CHE5888 - Sustainability and innovation

There is a more recent version of this academic item available.

Overview

Apply industrial ecology and circular economy principles to utilise by-products, minimise waste and enhance profitability of bioproduct manufacturing products. Apply design for recycling and eco-design principles to develop a new generation of biomass-derived materials and chemicals, including utilising lignocellulosic biodegradability and waste to energy applications. Critically evaluate new bioproduct manufacturing processes (either stand-alone or processing by-products) for techno-economic feasibility and their potential to enhance overall process sustainability. Apply lifecycle analysis to quantify the environmental sustainability of bio-based chemicals and materials and compare them with non-renewable alternatives. Understand the application of lifecycle analysis to multi-function systems, such as how to divide the overall lifecycle impacts to systems

producing multiple products and having multiple functions.

Offerings

S2-01-CLAYTON-ONLINE

Rules

Enrolment Rule

Contacts

Chief Examiner(s)

Associate Professor Warren Batchelor

Unit Coordinator(s)

Associate Professor Warren Batchelor

Learning outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you should be able to:

Design products to meet recyclable eco-design.

Research the most effective materials and processes to maximise sustainability.

Synthesise and integrate a wide range of tools and best practices to evaluate product and process innovation sustainability.

Design processes using concepts such as green chemistry, industrial ecology and cleaner production to minimise environmental impact.

Utilise LCA to assess the sustainability of processes and materials.

Teaching approach

Active learning

This unit broadly follows a flipped classroom approach, which seeks to promote active learning. Students are required to review a series of videos, readings and knowledge-based quiz questions prior to attending a virtual practical class, where they will practice applying the weekly skills with their peers and lecturer. At the end of the week, students will then have an opportunity to independently test their ability to apply these skills by completing a practice case study or quiz. The unit will use a series of case studies and problems to teach the unit content in an industrially-relevant way.

Problem-based learning

Online learning

Assessment summary

Continuous assessment: 60%

Final assessment: 40%

This unit contains hurdle requirements that you must achieve to be able to pass the unit. You are required to achieve at least 45% in the total continuous assessment component and at least 45% in the final assessment component. The consequence of not achieving a hurdle requirement is a fail grade (NH) and a maximum mark of 45 for the unit.

Assessment

1 - Weekly quiz

2 - Practical class participation

3 - Assignment 1

4 - Assignment 2

5 - Presentation 1

6 - Presentation 2

7 - Final assessment

Scheduled and non-scheduled teaching activities

Practical activities

Workload requirements

Workload

The minimum total expected workload to achieve the learning outcomes for this unit is 144 hours per semester typically comprising a mixture of 3-6 hours of scheduled learning activities and 6-9 hours of independent study per week. Scheduled activities may include a combination of teacher-directed learning, peer-directed learning and online engagement. Independent study may include associated readings, assessment and preparation for scheduled activities.

Learning resources

Technology resources

Availability in areas of study

Master of Professional engineering specialisation: Chemical engineering