A Project Based Learning (PBL) Approach Involving PET Recycling in Chemical Engineering Education

Abstract

The recycling of waste plastics is considered as one of the strategies to tackle the issue of environmental pollution caused by commodity plastics all over the world. Recently, many universities have incorporated topics related to recycling and plastics waste management into their curricula at different levels to increase awareness as well as to develop new recycling technologies. In this study, one of the most important waste recycling problems is given as the project for the undergraduate students of chemical engineering to analyze the effectiveness of the project-based learning (PBL) approach in the school curriculum. A team of students was assigned with the task of recycling post-consumer polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles through an experimental and design approach. From the experimental data, students designed a recycling plant with a proposed capacity to produce 1 ton of recycled granules per day through the project-based learning approach. Evaluation of the project was carried out at various stages and it was found that the students acquired the required skills and applied them effectively. The outcomes of the present study clearly establish that the problems which have societal impacts, such as waste management, environmental pollution, etc., can be effectively communicated to the student community through the PBL approach, which can lead to increased motivation and enhanced critical thinking abilities.