The aerospace,
automotive, biomedical, electronic, environmental, medical, and military
industries seek the skills of chemical engineers in order to help develop and
improve their technical products, such as:
- Ultrastrong fibers, fabrics,
and adhesives for vehicles
- Biocompatible materials for
implants and prosthetics
- Films for optoelectronic
devices
Chemical engineers
work in almost every industry and affect the production of almost every article
manufactured on an industrial scale. Some typical tasks include:
- Ensuring compliance with
health, safety, and environmental regulations
- Conducting research into
improved manufacturing processes
- Designing and planning
equipment layout
- Incorporating safety
procedures for working with dangerous chemicals
- Monitoring and optimizing the
performance of production processes
- Estimating production costs
American Chemical Society: Chemical Engineering
https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/careers/college-to-career/chemistry-careers/chemical-engineering.html
What is chemical engineering?
Chemical engineering is all about changing raw materials into useful
products such as clothes, food and drink, and energy. Chemical engineers focus
on processes and products – they develop and design processes to create
products; either focussing on improving existing processes or creating new
ones. This means that they are also concerned with managing resources,
protecting the environment and health and safety. Chemical engineers are
sometimes called ‘universal engineers’ because it is such a broad discipline -
they are essentially concerned with transforming one thing into another.
Many people are unsure about the amount of chemistry involved in a
chemical engineering degree. Ultimately, as with all engineering degrees,
physics and maths are the most important elements of the course, with around
20% of the course related to chemistry – particularly physical chemistry. There
are some elements of chemical engineering that are related to biology, but
these would typically be more specialised areas. If you would like to
specialise in chemistry, then a chemical engineering degree is probably not for
you.
There are a wide range of
industries that utilize chemical engineers, including pharmaceutical, energy
and information technology. These roles will involve developing existing
processes and creating new methods for altering materials. There are also
other sectors and careers which utilize the skills developed in a chemical
engineering degree – including quality assurance, manufacturing, and
consultancy. Depending on the role there are some risks associated working
as a chemical engineer, as you can be exposed to health or safety hazards
handling chemicals and working with plant equipment. However, risks can be
avoided if safety procedures are followed. There are excellent
opportunities for chemical engineering graduates; prospects for higher earnings
in the profession are good. Work in certain industries, for example, oil and
contracting, will attract particularly high salaries.
Chemical Engineering: What
is it and what are the career opportunities?
https://www.mendeley.com/careers/article/chemical-engineering/
Accessed, 13/11/2019
Duties of Chemical
Engineers
Chemical engineers
typically do the following:
- Conduct research to develop new and
improved manufacturing processes
- Establish safety procedures for those
working with dangerous chemicals
- Develop processes for separating
components of liquids and gases, or for generating electrical currents, by
using controlled chemical processes
- Design and plan the layout of equipment
- Conduct tests and monitor the
performance of processes throughout production
- Troubleshoot problems with
manufacturing processes
- Evaluate equipment and processes to
ensure compliance with safety and environmental regulations
- Estimate production costs for
management
https://collegegrad.com/careers/chemical-engineers
Levels
of Degree in Chemical Engineering
Degrees in chemical
engineering exist at the bachelor’s level and will prepare graduates for
entry-level positions in the field. In addition to chemistry classes, students
also study in physics, biology, mathematics and kinetics through a mix of
classroom teaching, laboratory experiments and fieldwork placements.
While a master’s degree
isn’t required, it can help students advance their careers to managerial levels
or into research positions. It will also help those who completed their
bachelor’s degree in a different field get up to speed on necessary skills and
knowledge. After covering the same areas of a bachelor’s degree more in depth,
students at this level typically complete a research project or fieldwork
placement.
PhDs in chemical
engineering are reserved for students who wish to work in the most specialized
areas of development and production, or teach the discipline at the collegiate
level. This degree covers the intricacies and nuances of chemical reactors,
thermodynamics, transport phenomena, and numerical methods and typically
includes a large-scale original research project and comprehensive exams.
https://www.learnhowtobecome.org/engineering-careers/chemical/
Some
courses at B.Eng Level
Some
courses at Masters Level
What
Can You Do With a College Degree in Chemical Engineering?
Employers of many different
stripes seek the analytical and problem-solving skills developed by chemical
engineers in the course of their degree programs.
One major role for chemical
engineers is the development and operation of chemical processing plants, as
well as the equipment in those plants. Engineers might use software to plan the
design of a plant, or they might develop the software that is used to plan the
design. They may also be involved in obtaining the equipment, coordinating the
construction, and supervising the plant operations. Other chemical engineers
might be more involved in research and development, where they work with
chemists or perform some of the research themselves.
Chemical engineers who are
knowledgeable about a company or a specific product can act as troubleshooters
by finding ways to improve plant operations. Being a successful troubleshooter
requires a thorough understanding of the process and equipment, the ability to
apply chemical engineering principles to problem solving, and a set of advanced
data interpretation skills.
The same skills that allow
chemical engineers to work effectively on a plant floor can help them
transition to a career in the boardroom. Many chemical engineers use their
creative troubleshooting abilities and their advanced interpersonal skills to
advance into management positions.
Sometimes a chemical
engineer's special knowledge of a product or a process leads to a career as a
consultant, where he or she can work with several firms in an industry. At
other times, a chemical engineer will take the knowledge learned over a career
back into the classroom and pass it along to the next generation of chemical
engineers. Chemical engineers who develop their communication skills can also
enjoy a separate or supplemental occupation as a technical writer or author.
Not every chemical engineer
is a generalist. Many choose a specific career path, develop an area of
expertise, or serve a single purpose on a team. Some areas of specialty
include:
Biochemical engineering
This field focuses on the
chemical processes occurring naturally in plants and animals. Food companies
hire chemical engineers to improve crop yields by developing safer pest control
products for farmers and distributors. Utility companies employ chemical engineers
who examine ways to dispose of waste more efficiently while delivering supplies
of clean drinking water to challenging locations.
Food engineering
As the world's population
increases, researchers are looking for new and better ways to improve the
quality and extend the life of food products. Food chemical engineers also try
to make crops more disease-resistant and safer to eat.
Petroleum and petrochemical
engineering
Petroleum is a finite
resource, so chemical engineers constantly seek better ways to find and extract
oil and natural gas. Oil companies deploy teams of chemical engineers to
existing plants and refineries to improve production yields from dwindling
fossil fuel deposits. Chemical engineers also travel to new drilling locations
to help teams of scientists develop better ways to tap previously overlooked
sources of oil and gas. At the same time, chemical engineers also search for
safer and more efficient methods of developing oil-based products. By
integrating smart production methods at the site of the drilling or during the
refining process, chemical engineers have discovered ways to create useful
products by recycling waste elements.
Process control
Computers play an important
role in just about every profession, and chemical engineering is no exception.
Engineers oversee the quality-control portions of product development, such as
temperature and liquid levels in processing tanks. Process control specialists
improve production to a diverse array of industries, ranging from ice cream production
to plastics manufacturing.
Pharmaceuticals
In conjunction with medical
researchers, chemical engineers help design and operate the equipment that
produces life-enhancing drugs. Chemical engineers specialize in taking the
concepts of new drugs from the lab to the factory floor by discovering ways to
scale these new inventions. Over time, their efforts produce medicine that
costs less for consumers and can be made more efficiently in facilities around
the world.
Production
Chemical and manufacturing
plants require professionals to oversee their equipment and processes. Some
employers use chemical engineers to maintain production levels or to advise in
the purchase and layout of the equipment.
Chemical
Process Design
In chemical
engineering, process design is
the choice and sequencing of units for desired physical and/or chemical
transformation of materials. Process design is central to chemical engineering,
and it can be considered to be the summit of that field, bringing together all
of the field's components.
Process design can be the
design of new facilities or it can be the modification or expansion of existing
facilities. The design starts at a conceptual level and ultimately ends in the
form of fabrication and construction plans.
Process design is distinct
from equipment design, which is closer in spirit to the design of unit
operations. Processes often include many unit operations.
Chemical process design requires the selection of a series of processing steps and their integration to form a complete manufacturing system. Once a structure for the process has been established, then a mathematical model of the process can be developed and the process simulated. The type of product, scale of production, and life cycle of the product have major influences on the priorities in chemical process design. Short life cycles require the design of multiproduct processes.
Chemical processes should
be designed to maximize the sustainability of industrial activity. For chemical
processing, this means that processes should use raw materials, energy, and
water as efficiently as is economic and practicable, both to prevent the
production of waste that can be environmentally harmful and to preserve the
sources of raw materials, energy, and water as much as possible. All aspects of
chemical processing must feature good health and safety practice.
The design might be a new
design or the retrofit of an existing process. If the design is a retrofit,
then one of the objectives should be to maximize the use of existing equipment,
even if it is not ideally suited to its new purpose. Both continuous and batch
process operation can be used. Different approaches to chemical process design
can be adopted.
Robin Smith (2015):
Chemical Process Design. Wiley Online Library. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/0471238961.chemsmit.a01.pub2
Accessed, 13/11/2019
Chemical Process Design
Companies play a vital role in bringing up new chemical industries and also
provides solutions for retrofitting the old ones to increase the production
level. This article helps fresh Chemical Engineers to provide an idea about
various Chemical Design Companies and their services, Chemical Engineers job profile
and skill set needed to achieve professional excellence.
Chemical Process Design
Companies carry out Technical and economic feasibility study, Technical audits,
Performance and Optimization study, Engineering Procurement & construction,
Project management etc
Basic engineering packages,
Detailed engineering packages, HAZOP study, Operator training simulators
are also developed as per the client requirement.
Most of the Chemical design
companies have their own technology for manufacturing chemicals/ petrochemicals
and so they provide Commissioning and start up assistance to achieve
performance guarantee trial run of the plant.
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