Advanced industrial synthesis and experimental design. The course builds on the knowledge the students have gained in the introductory courses to chemistry and especially his or her synthetic organic chemistry classes. In this course, the student will learn about the major unit operations upon which most chemical manufacturing processes are based. We will also discuss the chemical engineering problems that have to be overcome to conduct chemical syntheses on an industrial scale.

In addition, the course will introduce the student to modern methods of pharmaceuticals manufacture as well as biochemistry in the same context. Detailed process analyses of selected commercial chemical processes will be undertaken, and will include market analyses, comparison of alternative processes, historical aspects, thermodynamics and reaction kinetics of major chemical steps and catalysis where relevant.

The class will be taught in lectures accompanied by interactive tutorials as well as assignment. As a component of this course, experimental design which deals with the design and analysis of experiments with respect to the chemical and process industries will be included. A brief introduction to basic statistics is followed by more detail on the normal probability distribution and its use for hypothesis testing. Linear and multiple linear regression for data analysis is covered. Factorial design and response surface methodology and taught in some detail win the context of engineering problems in the chemical and process industries. Fractional factorial designs and blocking and confounding are also covered in an industrial context.

The tools and skills from this course are applicable for students’ current and future research project as well as optimisation work on existing unit operations and even extend to applications outside of science and engineering. The focus is on efficient design and robust, objective analysis.