Process Fundamentals III

Program Description:

The Process Operations program curriculum is provided by Itasca Community College (ICC) and was created utilizing existing ICC course curriculum where possible, e.g., industrial math, technical writing, physics, etc. The Process Operations curriculum was created with emphasis on the technical and hands on skills required for process technicians.

The specialized course development was divided into the following three areas: Process Fundamentals, Industrial Technologies, & Professional Development. Process Fundamentals includes the following courses:

• Process I: Industrial Safety (utilizing industrial partners existing safety training program)
• Process II: Fundamentals of process dynamics and process control (delivered in concert with Technical II, part B)
• Process III: Process systems, advanced process control and introduction to process troubleshooting

Course Description:

ENGT 2240 Process Operations Process III is intended to continue to build student confidence in industry processes. During this course, "students will demonstrate an understanding of complex industrial processes involving thermal power boilers, turbine generators, ethanol production, paper production, refining production, mining, and more. Students will also demonstrate the proper utilization of a provided simulation software package that virtually models industry processes."

Course goals and outcomes include:

• Complying with all safety rules and operational/procedural protocols when working in the laboratory or with other process simulators and demonstrators.
• Communicating all written and verbal work in an organized and professional manner.
• Further ability to identify and explain the operational characteristics of fundamental process control strategies.
• Expand abilities to include more advanced process control strategies. 
• Identify and explain an expanded range of various industrial processes operations, dynamics and control strategies.
• Utilize the process of collecting and analyzing data in an organized manner to develop hypotheses of possible causes and present potential solutions to operational issues in a variety of industrial processes.
• Learn and operate various current technologies utilized in the process industry.

Course Contents:

Course materials include a program overview, a syllabus, eight module lesson plans, and three student competencies. The 1-page Process Operations Program Overview document includes information about the National Science Foundation grant project that resulted in the development of this curriculum. 

The 3-page syllabus includes a course description, fundamental goals and outcomes, course scope, performance expectations, and more.

The module lesson plans range from 18 to 49 pages in length. The lesson plans may include an overview, competencies, performance standards, learning objectives, learning activities, a lesson introduction, diagrams, process questions, trouble shooting forms, and more. Lesson plans cover the following topics: 3-phase separation troubleshooting, cooling tower troubleshooting, decanter systems troubleshooting, distillation troubleshooting, heat exchangers troubleshooting, instrument failure troubleshooting, and more.

The student competency documents include information about each unit of the course, including outcomes, lectures, demonstrations, labs, and homework. 

For orientation purposes Process Operations Process III Syllabus Rev A.pdf is included as a separate attachment and offers a sample of the type of material included in this course. 

Below is a list of the files included in the .zip attachment. The size of each file is included in parenthesis.

Process III (14 files, 13.3 MB)

• 3-Phase Separation Troubleshooting Module Instructor Lesson Plan (3-PhaseSeparationTSModuleInstructorLessonPlanV01.pdf 7.5 MB)
• Cooling Tower Troubleshooting Module Instructor Lesson Plan (CoolingTowerTSModuleInstructorLessonPlanV01.pdf 917 KB)
• Decanter Systems Troubleshooting Module Instructor Lesson Plan (DecanterTSModuleInstructorLessonPlanV01.pdf 455 KB)
• Distillation Troubleshooting Module Instructor Lesson Plan (DistillationTSModuleInstructorLessonPlanV01.pdf 562 KB)
• Heat Exchangers Troubleshooting Lesson Plan (HeatExchangersTSModuleLessonPlanV01.pdf 340 KB)
• Instrument Failure/Control Loop Failure Troubleshooting Module Instructor Lesson Plan (InstrumentFailureTSModuleInstructorLessonPlanV01.pdf 1.5 MB)
• NSF Grant READ ME - Processing Operations Program Overview (NSF Grant READ ME.docx 13 KB)
• Student Competency 1 - Process Systems P1 (Process III Competency 1 _ Process Systems P1 Rev 0.docx 59 KB)
• Student Competency 2 - Multi-Element Control (Process III Competency 2 _ Multi-Element Control Rev 0.docx 59 KB)
• Student Competency 3 - Process System P2 (Process III Competency 3 _ Process Systems P2 Rev 0.docx 65 KB)
• ENGT 2240 Process Operations Process III Syllabus (Process Operations Process III Syllabus Rev A.docx 25 KB)
• Process/Product Flow Troubleshooting Module Instructor Lesson Plan (ProductFlowTSModuleInstructorLessonPlanV01.pdf 916 KB)
• Tank Trouble Shooting Module Instructor Lesson Plan (TanksTSModuleInstructorLessonPlanV01.pdf 752 KB)