Chemical engineering
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Chemical engineers design, construct and
operate process plants (fractionating columns pictured)
Chemical engineering is an engineering field which deals with the study of
operation and design of chemical plants as well as methods of improving
production. Chemical engineers develop economical commercial processes
to convert raw materials into useful products. Chemical engineering uses
principles of chemistry, physics, mathematics, biology, and economics to
efficiently use, produce, design, transport and transform energy and
materials. The work of chemical engineers can range from the utilization
of nanotechnology and nanomaterials in the laboratory to large-scale
industrial processes that convert chemicals, raw materials, living cells,
microorganisms, and energy into useful forms and products. Chemical
engineers are involved in many aspects of plant design and operation,
including safety and hazard assessments, process design and
analysis, modeling, control engineering, chemical reaction
engineering, nuclear engineering, biological engineering, construction
specification, and operating instructions.
Chemical engineers typically hold a degree in Chemical Engineering
or Process Engineering. Practicing engineers may have professional
certification and be accredited members of a professional body. Such
bodies include the Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE) or
the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE). A degree in
chemical engineering is directly linked with all of the other engineering
disciplines, to various extents.
Etymology
[edit]
George E. Davis
A 1996 article cites James F. Donnelly for mentioning an 1839 reference to
chemical engineering in relation to the production of sulfuric acid.[1] In the
same paper, however, George E. Davis, an English consultant, was
credited with having coined the term.[2] Davis also tried to found a Society of
Chemical Engineering, but instead, it was named the Society of Chemical
Industry (1881), with Davis as its first secretary.[3][4] The History of Science
in United States: An Encyclopedia puts the use of the term around 1890.
[5]
"Chemical engineering", describing the use of mechanical equipment in
the chemical industry, became common vocabulary in England after 1850.
[6]
By 1910, the profession, "chemical engineer," was already in common
use in Britain and the United States.[7]
History
[edit]
Main article: History of chemical engineering
New concepts and innovations
[edit]
Demonstration model of a direct-methanol fuel
cell. The actual fuel cell stack is the layered cube shape in the center of the
image.
In the 1940s, it became clear that unit operations alone were insufficient in
developing chemical reactors. While the predominance of unit operations in
chemical engineering courses in Britain and the United States continued
until the 1960s, transport phenomena started to receive greater focus.
[8]
Along with other novel concepts, such as process systems
engineering (PSE), a "second paradigm" was defined.[9][10] Transport
phenomena gave an analytical approach to chemical engineering[11] while
PSE focused on its synthetic elements, such as those of a control
system and process design.[12] Developments in chemical engineering
before and after World War II were mainly incited by the petrochemical
industry;[13] however, advances in other fields were made as well.
Advancements in biochemical engineering in the 1940s, for example, found
application in the pharmaceutical industry, and allowed for the mass
production of various antibiotics, including penicillin and streptomycin.
[14]
Meanwhile, progress in polymer science in the 1950s paved way for the
"age of plastics".[15]
Safety and hazard developments
[edit]
Concerns regarding large-scale chemical manufacturing facilities' safety
and environmental impact were also raised during this period. Silent
Spring, published in 1962, alerted its readers to the harmful effects of DDT,
a potent insecticide.[16] The 1974 Flixborough disaster in the United
Kingdom resulted in 28 deaths, as well as damage to a chemical plant and
three nearby villages.[17] 1984 Bhopal disaster in India resulted in almost
4,000 deaths.[citation needed] These incidents, along with other incidents, affected
the reputation of the trade as industrial safety and environmental
protection were given more focus.[18] In response, the IChemE required
safety to be part of every degree course that it accredited after 1982. By
the 1970s, legislation and monitoring agencies were instituted in various
countries, such as France, Germany, and the United States.[19] In time, the
systematic application of safety principles to chemical and other process
plants began to be considered a specific discipline, known as process
safety.[20]
Recent progress
[edit]
Advancements in computer science found applications for designing and
managing plants, simplifying calculations and drawings that previously had
to be done manually. The completion of the Human Genome Project is also
seen as a major development, not only advancing chemical engineering
but genetic engineering and genomics as well.[21] Chemical engineering
principles were used to produce DNA sequences in large quantities.[22]
Concepts
[edit]
Part of a series on
Chemical engineering
Outline
History
Index
Fundamentals
Industry
Engineer
Process
Unit operations
Kinetics
Transport phenomena
Unit processes
Chemical plant
Chemical reactor
Separation processes
Aspects
Heat transfer
Mass transfer
Fluid dynamics
Process design
Process control
Chemical thermodynamics
Reaction engineering
Glossaries
Glossary of chemistry
Glossary of engineering
A–L
M–Z
Category
v
t
e
Chemical engineering involves the application of several principles. Key
concepts are presented below.
Plant design and construction
[edit]
Chemical engineering design concerns the creation of plans, specifications,
and economic analyses for pilot plants, new plants, or plant modifications.
Design engineers often work in a consulting role, designing plants to meet
clients' needs. Design is limited by several factors, including funding,
government regulations, and safety standards. These constraints dictate a
plant's choice of process, materials, and equipment.[23]
Plant construction is coordinated by project engineers and project
managers,[24] depending on the size of the investment. A chemical engineer
may do the job of project engineer full-time or part of the time, which
requires additional training and job skills or act as a consultant to the
project group. In the USA the education of chemical engineering graduates
from the Baccalaureate programs accredited by ABET do not usually stress
project engineering education, which can be obtained by specialized
training, as electives, or from graduate programs. Project engineering jobs
are some of the largest employers for chemical engineers.[25]
Process design and analysis
[edit]
Main article: Process design
A unit operation is a physical step in an individual chemical engineering
process. Unit operations (such
as crystallization, filtration, drying and evaporation) are used to prepare
reactants, purifying and separating its products, recycling unspent
reactants, and controlling energy transfer in reactors.[26] On the other hand,
a unit process is the chemical equivalent of a unit operation. Along with unit
operations, unit processes constitute a process operation. Unit processes
(such as nitration, hydrogenation, and oxidation involve the conversion of
materials by biochemical, thermochemical and other means. Chemical
engineers responsible for these are called process engineers.[27]
Process design requires the definition of equipment types and sizes as well
as how they are connected and the materials of construction. Details are
often printed on a Process Flow Diagram which is used to control the
capacity and reliability of a new or existing chemical factory.
Education for chemical engineers in the first college degree 3 or 4 years of
study stresses the principles and practices of process design. The same
skills are used in existing chemical plants to evaluate the efficiency and
make recommendations for improvements.
Transport phenomena
[edit]
Main article: Transport phenomena
Modeling and analysis of transport phenomena is essential for many
industrial applications. Transport phenomena involve fluid dynamics, heat
transfer and mass transfer, which are governed mainly by momentum
transfer, energy transfer and transport of chemical species, respectively.
Models often involve separate considerations
for macroscopic, microscopic and molecular level phenomena. Modeling of
transport phenomena, therefore, requires an understanding of applied
mathematics.[28]
Applications and practice
[edit]
Chemical engineers use computers to control
automated systems in plants[29]
Chemical engineers develop economic ways of using materials and energy.
[30]
Chemical engineers use chemistry and engineering to turn raw materials
into usable products, such as medicine, petrochemicals, and plastics on a
large-scale, industrial setting. They are also involved in waste
management and research.[31][32] Both applied and research facets could
make extensive use of computers.[29]
Chemical engineers may be involved in industry or university research
where they are tasked with designing and performing experiments, by
scaling up theoretical chemical reactions, to create better and safer
methods for production, pollution control, and resource conservation. They
may be involved in designing and constructing plants as a project engineer.
Chemical engineers serving as project engineers use their knowledge in
selecting optimal production methods and plant equipment to minimize
costs and maximize safety and profitability. After plant construction,
chemical engineering project managers may be involved in equipment
upgrades, troubleshooting, and daily operations in either full-time or
consulting roles. [33]
