Still feeling like everything is shaken by the tempest of the sea, we ushered ourselves into the official place of stay—Cebu Business Hotel located in Colon, Cebu City. Colon is well, your usual populated district. The place reminded me of House trying to defend why he is certain that heaven is non-existent when in fact he hasn’t been there. “You don’t have to go to Colon Detroit to know that it smells.” Nonetheless, the agency arranged for the accommodation and as I’ve said, I’m not so good at complaining. It’s tiresome.
The moment we set foot on the hotel, everybody went straight to the dining hall which was named Sapphire, probably because of the color of the tablecloths. Our breakfast was already waiting to be devoured, and yes, we really devoured it. The food was ordinary—corned beef (not sure if it’s really beef, it looked like horse meat), sausage, and sunny side ups. It was supposed to be “eat all you can,” and with the famished appetite of everyone, the utensils were lucky they didn’t end up churned in gastric juice. The eating was incredible you’d wonder why the rice on everyone’s plate is red. Apparently, it’s the corned beef served in an amount that would make you think it’s the staple food and the source of carbohydrates.
But the day has just started. By 10 am we immediately proceeded to the first place of visit— University of San Carlos. We were greeted with yellow USC shuttles which seem to remind us how small our campus is. However it was not enough of the intimidation. Our purpose there was to visit their renowned Chemical Engineering Department. Renowned because they have an adequate Unit Operations Laboratory. For those who don’t know what a unit operation is, examples are agitation, distillation, mixing, and other operations that doesn’t require a chemical reaction. It is contrasted to a unit process such as clinkering, where limestone and shale is converted to cement.
Back to the tour.
The feeling of being confounded with Unit Operations laboratory 1 and 2, a research facility, wastewater treatment laboratory and a separate laboratory for chemical analysis of biodiesel and biogas was nothing short of envious. That was my first time to see actual machines like the lab-scale heat exchanger, the fluidized bed apparatus, the plug flow apparatus, the equipment for sedimentation, even a plate-and-frame filter press! Add to that the towering distilling apparatus that seems to be the pride of the department. Everyone seemed to be staring in awe as the apparatus stands 2 storeys high. I need not mention how grandiose it is. They have all this equipment, and their laboratory activities utilize these. On the other hand we utilize styro cups and thermometers, and of course, heated water. Their school, with the affluent studentry, can afford those high sounding equipment. Well what do you expect from a state university whose net tuition expenses for an entire degree equals that of a single semester tuition at USC? This argument could lead to the issue of separation of IIT from the MSU system for which I feel no sentiment to discuss. The Chemical Engineering Department of USC is housed on a 2 storey building, with the 2 Unit operations laboratories on separate infrastructures. The Department of Chemical Engineering at MSU-IIT is “roomed” on Room 318, sharing the space with the Ceramics and Metallurgical Engineering faculties, with a unit operations laboratory that is next to defunct. While the USC students were busy separating the volatile components of their mixture in their gigantic distilling apparatus, we were busy waiting for water at 60 degrees centigrade to cool to room temperature, and from that work our way to complicate the laboratory reports to compensate for the apparent simplicity of the performed activity.
However it is interesting to note that while knowledge of the fundamental chemical engineering principles is augmented by the utilization of such equipment, the Chemical Engineering Department of MSU-IIT never lacked the edge to perform well in the board exams. It would probably feel good to rationalize our deficiencies with our good performance, that even though we failed to get our hands to play with these apparatus we’re still at par with them. However, I believe a Chemineering student of MSU-IIT would excel and outlast if given the same resources. True, the tuition is never enough, and if ever the millions of peso required would be solicited from the government, it would take a jillion years to be realized. But without constant lobbying and requests and follow-ups, the department would continue to feel envious of such facilities and schools who own those.
It actually felt very informative and good to be able to visit other school’s ChE department. But it feels better if we have the capacity to let other schools tour on our department instead.
Photo taken by Karl Ondoy.
Photo taken by Karl Ondoy.
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