What is Chemical Engineering

What is Chemical Engineering?
Chemical Engineering is an exciting profession in which new opportunities and challenges are still emerging. While traditional chemical engineering is based primarily in petrochemicals, chemicals and associated industries, recent developments have brought bioengineering, product design and development and nano-processing into the domain of chemical engineering. All chemical engineering involves the design and management of biological, chemical and physical processes that enable raw materials to be turned into valuable products. It is a discipline which provides the vehicle for basic scientific knowledge from chemistry, physics, biology and mathematics to be utilized for human benefit by combining with engineering principles. Chemical engineers design both products and the processes needed for commercial-scale production of these products. They also manage the operation and optimisation of these processes so they are safe, economically viable and environmentally acceptable.

 

The processes which are managed include biological and/or chemical reactions and "unit operations" such as distillation, filtration and mixing. A sequence of these operations is used to change the given raw materials into the desired product with minimal loss of materials and consumption of energy. Chemical engineers design the process, and equipment or plant that will allow the process to work effectively and then manage the system to ensure that the outcome is of the required quality and cost effective. They must also be capable of reacting to any change in production conditions. The same basic operations apply to a wide range of industries and the process skills of the chemical engineer are equally applicable across industries that are as diverse as petroleum refining, food processing, minerals extraction and processing, plastics, petrochemicals, chemicals, and pharmaceuticals production, environmental management, biological/ bio-medical engineering and biotechnology. Chemical Engineers are also involved in the design and development of the products of these industries including foods, consumer goods, drugs, plastics and packaging, glass, ceramics, metals, and bulk and specialty chemicals and materials.

 

Because the chemical engineer is concerned with the commercial scale realisation of discoveries in biology, chemistry, biochemistry, microbiology and physics, these along with mathematics are the enabling sciences of the profession. Hence the chemical engineer must be familiar with the language and principles of these sciences, and able to work closely with specialists from these fields and other fields of engineering, management and industrial relations.

 

In summary, the role of the Chemical Engineer is to design and improve products and processes, thus creating the vast array of value added products desired by modern society, and to ensure that it is done safely, economically and with minimal adverse impact on the environment

 

Chemical engineers:

 

• Help improve living standards by supplying materials, products and services for society's needs
• Extend society's knowledge by developing and applying cutting edge science and technology
• Protect and improve the environment.