2026 (Current Year) Faculty Courses School of Materials and Chemical Technology Department of Chemical Science and Engineering Graduate major in Chemical Science and Engineering
Process Systems Engineering
- Academic unit or major
- Graduate major in Chemical Science and Engineering
- Instructor(s)
- Hideyuki Matsumoto
- Class Format
- Lecture (Face-to-face)
- Media-enhanced courses
- -
- Day of week/Period
(Classrooms) - 3-4 Tue (M-356(H132)) / 3-4 Fri (M-356(H132))
- Class
- -
- Course Code
- CAP.C412
- Number of credits
- 200
- Course offered
- 2026
- Offered quarter
- 1Q
- Syllabus updated
- Mar 26, 2026
- Language
- English
Syllabus
Course overview and goals
Process systems engineering is concerned with investigation on decision-making methodology for creation and operation of the chemical supply chain. This course covers the fundamentals of systems approach (modeling, simulation and optimization) in the fields of analysis, synthesis and operation of process systems. This course introduces chemical engineering application of the systems approach.
In recent years, problems that should be solved by chemical engineering become diversified and complicated, which is faced for building a sustainable society that enables to maintain development of economies by considering improvement of environment, safety and health. An aim of this course is to facilitate students' understanding of a wide variety of systems method and its application to analysis, synthesis and operation of process systems. Students will have the chance to tackle practical problems by applying knowledge acquired through the lecture.
Course description and aims
At the end of this course, students will be able to:
1) Have an understanding of concept of systems thinking for analysis, synthesis and operation of chemical process systems, and deal with mathematical method related to modeling and simulation.
2) Deal with typical numerical solution for optimization problem that is essential to evaluation and decision-making.
3) Apply the above-mentioned mathematical methods to solve problem facing in the chemical engineering field.
Keywords
process systems, modeling and simulation, optimization, process analysis and synthesis
Competencies
- Specialist skills
- Intercultural skills
- Communication skills
- Critical thinking skills
- Practical and/or problem-solving skills
Class flow
In the latter part of lecture for modeling & simulation and optimization of process systems, students are given practice problems related to what is taught on that day. Students are also given assignments in the lecture related to chemical engineering applications. Before coming to class, students should check what topics will be covered. Required learning should be completed outside of the classroom for preparation and review purposes.
Course schedule/Objectives
| Course schedule | Objectives | |
|---|---|---|
| Class 1 | Analysis and synthesis of process systems |
Students must be able to explain definition of process systems and basic concept of system thinking. |
| Class 2 | Basics of least squares estimation |
Understanding of basic idea of least squares estimation is required. |
| Class 3 | Application of least squares for analysis and synthesis of chemical processes |
Understanding of application methods of least squares estimation for analysis and synthesis of chemical processes is required. Students must be able to estimate values of parameters for the regression model. |
| Class 4 | Dynamic analysis of chemical processes using rigorous models |
Understanding of numerical methods for performing rigorous model calculations is required. Students must be able to explain characteristics of nonlinear behavior of chemical processes. |
| Class 5 | Application of nonlinear systems analysis for design and operation of chemical reactors |
Students must be able to understand nonlinear analysis methods to grasp the global properties of dynamical systems to analyze the nonlinear behavior of reactors. |
| Class 6 | Parameter estimation for a rigorous process model |
Understanding of basic idea of rigorous models for analysis and synthesis of process systems is required. Students can explain the basic procedure for parameter estimation of a rigorous process model. |
| Class 7 | Basics of quadratic programming |
Students must be able to solve the optimization problems for synthesis of chemical processes, by linear programming. |
| Class 8 | Single variable optimization for analysis and synthesis of chemical processes |
Students must be able to solve single variable optimization problems for analysis and synthesis of chemical processes , by using Newton's method. |
| Class 9 | Multivariable optimization for analysis and synthesis of chemical processes |
Students must be able to solve unconstrained multivariable optimization problems for analysis and synthesis of chemical processes, by using gradient method. |
| Class 10 | Fundamentals of process simulation |
Students can understand the overview of process simulators and must be able to perform initial settings, including the definition of unit systems and the selection of physical property estimation methods. |
| Class 11 | Reactor simulation analysis |
Students can understand the overview of unit models for reactors and must be able to perform mass and energy balance calculations for reactor systems. |
| Class 12 | Separation process simulation analysis |
Students can understand the overview of unit models used in separation processes and must be able to perform mass and energy balance calculations for separation units. |
| Class 13 | Simulation analysis and synthesis of process systems with recycle loop |
Students can understand the basic simulation methods for process systems with recycle loop and must be able to perform mass and energy balance calculations for the entire process systems. |
Study advice (preparation and review)
To enhance effective learning, students are encouraged to spend approximately 100 minutes preparing for class and another 100 minutes reviewing class content afterwards (including assignments) for each class.
They should do so by referring to course material or reference book.
Textbook(s)
Use the course materials to be distributed.
Reference books, course materials, etc.
Kuroda, Chiaki ed.. Systems Analysis. Tokyo: Asakura Shoten. ISBN-13:978-4254256048
Evaluation methods and criteria
Students’ course scores are based on submitted reports to subjects and exercise problems.
Related courses
- CAP.I407 ： Introduction to Chemical Engineering (Basics)
- CAP.C424 ： Advanced Reaction Process Engineering
- CAP.C423 ： Computational Fluid Dynamics
- CAP.I417 ： Introduction to Chemical Engineering (Unit Operation)
- CAP.C421 ： Advanced Energy Transfer Operation
- CAP.C441 ： Transport Phenomena and Operation
- CAP.C443 ： Advanced Reaction-Separation Process
Prerequisites
Knowledge of process models related to unit operations and chemical reaction engineering is required to take this lecture.
If you have not studied the basics of chemical engineering in your undergraduate course, we recommend that you take other lectures on chemical engineering and then take “Process Systems Engineering” next year.
Other
Students will use MATLAB/Simulink, Phython and process simulators to deepen understanding of methods for modeling, simulation and optimization that they will learn in this lecture. We recommend that you prepare in advance to use MATLAB/Simulink, Phython and open-source process simulators (COCO, DWSIM, etc.).
※In Science Tokyo, students can freely use MATLAB with the Campus-Wide license.
https://jp.mathworks.com/academia/tah-portal/science-tokyo-1070812.html
(We also recommend using Python.)