SNC-Lavalin Plant Design Competition

The 8th World Congress of Chemical Engineering offers undergraduate students the opportunity to compete in an international design competition; the SNC-LAVALIN Undergraduate Plant Design Competition. This is open to students enrolled in an accredited chemical engineering program. The representatives from the top three finalist teams will be expected to come and present the design projects at the World Congress.

Deadline

Febuary 15, 2009

Eligibility

Individuals and groups of undergraduate students registered in accredited chemical engineering programs during the academic year.

To minimize the number of projects to be judged, each national chemical engineering society must chose one entry to submit. Multiple entries from a country will disqualify the projects.

Maximum size of team: 5 students

Prizes

Individual Prizes : Each team member of the three finalist team will receive certificates indicating their achievement.

Team Prize : The top three finalist teams will have travel to the conference subsidized. The relative amount of subsidy will be proportional to distance travelled and financial need.

Project Description

Projects can involve the design of any industrial process. An extensive executive summary is required. This executive summary should be no more than 10 pages in length and should include :

  • Introduction
  • Design Methodology
  • Description of Process
  • Simplified flow sheet of the process
  • Optimization Criteria
  • Design Results
  • Cost analysis and risk assessment
  • Conclusions

Possible headings for the main project can include :

  • Title Page
  • Executive Summary
  • Table of Contents
  • Introduction
  • Mandate and Objectives
    • Mandate
    • Objectives
    • Deliverables
  • Process Description
    • General Process Description
    • Chemistry
    • Detailed unit-by-unit description
    • Utilities
    • Flowsheet
  • Design Criteria
    • Plant general
    • Individual Units
  • Material and Energy Balances
    • Sources of physical and thermodynamic data
    • Software of methodology used in balancing process
    • Overall plant balance
    • Detailed plant balance
    • Summary of main supplies, utilities, products and by-products
  • Equipment Design
    • Equipment sizing criteria and methodology
    • Major equipment sizes
    • Software used in sizing
    • Pipe sizing criteria and methodology
    • Pump sizing criteria and methodology
    • Preliminary plant layout
  • Process Control
    • General method of controlling production
    • Major unit controls
  • Hazard and Environmental Considerations
    • Hazards associated with each unit
    • Environmental considerations
  • Economic Considerations
    • Operating costs
    • Capital costs
    • Revenues
  • Conclusions and Recommendations

Language of Submission

Design projects must be written in English, French, or Spanish.

Project Length

Each section is typically less than 10 pages long. If not appropriate for the given design project, it is not required that all sections be completed. Likewise, sections not listed here can be added if appropriate for the project which has been chosen.

Judging

Initial entries will be judged on the executive summary in order to short-list 10 projects. These short-listed entries will be evaluated by a panel of international judges drawn from industry, government, and universities. The authors of the best three entries will be invited to present their projects during a PowerPoint presentation to be held at the 8th World Congress of Chemical Engineering where the judges will make their final decision.

Design Topic

Please provide your project in electronic format (on CD, not e-mail) to the CSChE Awards Manager. Entries for the competition should contain the following :

  • a list of students who performed the work, with their permanent addresses and e-mail addresses
  • a executive summary
  • a copy of the final report submitted to the university at the end of the project
  • the name of the collaborating organization and the engineers who assisted the students and The ratio between process information/data given to the students by Professors and Industrial advisors versus the data and information the students had to find themselves is different for each submission. Therefore to assist in fairly judging the competition, each submitting Professor/Department must provide a summary statement of the starting information provided to the students as well as information regarding the subject plant such as :
    1. Is it an improvement/expansion of an existing plant ?
    2. Is it a new plant and similar or identical plant exists ?
    3. Is it a new plant and similar or identical plants do not exist ?

Confidentiality

Entries should be accompanied by a letter from the head of the department of chemical engineering, indicating that the information is not confidential and that a summary may be published.

Submit nominations to :

Awards Manager
Canadian Society for Chemical Engineering
130 Slater Street, Suite 550
Ottawa, ON K1P 6E2
Tel.: (613) 232-6252 ext. 223
gthirlwall@cheminst.ca