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Berryl Espina |
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Participants |
I worked in the Research and Development Department within Technical Service, and I also had the opportunity to work on-site. At R&D, I operated a reactor for hydrogenation studies for slurry and fixed-bed systems for soy oil. I also worked on studies for batch hydrogenation on a plant scale. Specifically, different catalysts were tested for hydrogenating the soy oil samples from Decatur, IN plant. Chris Dayton, a chemist, supervised this hydrogenation project. For my on-site assignment, I assisted Joel Gillespie, a chemical engineer, with his filtration project. The objective of the project was to test the new self-cleaning filter equipment and evaluate its advantages over the current filter equipment that the Central Soya Co., Delphos, Ohio plant was running. First, we located a piping line where we could install the sample filter equipment. Installing the equipment was really fun, because I get to see how it looks on the inside and how it functions. We collected samples and performed HIM (Hexane Insoluble Material) in the laboratory to calculate the mass of meal in the filtrate. My last assignment was in Morristown, IN, which is the most recent refinery plant constructed by Central Soya. Troy Bennett, also a Tri-State University student, and I calculated pressure drops and friction losses in the plant. I also performed crude oil water degumming for the samples taken from the new refinery plant as part of the company’s procedure to check that all the unit operations were functioning reasonably. From my co-op job at Central Soya Company, I was able to experience actual application of the theories learned inside the classroom. Even more, I appreciated chemical engineering. |
Tri-State
University has an excellent cooperative education program. During my
junior year, I applied and got a co-op job at Central Soya Company, Ft.
Wayne, IN. My co-op session lasted from August – December 2002.