Why Chemical Engineering?
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What are Chemical Engineers?
Chemical engineers today are engaged in highly diverse activities ranging from regenerative medicine and food processing to searching for solutions to the global energy problem.
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What are Chemical Engineers?
We use chemistry and understand chemical reactions...
But we're not just chemists.
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What are Chemical Engineers?
We use physics...
But we're not just physicists.
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What are Chemical Engineers?
We use maths and carry out mathematical calculations...
But we're not just mathematicians.
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What are Chemical Engineers?
We use computer simulations to visualise chemical processes...
But we're not just computer programmers.
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What are Chemical Engineers?
We are concerned about energy use, sustainability, carbon cycle and global warming...
But we're not just environmentalists.
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What are Chemical Engineers?
We establish whether a process can run economically and efficiently...
But we're not just economists.
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So what are Chemical Engineers?
Chemical Engineers are chemists, physicists, mathematicians, programmers, environmentalists and economists making industrial scale "chemical" products.
The discipline of Chemical Engineering has its origins in oil refining and petrochemical production, and whilst our graduates still find employment in this area, there has been a fundamental change in emphasis; chemical engineers today are engaged in highly diverse activities ranging from regenerative medicine and food processing to searching for solutions to the global energy problem.
During this transition the fundamentals of the subject have changed relatively little; rather, it is the scope for the application of chemical engineering principles that has expanded greatly.
Chemical Engineering is quite distinct from Chemistry. Although many of the processes chemical engineers deal with involve chemical reactions, the contribution of chemists and chemical engineers is quite different - even though they quite frequently work together. Chemists strive to find new pathways to desired end products and to investigate mechanisms of reactions.
The role of the chemical engineer is to translate this information to design processes that must not only be economically viable but must increasingly demonstrate minimal environmental impact.
As the slide show above illustrates, Chemical Engineering draws on a wide variety of skills and knowledge. In fact the problem-solving and numeracy skills of chemical engineers are highly sought after by employers and help to explain why chemical engineers top the scales of all the major engineering professions.