Forums | SKKC 2133 Energy Balance SECTION 04

21 December 2017, 1:13 AM

     Semester 3 is coming to an end which means it has been almost a year plus in UTM. Study week is approaching, the exam fever has finally begun and the fear has sunk in. Mass balance has been one of the killer subjects in Semester3  but not so killer compared to Fluid Mechanics I feel. . The exercises given in class is easier than the questions that comes out for test. So much of differences but I realised once the concept is grabbed, everything becomes easy.

    Energy balance had made me a thinker for the entire semester. I feel I should greatly improve my critical analytical skills. Every time a subtopic is taught, it may look simple and easy but understanding them deeper is everything. Probably the mistake I did while studying  was not understanding a certain topic to the root to dig into a concept as deeply as possible and unpack every detail to develop a satisfying understanding on the topic. I feel I could have performed better for my quizzes and test with better understanding.

    Based on my assignments, test and quizzes, I have learned through my mistakes the entire course. Based on my test marks, I have improved gradually from my Test 1 to Test 3. Reflecting on my test marks, I could have done way better if and only if I  was more cautious when doing my calculations to avoid the careless mistakes. Some questions from Test 1 and 2 was a little difficult for  me because my concepts were not so strong which made me panic upon getting long structured questions with no direct information given. I didn’t manage my time too well during the test which made me to leave out some sub-questions blank for Test 1 and Test 2. My assignments and quizzes were not that bad because I could answer the questions given to me quite well. The project at the end of the semester, made me realize what is it like to solve energy balance for such a big process. It was difficult, but in a group of 5, we segregated our work well enough.

      At the end of the course, I am able to apply basis, reference conditions, unit conversion, process diagram based on the chemical processes given. Everytime I got my test paper or quizzes, I made sure I wrote the basis and reference conditions first so that I can carry out the calculations based on them.I am now able to solve questions related to the first law of thermodynamics and conservative equations by taking reference state conditions into consideration.During my first test, most of the questions were solved based on the first law of thermodynamics. I’m able to solve energy balance with respect to changes in temperature, pressure and non-reactive processes. I am also able to calculate standard heat of reactions using Hess’ Law, heat of formation and combustion and solve problems for reactive processes. Last but no least, I’m now able to develop a process flow diagram with mass and energy balance calculations of chemical processes.

   In conclusion, I’m very grateful to be able to study this subject because it has pushed my thinking limit to a different dimension and enhance my problem solving skills which will be very crucial in the working arena as an engineer one day.