The branch of Engineering which is concerned with processes in which materials undergo a required change in composition, energy content or physical state at a reasonable cost and in the safest possible manner.
History of Chemical Engineering
For all intents and purposes the chemical engineering
profession began in 1888. While, the term "chemical engineer" had been floating around technical circles throughout the 1880's, there was no formal education for such a person. The "chemical engineer" of these years was either a mechanical engineer who had gained some knowledge of chemical process equipment, a chemical plant foreman with a lifetime of experience but little education, or an applied chemist with knowledge of large scale industrial chemical reactions.
Chemical Engineer
a) An Engineer who manufactures chemicals, b) A Chemist who works in a factory, or c) A glorified Plumber? This is actually a trick question as the correct answer is "None of the above."
Chemical Engineer
More typically, chemical engineers concern themselves
with the chemical processes that turn raw materials into valuable products. The necessary skills encompass all aspects of design, testing, scale-up, operation, control, and optimization, and require a detailed understanding of the various "unit operations", such as distillation, mixing, and biological processes, which make these conversions possible. Chemical engineering science utilizes mass, momentum, and energy transfer along with thermodynamics and chemical kinetics to analyze and improve on these "unit operations."
Chemical and Process Engineering: a generalized process
Raw materials
Energy Utilities
Operational Characteristics •Economic •Efficient •Controllable •Safe •Flexible •Environmental issues
PROCESS (INDUSTRY) Effluents
By-products
PRODUCTS
Some products whose manufacture involves the application of Chemical Engineering
Product