(375c) It’s Electric! Incorporating Battery Experiments into Senior Unit Operations

Senior unit operation courses often focus on traditional chemical engineering units that are learned from earlier fundamental courses. However, in a dynamic world where chemical engineers are working in a broader range of industries than ever before it is imperative to adapt the senior unit operations lab to reflect the changing landscape for future chemical engineers by incorporating more non-traditional experiments in senior unit operations. One new experiment that is feasible to adopt in most laboratories are battery experiments. The copper-zinc and aluminum-air batteries are two economic and safe batteries that can be adopted into lab and provide an enriching experience to students. During these experiments students can alter variables such as reagent amounts, surface area of metals, electrolyte composition and concentration.