SAMIO, Christine P.

Seminar No. 4
Chemical Engineering Design Symposium
Speaker No. 1-Engr. Lina dela Cruz

The Fieldtrips and Seminars class organize the first chemical engineering symposium in
TIP. The event aims to equip the students who are currently taking up design subjects
as well as the ones who will take up design subjects soon with the knowledge
necessary to survive the courses.
The first speaker of the symposium was Engr. Lina Dela Cruz. The participants are very
familiar with her as she is a member of the Chemical Engineering Faculty of TIP. Most of
the participants have probably already been under a course she teaches. She usually
holds classes on environmental engineering, polymer engineering, research and safety
in the process industry. She is also the professor for the Plant design class. Profile
She discussed the theories that underlie the constraints we go through in every design
project. She explained the theory of constraints that it is a methodlogy aiming to identify
what limits the group from achieving a goal the most among all constraints. This main
constraint is commonly called the bottleneck as it hinders the progress of production. In
this theory, the members focus on eliminating the bottleneck or the biggest constraint to
improve profitability. These are done in a scientific approach.
Like other scientific works, it follows the scientific method. For a goal of making a profit,
the thepry of constraints can help by providing tools to help achieve that goal. First, The
constraint must be identified. Then one must exploit the constraint. Subordination must
be done. And then elevate the performance ofthe constraint. Then the process os
repeated until the constraint is minimized or even eliminated. She called these the five
focusing steps.

The thinking process is the problem solving methodology suggested by the theory of
constraints. It is helps in complex processes with many interdependencies. Constraints
are categorized into 4. First are physical constraints, where all tangible items fall. Next
are the policy constraints, where the constraint is on how things are done. Paradigm
constraints are caused by deeply engrained beliefs or habits. Market constraints occur
when production capacity exceeds sales.
She gave examples of common constraints at different categories. Some manufacturing
constraints she enumerated are production of components, purchase of components,
assembly and transport, design schedule, development schedule and production
schedule, delivery schedule, energy needed and materials to be used. She also
explained some economic constraints like, marketing analysis, development costs,
manufacturing cost, distribution cost and resources. She explained some environmental
constraints as well like the general environmental impact of the production, material
selection, waste generated and gas emissions. Some legal constraints are regulations
like that of OSHA and FDA, Ethics and Intellectual property. Safety constraints she
pointed out are operational constraints, human constraints and environmentak
constraints. And Quality constraints like regulations, standard codes, inspection testing
and product failures.
Though Engr. Lina left early, she left with assurance that each of us has learned from
her presentation

SAMIO, Christine P.
Seminar No. 4
Chemical Engineering Design Symposium
Speaker No. 2-Engr. Levi Miranda
The Fieldtrips and Seminars class organize the first chemical engineering symposium in
TIP. The event aims to equip the students who are currently taking up design subjects
as well as the ones who will take up design subjects soon with the knowledge
necessary to survive the courses.
The second speaker of the event has quite an Impressive background. He is Engr. Levi
Miranda. He obtained his Bachelors Degree in Chemical Engineering at Adamson
University and topped the licensure exam. His Masters Degree in Chemical
Engineering at the University of the Philippines with a scholarship from the Engineering
Research and Development for Technology division of the Department of Science and
Technology. He is currently pursuing his Doctoral Degree in Chemical Engineering at
the University of the Philippines.
He started the presentation by introducing himself. He quickly grabbed my interest when
he said that he was a kick-out from PLM as I also am. Its hard to turn away my
attention after that especially because of his first slide where he flashed a greeting
saying that the reason for his presence was merely for Free food. Then I knew that hes
probably a cool person.
His presentation is about special reactors. He gave an overview on Process
intensification. reactors is his main subject for his presentation. Other than reactors, he
gave other examples of Process Intensification Equipment like for the hardwares the
static mixer, centrifugal absorber and the rotating packed bed. For the softwares there
are the Hybrid separators, centrifugal field, supercritical fluids and manymore.
He divided Chemical Engineering into three areas; one is process optimization, another
is process systems engineering and the third one being process intensification.

He went on to discuss dissipative structures. He gave examples to explain further the

concept. It is known that at any given set of non-equikibrium conditions, multiple states
are possibly present. This is allowed by randomness in the system. this multiple state
will attin an order with spatiotemporal organization. The example he gave is the
formation of a typhoon.
He carried on to discuss 3 types of special reactors. The HDC reactor or the
Hydrodynamic Cavitation Reactor is a type of reactor that uses collapsing bubbles to
accelerate chemical processes. These are usually used in the desulfurization of diesel,
aeration during wastewater treatment and biodiesel production. Another type of Special
reactor is the HHO. The HHO uses special electrochemical techniques to boost the
efficiency of fuel engines. It is also knoen as brown;s fas and oxyhydrogen.
Though his presentation was very informative, the topic he discussed is way to
advanced and not very applicable to the designs of the participants.

SAMIO, Christine P.

Seminar No. 4
Chemical Engineering Design Symposium
Speaker No. 3-Engr. Robert E. Delfin
The Fieldtrips and Seminars class organize the first chemical engineering symposium in
TIP. The event aims to equip the students who are currently taking up design subjects
as well as the ones who will take up design subjects soon with the knowledge
necessary to survive the courses.
The second speaker for the event is the Chemical Engineering Departments very own
Engr. Robert Delfin. Engr. Robert is a graduate of Bachelor of Science in Chemical
Engineering at the Technological Institute of the Philippines. He is one of the most
admirable professors of the school for his genuine passion for teaching, excellence in
the courses he teaches, and his unfaltering guidance for his students.
Engr. Roberts presentation focused on the energy balance aspect of plant and
equipment design. He explained the law of conservation of energy. He explained the
calculations of each of the forms of energy. Like the calculation of potential energy,
energy due to position, that is dependent on the height above some arbitrary datum and
the gravitational acceleration constant. Kinetic Energy is the energy due to motion and it
is based on the materials velocity. Internal energy, however, is associated with
molecular motion. Work is the form of energy that arises when a force acts through a
distance or when there is a change in pressure or volume.
He also explained how energy is transferred, that is, through heat or work. The electrical
and mechanical forms of energy are already a part of the work. He also explained the
calculation of specific enthalpy. He showed some sample problems for the listeners to
understand more the concept of energy.
What Engineer Robert has explained is not really new to us who already took up
thermodynamics 1 though through his explanation we are refreshed of the concepts. His
lecture was even more helpful to those who are yet to take up design subjects but are
present on the event.

I took up my thermodynamics I course under Engr. Robert himself. It became one of

those subjects that lingered on the back of my mind with its concepts I can still apply on
present subjects despite its difficulty. His excellence in teaching the subject cannot be
denied and is quite known to many. It will be very difficult to find a speaker for the same
topic of better quality. And that is just what he proved as he delivered his lecture that
day.
And to show our appreciation for his passion towards us students, we gave him a small
celebration as the event coincidentally was on the morrow. Engr. Robert is not really the
type to show emotions but we really hope that he appreciated our gesture.