Professors: prof.dr.ir. G.J. Witkamp, mw.prof.dr.ir. G.M. van Rosmalen.

The section Process Equipment directs its activities at the design of equipment for the process industry, a field that combines mechanical engineering and chemical engineering sciences. The educational program of the section reflects the multidisciplinary nature of the field. Courses are offered to graduate students of the faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Marine Technology as well as to students of the faculty of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science.

The courses wb4403 (Physical separation methods), st301 (Process technology for mechanical engineers) and st310 (Mixture thermodynamics) provide elementary knowledge on transport phenomena and chemical process technology. These courses are an attractive extension of the mechanical engineering curriculum, and they are compulsory to mechanical engineering students in the Process Equipment curriculum, in order to render graduates competent discussion partners to colleagues in the process industries.

Chemical and mechanical engineering students work together in the so-called 'G-groep', a case study-project for which a team of students is confronted with an actual problem of industrial practice. For this project students make a preliminary design of a chemical plant, on the basis of a process description. The Project Engineering course, exercised in a later stage of the program, enhances the mechanical engineering skills and offers an introduction to process equipment design projects.

In the final stage of the curriculum students take part in one of the research projects conducted at the Process Equipment section. The research activities also combine the mechanical and chemical engineering disciplines. Projects can be aimed at improvement of process equipment and at development of novel equipment types. Most projects involve process modeling and large-scale experiments and incorporate the aspects of process chemistry, construction and transport phenomena. In general, they are carried out in close collaboration with the process industry.

Traditionally the section focuses on separation technology. The present research projects can be divided into four groups.

* Crystallization and precipitation
* Distillation and absorption
* Supercritical technology
* Novel separation methods