Spring 2027

Mass Transfer Operations

Mass Transfer Operations covers analysis of chemical engineering operations involving mass transfer, including differential and stagewise separation processes, simultaneous heat and mass transfer, and design of mass-transfer equipment.

offering recorded3 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 Eric Shusta3.5/5

Summary

1 / 6

Past student reviews · Ross Swaney

Homework assignments were very challenging, and exams were written to be tricky but doable with practice.

What you’ll be able to do

  • Describe major chemical process separations units

  • Apply appropriate criteria for selecting among alternative separation technologies

  • Complete design calculations for equilibrium staged separation processes (e.g., distillation, absorption)

  • Complete design calculations for differential contactors

  • Apply mass transfer fundamentals to calculate rates of mass transfer for practical situations and to identify rate-limiting processes

Source: UW Guide

Grade history

↗
average GPA
letter grades
A
AB
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BC
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All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

CBE 311 and 320

CBE 426 used by

“Used by” includes alternatives; linked courses may have other requirements. This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree

Professors

Spring 2027
Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 3.00/5 from 4 quality ratings. The adjusted rating blends this with the UW review average (3.66/5), weighted as 20 additional ratings. Smaller samples stay closer to that average. Each captured review is counted once in the prior; this does not correct who chooses to leave a review.

RMP profile ↗ · All captured review dates; profile matched by name.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2020: 3.26 GPA, 55.2% A/AB (n=29 letter grades); Fall 2020: 3.07 GPA, 41.5% A/AB (n=65 letter grades); Fall 2025: 2.92 GPA, 34.0% A/AB (n=53 letter grades).

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

ERIC SHUSTA is recorded teaching in Spring 2007, Spring 2008, Fall 2008, Spring 2009, Fall 2011, Fall 2012, Spring 2015, Fall 2016, Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Fall 2025. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

ROSS SWANEY is recorded teaching in Fall 2015, Spring 2017, Fall 2017, Spring 2018, Fall 2018, Fall 2021, Spring 2022, Fall 2022, Spring 2023, Fall 2023, Spring 2024. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Spring 2027

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 630
DIS 301Classroom Instruction0 / 300
DIS 302Classroom Instruction0 / 240

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections. Enrollment reflects scan time.

Meeting source records
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Student experience

the class

Past student reviews · Ross Swaney

Students described the course as challenging but doable, noting that exams were tricky and the instructor demonstrated a strong passion for chemical engineering.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 2.95 GPA, 45.8% A/AB (n=48 letter grades); Fall 2025: 2.92 GPA, 34.0% A/AB (n=53 letter grades); Spring 2026: 2.94 GPA, 37.0% A/AB (n=27 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · Ross Swaney

Homework assignments were very challenging, and exams were written to be tricky but doable with practice.

Past student reviews · Ross Swaney

One student found the instructor kind-hearted and enthusiastic, making it a good experience to take the class.

Topics

  • Differential and stagewise separation processes
  • Simultaneous heat and mass transfer
  • Mass transfer accompanied by chemical reaction
  • General design and operation of mass-transfer equipment

Skills

  • Perform design calculations for equilibrium staged separation processes and differential contactors
  • Calculate mass transfer rates and identify rate-limiting processes
  • Select among alternative separation technologies using appropriate criteria

Grades

Latest available · Spring 2026— not enough history to project Spring 2027.

average GPA
A / AB grades
letter grades
Instructor

Grade distribution · % of letter grades

A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

Grades over time

Through Spring 2026

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Not enough comparable courses for Spring 2027 in UW–Madison.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

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Selected offering source records
CBE 426 · Spring 2027

Mass Transfer Operations

Recorded 2026-10-14
Raw records 
[
  {
    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:220:002684",
    "course_id": "CBE 426",
    "course_uid": "course_207c3a78e78e1a73467fae54",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "002684",
    "source_subject_id": "220",
    "title": "Mass Transfer Operations",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 3,
    "typically_offered": "Fall, Spring"
  }
]
Rate My Professors

Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

Read original reviews
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Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

Explore recorded grades
Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-10-14

View the dataset on Hugging Face
Model outputs & technical records
Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B
LLM outputs across runs
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1
Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "8d0af71d185fa14f7c750c32c52faff2339c823b8ed5bf79fb5df999189aaebe",
  "requirements_status": "needs_review",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}