Select your courses

Core CHBE Course Descriptions

Courses offered by the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering may be found under the acronym "CHBE" in the course catalog and on Testudo, our online service where you will also find admission, registration, financial, class scheduling, residency, and other important information.

Please use the following policies to guide you as you select your courses each semester:

  • Follow the sample program as closely as possible. Almost all CHBE courses are offered only once a year. Since the courses build on each other, should you stray from the suggested curriculum, you run the risk of not being able to complete the degree in 4 years.
  • Most courses have prerequisites which must be fulfilled before taking the course, unless you have specific permission from the professor.

This page shows CHBE core courses. Visit the Technical Electives page for additional courses.

For courses and required credits shown in a semester-by-semester sample program format, visit the Sample Program page.

Questions?
Questions about the undergraduate program may be sent to Kathy Gardinier at lopresti@umd.edu.

Course Number
Course Title/Description
Credits
CHBE 101 Introduction to Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering
Prerequisite: CHEM 135 or equivalent. Pre- or corequisite: MATH 141. Introduction to methods of chemical engineering calculations and analysis. Stoichiometric relations, material and energy balances, and behavior of gases, vapors, liquids and solids. Analytical and computer methods.
3
CHBE 250 Computer Methods in Chemical Engineering
Prerequisite: CHBE 101. Pre- or corequisite: MATH 241. Algorithm development and application of software to the analysis of chemical engineering problems. File management and editing, graphics and numerical methods. Use of spreadsheets, statistics/math software and process simulators for the design of chemical process equipment.
3
CHBE 301 Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering Thermodynamics I
Prerequisite: CHBE 101. Pre- or corequisites: CHBE 250 and MATH 241. Principles of thermodynamics and their application to engineering problems. First and second laws of thermodynamics, properties of gases, liquids and solids, phase equilibrium, flow and non-flow systems, energy conversion, production of work from heat, thermodynamic analysis of processes, equilibrium stage operations and the thermodynamics of chemically reacting systems.
3
CHBE 302 Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering Thermodynamics II
Prerequisite: CHBE 301. Pre- or corequisite: CHBE 250. Contemporary trends in chemical engineering thermodynamics that bridge the gap between fundamentals and applications. Thermodynamic analysis of non-ideal and structured systems; such as complex fluids, strongly fluctuating and nanoscale systems, dissipative systems, biosystems, and systems under extreme conditions.
3
CHBE 333 Communication Skills for Engineers
Prerequisite: Junior Standing. Oral and written reports on recent development in chemical engineering and the process industries.
1
CHBE 410 Statistics And Design Of Experiments
Prerequisite: C- or better in CHBE 250, MATH 241 and MATH 246. An introduction to probability, statistics, and design of experiments for chemical engineers.
3
CHBE 422 Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering Transport Phenomena I
Prerequisites: C- or better in CHBE 101, CHBE 250, MATH 241 and MATH 246. Principles of fluid dynamics as applied to model development and process design. Mass, momentum and energy conservation. Statics and surface tension. Eqn. of Continuity and Navier-Stokes Eqn. with application to laminar flow. Dimensional analysis. Macroscopic balances, Bernoulli Eqn. and friction factors with application to turbulent flow.
3
CHBE 424 Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering Transport Phenomena II
Prerequisite: CHBE 422. Pre- or corequisite: CHBE 302. Principles of mass & heat transfer as applied to model development and process design. Species continuity equation with application to diffusion, and convection in laminar flow. Macroscopic balances and mass transfer coefficients with application to turbulent flow. Microscopic equation of energy with application to heat conduction, and convection in laminar flow. Macroscopic energy balance and heat transfer coefficients with application to turbulent flow. Heat exchanger design.
3
CHBE 426 Chemical & Biomolecular Separation Processes
Pre- or corequisite: CHBE 302. Corequisite: CHBE 424. Separation by staged operations. Rate dependent separation processes. Design applications in distillation, gas absorption, liquid extraction, drying, adsorption and ion exchange.
3
CHBE 437 Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering Laboratory
Prerequisites: CHBE 302, CHBE 424, CHBE 426, and CHBE 440.Application of chemical engineering process and unit operation principles in small-scale semi-commercial equipment. Data from experimental observations are used to evaluate performance and efficiency of operations. Emphasis on correct presentation of results in report form.
3
CHBE 440 Chemical Kinetics & Reactor Design
Prerequisite: C- or better in CHBE 301, MATH 241 and MATH 246.  Fundamentals of chemical reaction kinetics and their application to the design and operation of chemical reactors. Reaction rate theory, homogeneous reactions and catalysis electrochemical reactions. Catalytic reactor design.
3
CHBE 442 Chemical & Biomolecular Systems Analysis
Prerequisites: CHBE 302, CHBE 424, and CHBE 426. Dynamic response applied to process systems. Goals and modes of control, Laplace transformations, analysis and synthesis of simple control systems, closed loop response, dynamic testing.
3
CHBE 444 Process Engineering Economics and Design I
Prerequisites: CHBE 424, CHBE 426, and CHBE 440. Principles of chemical engineering economics and process design. Equipment sizing and costing. Economic evaluation of projects. Flowsheet synthesis. Introduction to flowsheet simulators and concepts of flowsheet optimization. Synthesis of Heat Exchanger Networks and Distillation Sequences.
3
CHBE 446 Process Engineering Economics and Design II
Prerequisites: CHBE 442 and CHBE 444. Application of chemical engineering principles for the design of chemical processing equipment. Representative problems in the design of chemical plants will be the focus of this capstone design class. Comprehensive reports are required.
3
   
Total:
40

 


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