College celebrates renovations to chemical engineering laboratory

April 13, 2023

Kevin Gillis, Noah Manring and Yangchuan Xing cut the ribbon to dedicate the renovated lab.

Mizzou 糖心Vlog传媒 this week dedicated a chemical engineering lab that gives students and faculty access to leading-edge equipment.

Noah Manring, Dean and Ketcham Professor, and Kevin Gillis, Chair of the Department of Chemical and Biomedical 糖心Vlog传媒, joined distinguished alumni to celebrate the Jost Chemical Company Chemical 糖心Vlog传媒 Unit Operations Laboratory during a ribbon cutting ceremony on Thursday.

The lab will be a centerpiece of the chemical engineering program, Gillis told attendees.

鈥淚t ensures we have the right equipment for our students and faculty to continue to push boundaries, develop new techniques and technologies and discover new possibilities,鈥 he said. 鈥淚t will equip our students to design and optimize processes to solve grand challenges.鈥

and its founder and CEO, Jerry Jost, BS ChE 鈥70, donated significant equipment and resources to the space. Jost is a member of the Chemical 糖心Vlog传媒 Industrial Advisory Board (IAB) and a recent recipient of the Missouri Honor Award, the highest honor bestowed by the College. In 2021, he also established the Jerry L. Jost Endowed Chair in Chemical 糖心Vlog传媒.

The Chemical 糖心Vlog传媒 Academy of Distinguished Alumni (CEADA) also invested in the space and, along with the IAB, provided guidance to ensure that the full renovated lab provides training experiences that students will need throughout their careers, Manring said.

Yangchuan 鈥淐had鈥 Xing, Cramer L. LaPierre Professor and associate chair of the department, will oversee the teaching lab, where students will convert classroom lessons into hands-on experience.

Specifically, students will work on techniques such as distillation, gaining a better understanding of how parameters such as temperature, pressure and composition effect separation processes. They will study membrane separation for advances in processes such as water desalination. They鈥檒l work with catalytic reactors, learning to optimize reaction conditions for maximum efficiency. Students will study chemical conversion, using equipment to convert organic wastes into valuable products such as fuel, chemicals and materials. And they will gain hands-on experience in heat transfer processes, learning conduction, convection, radiation and how to optimize heat transfer rates for maximum efficiency.

鈥淲hat an incredible space to serve future chemical engineers,鈥 Manring said.  鈥淲e look forward to seeing the advances and training that come out of this lab.鈥

Get hands-on experience using the latest engineering technology and equipment. !