Senior year chemical engineering students designed a process to produce 10 000 tonnes per annum of single wall carbon nanotubes (SWNT) and also conducted bench-top experiments to synthesize SWNTs via fluidized bed chemical vapor deposition techniques. This was an excellent pedagogical experience because it related to the type of real world design issues which are of relevance for commercial applications as well as for NASA. The experiments resulted in carbon nanotubes which were characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Detailed reactor design was carried out for large-scale production of SWNTs as well as an economic analysis.