Can a Chemical Engineering Student Be Expelled for Fabricating Distillation Column Reflux Ratio and Separation Data?

A university will summarily expel a chemical or petroleum engineering undergraduate, award a failing grade (grade F) with a permanent disciplinary record, and revoke laboratory clearance for fabricating fractional distillation column temperature profiles, forging reflux ratio measurements, or falsifying McCabe-Thiele stage equilibrium calculations without conducting physical separation experiments. In engineering curricula accredited by the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN), separation processes—such as operating binary distillation columns, collecting equilibrium vapor-liquid samples, measuring refractive indices, and computing minimum reflux ratios ($R_{min}$)—represent life-critical technical competencies; fabricating experimental data subverts process safety principles, undermines plant design calculations, and violates professional engineering ethics.

Chemical engineering departments and unit operations laboratory supervisors utilize rigorous data auditing techniques to detect fabricated experimental submissions.

1. The unit operations laboratory instructor audits submitted distillation reports and detects mathematically idealized vapor-liquid equilibrium (VLE) curves with zero measurement error.
2. The chief laboratory technologist inspects the fractional distillation pilot plant and confirms that the reboiler heating mantle, reflux splitter, and feed pump were never operated during the scheduled testing session.
3. The technologist checks chemical inventory records and establishes that the student never requisitioned ethanol-water or methanol-water feed mixtures or Abbe refractometers.
4. The student is formally summoned by the Departmental Laboratory Ethics Committee to produce their raw laboratory workbook and explain stage-to-stage vapor composition derivations.
5. Inability to replicate refractive index calibrations or demonstrate column operating protocols leads to a formal charge of scientific fraud.
6. The Head of Department transmits an investigative dossier to the Faculty Board of Engineering and the University Central Student Disciplinary Committee (SDC).
7. The student appears before the disciplinary committee to defend their submissions under constitutional principles of fair hearing.
8. The University Senate considers the committee’s findings and ratifies an order of rustication or summary expulsion, notifying COREN to prevent professional registration.

Developing hands-on proficiency in chemical separation processes is essential for engineering graduates preparing to design and manage refineries, petrochemical facilities, and industrial chemical plants.

• Standardized unit operations laboratory manual with approved distillation experimental protocols.
• Raw bench workbook recording column top and bottom temperatures, feed flow rates, and refractive index measurements.
• Pilot plant sign-in register confirming equipment allocation and utility consumption during testing.
• Plotted McCabe-Thiele diagram showing operating lines, feed q-line, and theoretical stage stepping.

Students must record actual experimental readings honestly, noting any operational challenges or column flooding phenomena, rather than manufacturing idealized mathematical data.

Under COREN professional regulations and university academic codes, fabricating unit operations experimental results is classified as severe academic fraud, carrying mandatory rustication and permanent loss of practical laboratory credits.

Maintaining rigorous laboratory ethics ensures that chemical engineering diplomates and graduates develop sound technical judgement required to design safe, efficient industrial processing facilities.