses on refining, steam cracking, steam reforming, polymerization, heterogeneous and homogeneous catalysis.
CN4227R: Advanced Process Control
This module is taught my A/Prof Chiu Min-sen who was also your lecturer for CN3121. He will go much deeper into process control by teaching you the various advance techniques of modelling the controllers such as using the Nyquist diagram as well as some exposure to how modern industry programs such feedback controllers. Probably good for people who intend to take a process control related FYP, especially if you are under him.
CN4246R: Chemical and Bio-Catalysis
This module is taught my A/Prof Kawi and is based on both heterogeneous and homogeneous catalysts. You will learn the structure, cycle, material, kinetics, reaction mechanisms of the various catalysts (In particular zeolites). My friend didn't recommend this module because it is rather concept heavy and I guess because he was doing a biology-related FYP, he didn't find it useful. However, this module is probably useful depending if you are doing a catalyst-based FYP (Usually the professors who offer such FYPs are Zhao Dan, Yan Ning and Kawi) or if your Design Project require some catalysts for the reactor section. Thus, I recommend this module only if it is relevant to your FYP/Design Project. I think the mode of grading is probably a project, a midterm and finals, need to double check and will update when I get the information
CN4248: Sustainable Process Development
This module it taught by 3 professors, Prof Lee Jim Yang, Prof Neoh KG, Prof Farooq. They will mainly cover Green Chemistry, Sustainable Engineering Concepts, Product Life Cycle. Green Chemistry is mainly a very popular branch, especially in Japan and Europe, where they emphasize on the renewablility of the materials and waste minimization, youtube has some examples so you can go watch and read up more on this field, I really find it very interesting. Sustainability concepts are based on risk assessment, environmental impacts and assessments and finally Life Cycle is similar to what you learnt in CN3135 but in greater detail and probably with some calculations. The module has 3 tests (15% each), 45% project and 10% class participation. This module was said to be very heavy, close to project engineering. For those who are unaware, Prof Lee and Prof Farooq have very good "smoking" detectors and so don't try to play around because you will end up getting "self-fragged",
so you need to be cautious in your project.
CN5173: Downstream Processing of Biochemical and Pharmaceutical Products
This module is supposedly a part 2 of CN5172 Biochemical Engineering. CN5172 deals with the upstream process while CN5173 deals with the downstream (as suggested by the title). It will be taught by the same lecturer A/Prof Loh Kai Chee. In terms of content, there is not much new concepts to be learnt because most of it is derivations from the question and you need a strong foundation of your previous fundamentals such as Heat/Mass Transfer, Reactor Kinetics, Separation and most importantly Mass & Energy Balances. Thus, if you take this module, your fundamentals of chemical engineering principles must be strong otherwise you may face some struggles while doing the tutorials and examination questions. A/Prof Loh is known for setting extremely difficult finals of which most people tend to be only able to do about 2 out of 4 questions, thus be prepared for a tough finals. Otherwise, he is a very passionate and engaging lecturer and most people enjoy taking his module even though the finals can be quite a killer. I would not recommend this unless you are sure you are capable of handling your fundamentals, do take a look at the exam papers for CN5173 in the NUSlibrary too for a feel of what type of exam questions he set. Trust me, this module is not "muggable", you must know your stuff or you won't even be able to start the question at all.
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