Labs and Institutes

Olin Hall view from outside

Olin Hall Unit Operations Lab

Undergraduate student wearing lab coat and safety glasses work in the Olin Hall Unit Operations Lab.
Undergraduate students wearing lab coats work with equipment in the Olin Hall Unit Operations Lab.
Undergraduate wearing lab coat works in the Olin Hall Unit Operations Lab.

  • B-11 (Olin Hall Basement)

    Olin B-11 has ~1100 sq. ft. of open floor teaching space with utilities distributed around three walls, including low pressure steam, condensate return, domestic water, and 100 psig air. The large experiments for the senior-level chemical engineering laboratory (ChemE 4320) reside there, including several shell-and-tube heat exchangers, a gas membrane separator, a fluidized bed, a process control demonstration with a commercial Rockwell controller, several fermenters, and most importantly, an eight-tray continuous distillation apparatus that stands ~15 ft. tall, protruding through an opening in the ceiling into the lab above. This apparatus is derived from the original 15-tray still that was assembled in the original Unit Operations Lab in the late 1940s, when Olin Hall was a new building on campus.

  • Olin 111 (Olin Hall First Floor)

    Olin 111 has ~1000 sq. ft. of floor teaching space with a glove box, a fume hood, an overhead exhaust system, a gas distribution system, and configurable work benches. This lab is shared with our product design course (ChemE 4630), which uses it for hands-on projects, and the ChemE Car Team, which uses it for fabricating, testing, and improving their new designs.

Unit Operations Lab Contacts

Energy Lab

Formerly the Cornell Energy Systems Institute Laboratory, the shared equipment in chemical engineering is now located in Olin Hall.  The equipment is available on a fee-for-service basis to anyone, with priority given to chemical engineering stakeholders. Individuals may access the equipment after registering with the Lab Manager and receiving appropriate training.

For more information, please contact the lab manager (contact below) or email cesi-lab@cornell.edu.

  • Available Equipment:

    • Argon Glovebox
    • MACCOR battery testing system
    • Anton Paar MCR 501 Rheometer
    • Plasma Etch
    • Solatron battery testing system
    • Tecan Spark Plate Reader
    • Vacuum Oven
    • Nano ITC
    • Beckman Coulter Ultracentrifuge

Energy Lab Contacts

(For scheduling and current rates for using any of the above equipment)

Olin Hall Machine Shop

Researchers think of new ideas, but often lack the needed tools or samples for testing. Our technician collaborates with students, staff, and faculty to create devices and systems that advance experiments and solve problems. Moreover, they repair equipment and prepare samples to keep labs and experiments running, reducing downtime. The machine shop, focused on efficient design, speeds up the transition from concept to product and aids in future improvements as research evolves. This is a Cornell University recharge facility. Please contact the machine shop for current rates.

Machine Shop Contact

Additional Resources