Chemical Engineering & Chemistry

Closed-cup tester used to determine the flash point of low-flash petroleum liquids such as kerosene and aviation turbine fuel by heating the sample at a controlled rate and applying a test flame at intervals. Used in fuel testing laboratories to establish safe handling and storage temperatures.

Coking bulb and heated block assembly that determines the carbon residue left after evaporation and pyrolysis of a petroleum oil sample. The result indicates the coke-forming tendency of fuel oils and lubricating oils in service.

Standard distillation assembly with flask, condenser bath, heater and graduated receiver for determining the distillation characteristics of petroleum products. Students record vapour temperature against percentage recovered to plot the boiling range curve.

Benchtop instrument with a dip-type cell that measures the electrical conductivity of aqueous solutions with digital readout. Used for conductometric titrations, electrolyte strength studies and routine water quality checks.

Radiation heat transfer setup in which a heated hemispherical enclosure irradiates a small instrumented test disc, allowing the Stefan-Boltzmann constant to be evaluated from the measured temperature rise. Demonstrates the fourth-power law of thermal radiation.

Lamp-type apparatus that determines the maximum flame height at which kerosene or aviation turbine fuel burns without producing smoke. The smoke point indicates the aromatic content and burning quality of illuminating and jet fuels.

Open cup assembly with controlled heating and a test flame for determining the flash point and fire point of lubricating oils and other high-flash petroleum products. Widely specified for oil quality assessment and safety classification.

Borosilicate glass assembly comprising a distillation flask, packed fractionating column, condenser and receiver, supplied for batch charges of 5 to 10 litres. Used to separate miscible liquid mixtures and to study the effect of reflux and column height on separation.

Multi-stage tray column fitted with sieve plates and served by a reboiler, condenser and reflux arrangement for binary distillation experiments. Used to determine plate efficiency, the effect of reflux ratio and the number of theoretical stages.

Instrumentation setup that demonstrates the bubbler or purge technique, in which liquid level in a vessel is inferred from the back pressure of air bubbled through a dip tube. Teaches calibration, hydrostatic level sensing and the handling of corrosive or slurry service liquids.

Multi-position paddle flocculator with variable speed drive and illuminated base for running parallel coagulation trials on water or wastewater samples. Used to establish the optimum coagulant dose, rapid mix speed and flocculation time before plant-scale dosing.

Nephelometric instrument that measures the turbidity of water samples in NTU by detecting light scattered by suspended particles. Used for treated water monitoring, filtration performance checks and environmental engineering practicals.

Refrigerated bath with jacketed test jars and thermometers for determining the cloud point and pour point of petroleum oils and diesel fuels. Establishes the low-temperature handling and pumpability limits of a product.

Motorised vibratory screening unit with stacked mesh decks that separates a granular feed into size fractions. Used in mechanical operations laboratories to study screen effectiveness, capacity and the effect of amplitude and feed rate.

Closed-loop flow control rig comprising a pump, control valve, flow transmitter and PC-based controller with data acquisition software. Used for controller tuning, step and load response studies and logging of process dynamics.

Setup for studying proportional, integral and derivative control actions individually and in combination on a laboratory process. Students observe offset, overshoot, settling time and stability as controller settings are varied.

Open pan evaporation unit with heating arrangement and instrumentation for concentrating dilute solutions. Used to measure evaporation rate and to carry out material and energy balances on an evaporating system.

Single-stage evaporator with steam-heated calandria, vapour separator and condenser for concentrating a feed solution. Used to determine evaporator capacity, steam economy and the overall heat transfer coefficient.

Packed column operated with continuous feed, reboiler, total condenser and reflux control for continuous binary separation. Used to determine HETP, the effect of reflux ratio and mass transfer performance of the packing.

Recirculating equilibrium still that generates equilibrium vapour and liquid samples for a binary mixture at a fixed pressure. Used to construct x-y and T-x-y diagrams and to assess deviation from Raoult's law.

Bench-scale packed cooling tower with fan, heated water circulation and wet and dry bulb instrumentation. Used to determine cooling range, approach, tower efficiency and the effect of air and water flow rates.

Insulated drying chamber with heaters, circulating fan and weighed sample trays for batch drying of solids in a controlled air stream. Used to plot drying rate curves and to identify constant rate and falling rate periods and critical moisture content.

Diffusion tube assembly in which a volatile solid sublimes into a controlled air stream at constant temperature. The rate of loss is used to calculate the diffusion coefficient of the vapour in air.

Air-water contacting column with blower, water spray or packing and heating and cooling sections, fitted with wet and dry bulb thermometers. Used to study humidification and dehumidification of air and to apply psychrometric chart calculations.

Counter-current packed extraction column in which a solute is transferred between two immiscible liquid phases. Used to determine distribution coefficients, stage efficiency and HTU/NTU for the packing.

Jacketed, agitated tank reactor operated at constant temperature with continuous feed and overflow. Used to determine the rate constant of a liquid-phase reaction and to study conversion as a function of space time at steady state.

Coiled tube reactor fed from constant head tanks and immersed in a thermostatic bath to maintain isothermal operation. Used to study conversion against residence time in plug flow and to compare performance with a stirred tank reactor.

Stirred, temperature-controlled batch vessel with sampling arrangement for following the progress of a liquid-phase reaction with time. Used to determine reaction order, rate constant and activation energy from concentration-time data.

Isothermal CSTR in which the reactant streams are delivered from pressurised feed vessels using compressed air instead of pumps, giving steady pulseless flow. Used for steady-state kinetic studies and conversion versus space time measurements.

Straight tubular reactor with reactant streams metered by peristaltic pumps and temperature maintained by a surrounding bath. Used to study conversion along the reactor length and to verify plug flow reactor design equations.

Double pipe heat exchanger with a valve arrangement that allows the same unit to be run in co-current or counter-current mode. Used to compare LMTD, effectiveness and the overall heat transfer coefficient for the two flow arrangements.

Steam generator coupled to a distillation flask, condenser and receiver for distilling heat-sensitive materials below their normal boiling points. Commonly used for recovery of essential oils and separation of volatile compounds immiscible with water.

Mercury compression gauge supplied with stand and mercury for absolute measurement of low pressures in vacuum systems. Serves as a primary reference for calibrating other vacuum gauges in instrumentation laboratories.

Borosilicate glass digestion and distillation assembly for nitrogen determination by the Kjeldahl method. The distilled ammonia is trapped and titrated to calculate total nitrogen and crude protein content of a sample.

Volumetric flue gas analyser with absorption pipettes and a graduated burette for measuring carbon dioxide, oxygen and carbon monoxide in a gas sample. Used to assess combustion efficiency and excess air in boilers and furnaces.

Glass desiccator with perforated plate for storing hygroscopic samples over a desiccant in a moisture-free atmosphere. Routinely used to cool crucibles and dried samples before gravimetric weighing.

Flow bench carrying a venturimeter, orifice meter and rotameter in a common circuit with manometers, a pump and a measuring tank. Used to calibrate each meter and to determine the coefficient of discharge over a range of flow rates.

Overhead direct drive stirrer with variable speed control and chuck for a range of impellers, mounted on a stand. Used for mixing, dispersing and suspending laboratory-scale liquid batches.

Centrifugal pump mounted with sump tank, suction and delivery gauges, measuring tank and energy meter. Used to plot head-discharge, power and efficiency characteristics and to verify the affinity laws at different speeds.

Set of sectioned display models of commonly used industrial valves, exposing the internal body, seat and closure member. Used to teach valve construction, flow path and selection for piping and process service.

Pressure steam steriliser for media, glassware and instruments, with pressure gauge and safety valve. Used in microbiology and biochemical engineering laboratories for routine sterilisation before culture work.

Bench-scale stirred bioreactor with agitation, aeration and control of temperature, pH and dissolved oxygen. Used for batch and fed-batch microbial culture studies, growth kinetics and scale-up training.

Circulating bath with refrigeration and heating that maintains a set temperature above and below ambient. Used to thermostat reactor jackets, viscometers and sample vessels during experiments.

Mixer in which the agitator rotates on its own axis while orbiting the bowl, giving complete coverage of the vessel. Used for blending, kneading and homogenising viscous pastes, doughs and powders at laboratory scale.

Portable digital instrument for routine water quality checks, covering parameters such as pH, conductivity, total dissolved solids and temperature. Used for field sampling and classroom demonstrations in environmental and public health engineering.

Instrument that measures the velocity of ultrasonic waves in a liquid by locating standing wave maxima in a cell with a quartz crystal and micrometer-driven reflector. Used to compute adiabatic compressibility, acoustic impedance and molecular interaction parameters of solutions.

Transparent column with distributor plate, air or water supply and manometer for observing packed and fluidised bed behaviour. Used to plot pressure drop against superficial velocity and to determine minimum fluidisation velocity and bed expansion.

Setup in which a benzoic acid surface dissolves into flowing water, with the dissolved acid determined by titration. Used to measure liquid-solid mass transfer coefficients and to correlate them with flow rate.

A series of stirred tank reactors operated in cascade with reactant feed metered by peristaltic pumps. Used in reaction engineering laboratories to study conversion and residence time distribution across CSTRs in series and to compare cascade performance with single-tank and plug flow behaviour.

A tubular reactor filled with solid packing, fed by peristaltic pumps for accurate low-flow metering. Enables study of conversion, residence time and flow behaviour in packed bed reaction systems.

A heated test surface in still air, instrumented with thermocouples, for determining the natural convection heat transfer coefficient. Students compare experimental results with standard free convection correlations.

A blower-fed duct with a heated test section for measuring the forced convection heat transfer coefficient at varying air velocities. Used to verify forced convection correlations relating Nusselt, Reynolds and Prandtl numbers.

Slabs of different materials assembled around a central heater with thermocouples at each interface. Demonstrates steady-state conduction through layers in series and allows determination of individual conductivities and overall thermal resistance.

An agitated vessel for batch cooling crystallization studies. Demonstrates supersaturation, nucleation and crystal growth, and allows determination of crystal yield from a batch run.

An insulated metal rod heated at one end, with thermocouples along its length to record the steady-state axial temperature profile. Students apply Fourier's law to determine the thermal conductivity of the metal.

A laboratory crusher with fixed and moving jaws for primary size reduction of ores and hard materials. Used in mechanical operations laboratories to study crushing behaviour, reduction ratio and energy requirements.

An agitated, aerated cell in which mineral particles are separated by selective attachment to air bubbles using collector and frother reagents. Teaches flotation principles, reagent dosing and grade-recovery relationships in mineral beneficiation.

Alternating plates and frames fitted with filter cloth for batch pressure filtration of slurries. Used to determine cake and filter-medium resistance and to verify constant-pressure filtration theory.

Graduated settling columns for batch sedimentation tests on suspensions. Produces settling curves used to determine settling velocity and zone behaviour, forming the basis of thickener and clarifier design exercises.

A heat exchanger with an externally finned tube for the study of extended-surface heat transfer. Students determine fin efficiency and effectiveness and compare finned against bare-tube performance.

A heated element submerged in a liquid pool to demonstrate the regimes of pool boiling, from natural convection through nucleate boiling towards critical heat flux. Used to construct the boiling curve and study heat flux versus excess temperature.

A transparent convergent-divergent test section with piezometer tappings along its length. Verifies Bernoulli's equation by comparing pressure and velocity heads at successive sections under measured flow.

A bench trainer for studying and comparing common pressure-measuring instruments and their response and calibration. Introduces students to industrial pressure measurement practice in instrumentation courses.

A model of a sedimentation (settling) tank as used in water and wastewater treatment. Demonstrates clarifier operation and design concepts such as detention time and surface overflow rate.

A rotating drum charged with grinding balls for fine size reduction of solids. Used to study grinding laws, critical speed and the effect of operating variables on product size distribution.

A refrigerator for storing reagents, standards and samples at controlled low temperature in the laboratory.

A primary-standard pressure calibrator in which known masses on a piston of accurately known area generate reference pressures. Used for calibrating pressure gauges and transmitters in instrumentation laboratories.

A thermostatically controlled hot-air oven for drying glassware and samples and for moisture determination at set temperatures.

A high-temperature furnace with a refractory-lined chamber for ashing, ignition and heat treatment of samples. Commonly used for ash content and loss-on-ignition determinations in fuel and materials analysis.

A digital balance for routine weighing of chemicals, samples and labware in the laboratory.

A probe-type ultrasonic processor that delivers high-intensity ultrasound directly into liquid samples. Used for cell disruption, emulsification, dispersion of particles and degassing in preparation work.

A trainer in which a capacitance probe in a tank infers liquid level from the change in capacitance between electrodes. Teaches the principle, calibration and characteristics of capacitive level sensing in process instrumentation.

A thermostatically controlled bath providing uniform heating of samples and vessels at set temperatures for incubation and general laboratory heating.

An impulse turbine test set with a 1 kW Pelton wheel, supply pump and instrumentation for flow, head, speed and brake load. Used to establish turbine performance characteristics and efficiency curves in fluid machinery laboratories.

A split-beam UV-visible spectrophotometer for quantitative absorbance and transmittance measurements; the split-beam optics monitor a reference portion of the beam to compensate for source drift. Used for concentration analysis and spectral scans in analytical laboratories.

A cabinet dryer in which heated air is circulated over material spread on trays. Used to obtain drying rate curves and to study constant-rate and falling-rate drying periods.

A pilot-scale unit configurable for different membrane separation processes. Used to study permeate flux, solute rejection and the influence of operating pressure and feed conditions on membrane performance.

A temperature-controlled chamber with an orbital shaking platform for culturing microorganisms and cells in flasks under controlled agitation and temperature.

A low-temperature incubator, typically operated at 20 degrees C, for the standard biochemical oxygen demand test on water and wastewater samples. Also serves for general low-temperature incubation of cultures.

A meter with probe for measuring dissolved oxygen concentration in water and wastewater samples. Essential for BOD determination, aeration studies and water quality monitoring.

A water still that distils water twice in series to produce high-purity double-distilled water for analytical and preparative laboratory use.

A glass assembly of still pot, condenser and receiver for simple differential batch distillation. Used to study the separation of binary mixtures and verify the Rayleigh equation.

A packed column with gas and liquid feed systems for counter-current gas-liquid contact. Used to study gas absorption, determine mass transfer coefficients and examine pressure drop and flooding behaviour.

An inclined rotating drum through which wet solids cascade against a hot air stream. Used to study continuous convective drying, solids residence time and drying rate.

A shell and tube exchanger operating with water on both sides, instrumented for inlet and outlet temperatures and flow rates. Used to determine the overall heat transfer coefficient, LMTD and effectiveness at varying flow conditions.

A positive displacement pump test set with instrumentation for discharge, pressure and power input. Used to determine slip, volumetric efficiency and the performance characteristics of a reciprocating pump.

An impact mill in which swinging hammers shatter feed material against a screen for intermediate size reduction of brittle solids. Used to study impact grinding, product size distribution and grinding energy laws.

A gas-solid separator that removes particulates from an air stream by centrifugal action in a cyclone body. Used to study collection efficiency and pressure drop as functions of flow rate and particle size.

A separator that removes ferromagnetic particles from mixed solids using a magnetic field. Used in mineral processing laboratories to demonstrate magnetic concentration of ores.

A mechanical shaker holding a nest of standard test sieves for particle size analysis of granular materials. Used to determine particle size distribution and evaluate size reduction and screening operations.

An electrically heated plate with temperature control for general heating of beakers, flasks and digestion vessels in the laboratory.

An apparatus for determining the flash point of petroleum products by heating a sample at a controlled rate and applying a test flame at intervals. Used in fuel testing laboratories to characterize flammability and safe handling temperatures.

A trainer for establishing the flow characteristics of a control valve by measuring flow against valve opening under controlled conditions. Teaches inherent versus installed characteristics and the role of valves as final control elements.

A laboratory belt conveyor for demonstrating continuous mechanical handling of bulk solids. Used to study conveying capacity, belt speed and power requirement.

A pipe circuit with pressure tappings across various fittings for measuring minor head losses under measured flow. Students determine loss coefficients and compare them with standard values.

Determines the aniline point of petroleum products, the minimum temperature at which equal volumes of aniline and the sample are completely miscible. Used to assess aromatic content and to calculate the diesel index of fuels.