The main objective of this course is to provide the students the foundation of programming skills as a tool for solving problems in chemical engineering. It helps students to feel justifiably confident of their ability to write small programs that allow them to accomplish useful goals. This course includes the coverage of basics and application of MATLAB software for solving simple arithmetic operations with arrays, two-dimensional plotting and programming using flow control commands with conditional statements and loops. With this foundation of basic programming skills, the course provides opportunities to explore advanced topics for solving complex chemical engineering problems.

This laboratory course is conducted in an open lab structure that incorporates topics taught in Engineering Chemistry 1. The aims for this open lab is to develop research skills in the students, lab skills and ability to analyse and interpret data. In addition to these techniques, safety skills, lab report writing skills, effective teamwork, self leadership, management and communication skills are also emphasized.

In this lab practical, students are given a platform to construct a car powerd by an e-cell (a cell made of chemical energy source), by applying knowledge in basic chemistry, electrochemistry and kinetics to move a shoebox-sized car. The students will use their design to compete in university level Mini Chem-E-Car competition.

The model car competition focuses on accuracy, testing the ability of the model car to move over a specified distance (between 15m to 25m) whilst carrying a specific load of water (100ml – 500ml). By revealing the load and distance only about an hour prior to the start of the competition, and having different loads and distances for the two attempts for each model car, the competition further tested the participants’ ability to calibrate their model cars on the spot model car that comes to a stop nearest to the designated line or distance would be declared the winner.