PBL 2 REFLECTIONS
Description:
In PBL2, I was asked to work in a team to design a reactor separator system which can produce 30000 tonnes of crude terephthalic acid (CTA) per year. Not only we had to design, our team also had to think of strategies to maximise the selectivity and the yield of CTA formed. Then, we were asked to do an oral presentation on the design and strategy we had proposed. PBL2 required my knowledge on both reaction engineering and separation processes. Throughout the whole PBL2, much conflicts and arguments had happened in reaching the final decision. All people in the team had different opinions on the design and strategies. At the end of the day, we were relieved and felt happy as we finally produced the end product which was the poster containing all our design and strategies.
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Feelings:
I felt really scared and nervous when I read through the questions because I still havent't mastered the topics related to PBL2. Sometimes, I really feel tiring and frustrated when I found any imperfection in the design of the system. Honestly speaking, I sometimes really felt like wanting to give up when I could not figure out the way to calculate and design.
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Evaluation:
In my opinion, the good experience I gained from PBL2 is that I really had the chance to strengthen my knowledge on reaction engineering and separation processes. Apart from that, I had also developed a good relationship and teamwork with my team members. The only bad experience I gained from PBL2 is that the PBL2 will really make a person tiring and had lesser time to mingle around with other friends. But overall, the experiences in PBL2 are mainly good one.
Analysis:
I haven't exposed to the chemical industry before. Therefore, during our research on the design, I really don't know the operating conditions of the equipments and utility are appropriate in the real life industry. During the calculations, I tends to make some mistakes in the mass balance. After trying a multiple times in doing the mass balance, finally the calculations are correct. I really feel happy as this end our argument in the discussion.
Conclusion:
In conclusion, I think PBL2 is really a good approach in a teaching and learning. In fact, I really got to learn a lot of things from this PBL2. In my opinion, I really think that PBL can be done for the next semester students who is taking these subjects. But, I think more time should be given for the students to finish this project. I really thinked that my performance was not up to expectations. I found myself can't justify well during the presentations.
Action Plan:
In the future, I think I have to strengthen my common sense and theory in reaction engineering and separation processes as I think that all these knowledge will be important for my plant design projects and final year project later on. During my coming 4 month break, I will study and research more on these topics through internet and books.