Bachelor of Engineering in Chemical and Materials

This course introduces students to the foundation and fundamental principles required to become analytical, detail-oriented, and productive engineers. The students will also gain an overview of what engineers do and of the various areas of specialization. Important topics for the engineering profession such as research in engineering, communications, and safety are also introduced.
Additionally, students will work together in interdisciplinary groups to research, design, fabricate, test, and deploy a complete engineering project.

Through lectures, laboratory practicum and project work, the students will become familiar with the following topics:

• Overview of the Engineering Discipline
• Engineering Communications
• Research Skills
• Occupational Health & Safety
• Drafting and 3D Modelling
• Fundamental Dimensions and Units
• Manufacturing (3D Printing and/or others)
• Material & Chemical Properties
• Hydraulics and Fluids management
• Programming •
• AC/DC circuits

Programming for Engineers is a comprehensive introductory course designed specifically for students with little or no prior programming experience. The course aims to equip students with fundamental programming skills and a solid understanding of the role computation can play in problem-solving. By the end of the course, students will develop the confidence and ability to write small programs to accomplish practical goals, regardless of their field of study.

This course will introduce students to the field of Materials Science and Engineering. Some of the fundamental physical and chemical features of materials will be addressed, including bonding between metal atoms, covalent bonding between non-metallic atoms, ionic bonding, and soft bonding (van der Waals interaction and hydrogen bonding). Many construction materials, as encountered in our daily lives, will be examined from the atomic level all the way up to their (often surprising) macroscopic features. For instance, attention will be devoted to electrical properties of materials (conductivity, isolators), as well as to magnetic and optical properties. Furthermore, the effect of processing methods on the ultimate properties of materials will be discussed. The course will address metals (including shape-memory metals), ceramic materials and various types of polymers (e.g. poly olefins, poly esters, polyurethanes, natural polymers such as cellulose, silk and wood, and synthetic hydrogels). Some pertinent applications, e.g., (i), in the field of electronic engineering (semiconductors); (ii), in micro- and nano-mechanical systems) and (iii), in biomedical engineering (biomaterials) will be highlighted.

1. Differential equations of first- and second-order
2. Series solution of differential equations
3. Laplace transforms and its application to the solution of initial value problems
4. Some of the important special functions.
5. Linear algebra applications
6. Incorporation of the software package Mathematica for both calculus & linear algebra applications.

This course provides an introduction to basic probability theory and statistics. Topics include sample spaces, events, classical and axiomatic definition of probability, conditional probability, independence, expectation and conditional expectation, variance, distributions of discrete and continuous random variables, joint distributions, central limit theorem, descriptive statistics, confidence interval estimation, and hypothesis testing.

The course is an introductory to the fundamental formulation, methodology and techniques for numerical solution of practical engineering problems. The subject is initiated with fundamental principles and the implications for algorithm accuracy and stability. Error propagation and stability analysis is introduced from first principles. The solution of systems of linear equations, (comprising 90% of numerical effort in science and engineering). The error and stability issues associated with solving linear systems will be covered extensively. The concept of interpolation and its role as foundation for numerical differentiation and integration is introduced, emphasizing classical (Lagrange, Newton) polynomial interpolation. Numerical differentiation and integration is covered in depth, with particular emphasis on the error and convergence analysis. The final part of the course introduces the fundamentals of finite-difference solutions to ordinary differential equations (ODEs), again with emphasis on error and convergence analysis.

The capstone project is the culminating experience of the student's engineering program and provides students with the opportunity to apply and integrate their knowledge and skills gained from earlier years. This course spans two semesters (one academic year), during which students work in teams to apply their knowledge and skills to solve design and operational problems with real world constraints. At the completion of the unit, students will hand over their project deliverables and present project outcomes in a report as well as end-of-semester oral presentation and defense.

This course is designed to introduce the Chemical Engineering students the basic chemical engineering concepts and methods of system analysis. The topics in this course will include introduction to engineering calculations, process and process variables, fundamentals of material balances, single- and multi-phase systems, and energy balances related to reactive and non-reactive systems. Some case studies of chemical process industries will also be analyzed in more details. More specifically, first, students will learn basic concepts associated with chemical processes and unit conversion. This is to simplify the calculations upon bringing the parameters in a comparable level. Next, analysis of processes as systems will be covered. In this stage students will learn how to define systems at different levels, and how to apply balances within a system. These balances will be in the form of material and energy balances. Both could involve time independent and time dependent processes, and these will be studied in sufficient details. These analyses will be accompanied by problem solution sessions. Finally, theoretical base will be applied into real systems of chemical industries.

The course covers phase equilibrium problems and modeling, the concepts of chemical potential and fugacity, flash calculations, interpretation of experimental data and selection of appropriate models to describe thermodynamics of mixtures with multiple phases and chemical reaction equilibrium.

Engineering is becoming increasingly international and competitive and customers are expecting products of high quality and reliability. Knowledge of Fluid Mechanics is critical for any engineer involved in the design of mechanical components. After completion of this module students will gain an understanding and expertise in the use of dimensional analysis, integral form of linear and angular momentum equations, calculation of complex fluid flow systems, flows around immersed bodies and free-surface flows.

This module deals primarily with the basic principles to understand the structure and reactivity of organic molecules, including physical shape, stereochemistry and reactivity of common organic molecules, and covers the basic principles of polymer chemistry and processing. The module primarily deals with the basic principles of organic molecules structure, classification, nomenclature and reactivity. Emphasis is on substitution and elimination reactions and chemistry of various functional groups, and basic concepts of organic synthesis, classification of polymers and general considerations; polymerization and its mechanisms; description of properties; polymer and composites technology and applications, degradation and stabilization of polymers. Laboratory works designed in accordance with the above content and aims will be conducted.

Introduction to the fundamental concepts of inorganic and analytical chemistry such as atomic structure, classification of compounds and chemical bonding to be followed by a rigorous approach to chemical thermodynamics and kinetics, and basics of quantitative and qualitative analytical chemistry. It is expected that students have a working knowledge of differential and integral calculus or equivalent.

This course provides students with a fundamental principles and equations governing heat and mass transfer to establish a framework for design, control and optimization of unit operations referred to chemical engineering practice. The major focus of this course is three basic mechanisms of heat transfer (conduction, convection, and radiation) and mass transfer processes controlled by diffusion or convection. Furthermore, simultaneous heat and mass transfer cases will be included into a consideration. The course will also serve developing of engineering models especially when integrating multi-discipline subjects.

This course covers analytical and numerical methods for modeling physical and chemical processes with a focus on chemical and materials engineering applications. The major topics in this course will include solution of ordinary differential equations, boundary value problems, partial differential equations, parameter estimation and optimization.

This course will provide a broad base introduction to analytical instrumentation techniques for the measurement of different chemical and physical properties of compounds and materials (such as composition, structure). Fundamentals and applications of various modern analytical techniques will be discussed, as well as principles of operation. The lectures focus on chemical and physical principles that are used during analytical measurements. Approaches to improve accuracy, precision and sensitivity will be discussed as well. The course will highlight specific applications in Chemical Engineering. The course has a laboratory (“hands-on”) component, during which the students will perform analyses by themselves, utilizing gas chromatography (GC) and liquid chromatography (LC), and possible nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and mass spectrometry (MS) as well.

Separation Processes a core subject in chemical engineering education. It provides fundamental knowledge in operation and designing of several processes used for separation of gases, liquids and solids from mixtures. Separation Processes course cover the fundamentals of mass transfer operations, i.e. equilibrium-stage and rate (diffusional) processes that involve liquid, gaseous and solid phases as well as the principles of mechanical processes. Topics include continuous distillation, adsorption/ion exchange, solid-liquid extraction, liquid-liquid extraction and selected mechanical separation processes as filtration and clarification/sedimentation. Computer labs and laboratory experiments compliment the lectures part of the course.

Chemical Reaction Engineering is a core subject in the chemical engineering education. It provides fundamental knowledge in operation and designing of chemical reactors. The technical knowledge obtained in this course can be applied to most chemical industries. Specifically, this course covers the topics of rate laws and stoichiometry, mass & energy balances, conversion and reactor sizing, isothermal reactor design, multiple reactor sequences, design for multiple reactions, autocatalytic reactions, catalytic and non-catalytic heterogeneous reaction systems. Emphasis is given on algorithm development and problem solving.

The course is to provide laboratory experience in several important chemical/materials engineering unit operations involving momentum and heat transfer. The course includes the design of experiment, its experimental execution, analysis of obtained data, report writing as well as development of teamwork skills. The topics covered include: Chemical Engineering Thermodynamics; Fluid Mechanics; Heat Transfer.

As the School of Engineering at Nazarbayev University continues to educate the students at higher education levels, it is critical to encourage undergraduate students to enter graduate programs upon completion of their undergraduate studies. To achieve this goal, it is critical to provide sufficient infrastructure and opportunities to facilitate undergraduate research. The Research Practice course is one of the tools to achieve such goals. This course in the Chemical and Materials Engineering Department consists of three phases: choosing a topic from a list of topics proposed by the faculty of the department, conducting research in the selected topic, and presenting the results orally and in writing.

This course focuses on the development of process flowsheet, their implementation into commercial software and their use for process evaluation. The course starts with a brief review of applied chemical engineering thermodynamics focusing on process simulation thermodynamics. The students will be trained on selecting a proper thermodynamic model for a given process or a mixture of compounds. The principles for process design including synthesis of separation and reaction systems will be discussed. A novel approach in modeling separation units namely “Rate-Based Model” is introduced to the students. Then, several unit operation models (mixers and splitters, pressure change units, heat exchangers, phase separation, distillation columns, chemical reactors) are presented, with focus on their use for solving rating and design problems. The sequential-modular approaches to simulation of the entire flowsheet are discussed.

The course is to provide laboratory experience in several important chemical engineering core subjects. The course includes the design of experiment, its experimental execution, analysis of obtained data, report writing as well as development of skills in oral presentation and teamwork. The topics covered include: Separation processes; Chemical reaction engineering; Control Engineering.

This course presents our contemporary knowledge of inorganic, organic and nano-based materials, with emphasis on structure/property relationships. The aim is to provide sufficient breadth and depth coverage of the rapidly evolving field of materials science, particularly materials chemistry. Materials chemistry will be categorized as: Solid state chemistry (e.g. crystalline and amorphous solids, crystalline unit cells, crystallography), Metals (e.g., metallic structures, various treatments for corrosion resistance, magnetism, complex behavior of Fe-C materials (steel), and shape-memory alloys), Semiconductors (e.g., silicon wafers, light-emitting diodes, modern transistors, photovoltaics and fabrication of integrated circuits), Polymeric materials (e.g., mechanisms of polymerization, applications of soft materials, polymer additives such as flame retardants, and new developments such as self-repairing polymers), and Nanomaterials (e.g., one- and two-dimensional nanostructures (graphene)). Applications will be taken from the latest scientific literature.

To ensure safe and normal chemical process operations, dynamic responses of process systems and the related risks need to be well studied and understood. The very basic objective of this course is to train future chemical engineers to be aware of these issues for safer, cleaner, and automatic processes operations. This course would train the students about the theory and application of control systems and safety in different fields of chemical and oil and gas engineering. The course aims to provide a detailed understanding of basic control theories, safety and risk concepts, hazard identification, risk modeling and simulation, fire and explosion modeling, exposure modeling, basic design of instrumentation and control for process safety, and more recent advancement in the field of risk and reliability engineering.

A discussion on the greenhouse effect without considering the matter of energy would be incomplete; a review of nuclear energy without looking at waste disposal solutions would be insufficient. Above all, addressing environmental issues without examining the interpretation, content, and context of development would be futile. In this course, human activities and their ongoing and dialectic interactions with the environment are presented. Through the use of recent data and case studies, the connection between human development and the associated reactions in the environment are examined along with engineering solutions proposed to achieve a harmonic coexistence of man and nature. Sustainable development, related research findings, and the relevant international environmental policies are recurring topics throughout.

The purpose of the course is to give an understanding of principles of electrochemical processes, and basic knowledge in electrochemically active materials, cell structure and configuration, application of electrochemistry in the fields of fuel cells, batteries, electrolytic processes/metallurgy and corrosion. This course includes lectures on the fundamentals, thermodynamic and kinetic aspects, characterizations, and application of electrochemical systems in chemical production etc. Energy generation, conversion and storage in fuel cells and particularly Li-ion batteries are going to be presented. Additionally, the basics of electrochemical corrosion of metals will be considered. Students will be engaged in the experimental works involving preparation of electrodes and electrolytes, galvanic cell assembly and finding the correlation with the Nernst equation; electrolysis and electrochemical characterization. Students will be trained to design the experimental work, characterization/evaluation of the electrochemical properties and interpret the overall obtained results.

This course is designed to cover the basics and applications of tissue engineering as an emerging therapeutic approach to treat degenerated or damaged tissues/organs. The topics in this course will include tissue engineering strategies such as the design, fabrication and utilization of biomaterials; cellular engineering including cell therapy, drug delivery; as well as cell-biomaterial interactions. Recent advances and major problems relevant to tissue engineering will also be presented and discussed. Firstly, general information will be introduced to the students. Since this is an interdisciplinary course, thorough introduction to Chemical Engineering students may be needed. Then, cell molecular biology and organization, gene expression, cell determination and differentiation topics will be covered. The students will then be ready for in vitro culture parameters, principles of bioreactor design and growth factors. Other important topics in tissue engineering are micro-scale patterning (microfluidics), cell interactions with polymers and 3D scaffold fabrication. These topics will be covered referring to the most recent literature. Cell source in tissue engineering attempts is of utmost importance. Therefore, stem cells, embryonic cells, induced pluripotent cells will be studied in sufficient details. After building sufficient background, engineering of musculoskeletal tissues namely bone, cartilage, intervertebral disc, and tendon/ligament will be taught. Contemporary drugs differ from conventional drugs significantly as they are designed in such a way that the active molecules are released from the carriers in a controlled manner. In this regard, controlled release mechanisms as well as theory will also be discussed in the class. Lastly, tissue engineered products in clinics, and regulatory process and ethical issues will be covered.

The course will establish the principles of flow and heat transfer in gas/liquid systems and the principles of design methods. The course aims the application of the appropriate basic principles, engineering models and equations of multi-phase systems to the analysis of the industrial problems, particularly, in oil & gas technologies.

The course aims to provide an in-depth application of knowledge of heat, mass and momentum transport that is necessary to acquire the skill in assessing, analyzing and developing typical industrial operations, processes and technologies. The course focuses on modeling of selected operations and technologies, such as Heating, Ventilation and Air-Conditioning (HVAC) systems, dehumidifiers, heat exchangers, catalyst beds, chemical reactors etc., on the base of the rate of transport of momentum, energy and mass. The modeling analysis implies using the principles of the selected unit operations combined with analytical or numerical solutions of the appropriate equations of transport phenomena.

This course will introduce to fundamental topics in Biochemical Engineering, which are necessary to work in the Biochemicals and Pharmaceuticals industry or attend postgraduate courses in Industrial Biotechnology. Topics include introduction to Microbiology, kinetics of free and immobilized enzymes, introduction to biocatalysis and biodegradation, microbial growth, batch and continuous bioreactors, introduction to transfer phenomena in bioreactors, scale up, introduction to industrial fermentation processes, fundamental of biofilms and biofilm processes. Case studies from industrial and environmental biotechnology will be presented. Invited lectures will be given by researchers and Biotechnology startuppers. Two laboratory sessions will deal with laboratory-scale fermenter set-up and operation. The course will include tutorials on bioreactor design and modeling.

This course is designed to cover the basics and applications of biomechanics principals (i.e. kinematic, dynamic, static). The topics in this course will include skeletal muscle system, biomechanics of lower and upper extremity bones, spine biomechanics as well as cell biomechanics. More specifically, the students are expected to learn about biomechanics of bone, articular cartilage, tendons and ligaments, peripheral nerves and spinal nerve roots, skeletal muscle, knee, hip, foot and ankle, lumbar spine, cervical spine, shoulder, elbow, wrist and hand, fracture fixation, arthroplasty, and gait. Recent advances and major problems relevant to cell/tissue/organ biomechanics will also be presented and discussed.

This course is designed to introduce students to basic powder technology. The topics to be covered in this course include overview of industrial applications of powder processing, characterization of size distribution, shape, and flowability of powders, unit operations for processing particulate materials such as size enlargement and size reduction, solid-liquid and solid-gas separation, mixing, storage, pneumatic conveying, fluidization, nanoparticle technology, fire and explosion hazards of powders, industrial dust control and health risks.

This course focuses on the development of process flowsheets, their implementation into commercial simulators and their use for process evaluation. The course starts with a review of applied chemical engineering thermodynamics focusing on process simulation thermodynamics. Then, several unit operation models (mixers and splitters, pressure change units, heat exchangers, phase separation, distillation columns, chemical reactors) are presented, with focus on their use for solving industrial rating and design problems. The sequential-modular approaches to simulation of the entire flowsheet are discussed, including specific numerical solution algorithms and flowsheet convergence troubleshooting. The course also covers more specific cases in natural gas and crude oil processing such as natural gas dehydration, atmospheric and vacuum distillation of crude oil.