Chemical engineering is the department of engineering that offers with chemical manufacturing and the manufacture of merchandise by way of chemical processes. This contains designing gear, techniques and processes for refining uncooked supplies and for mixing, compounding and processing chemical compounds to make invaluable merchandise.
George E. Davis, an English engineer, is credited with founding the sphere of chemical engineering within the late nineteenth century. He revealed the primary actually complete overview of the observe in his two-volume “Handbook of Chemical Engineering” (Davis Bros., 1901; revised 1904), primarily based on a collection of 12 lectures he gave on the Manchester College of Know-how (now a part of the College of Manchester). Apparently, he by no means taught one other course in his lifetime, opting to commit his profession to consulting. His handbook, nevertheless, would function the elemental textual content for chemical engineering research for many years to come back.
What do chemical engineers do?
Chemical engineers apply the rules of chemistry, biology, physics and math to resolve issues that contain the manufacturing or use of chemical compounds, gas, medication, meals and lots of different merchandise, in accordance with the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
Chemical engineers work in a wide range of fields, in accordance with the BLS. For example, they could work at a petroleum refinery to show crude oil into gasoline, jet gas, diesel gas, lubricating oil, solvents and petrochemicals; at a fertilizer plant to provide ammonium nitrate, or at a personal-care product producer to combine dozens of substances to provide shampoo or pores and skin lotion.
Listed here are some current tasks involving chemical engineers:
- Norma Alcantar, an affiliate professor within the division of chemical and biomedical engineering on the College of South Florida, is investigating properties of prickly pears within the hope of creating strategies for rural and underdeveloped communities to purify consuming water.
- Jong-Man Kim, a chemical engineer at Hanyang College in South Korea, developed a brand new fingerprinting methodology utilizing sweat pores. It could be quicker and extra dependable than conventional strategies.
- Mike Solomon, a chemical engineer on the College of Michigan in Ann Arbor, is main a workforce that’s creating a technique of controlling crystals utilizing gentle and chemistry, which might make clothes or vehicles change colour on demand.
Academic necessities
Chemical engineering combines a background in chemistry with engineering and economics ideas to resolve technological issues. Essential abilities wanted in chemical engineering are an in-depth understanding of chemistry, mechanical engineering and fluid dynamics. Moreover, manufacturing services might be fairly giant, and structural issues have to be taken under consideration. For that reason, chemical engineers usually want data of structural engineering.
Increasingly, chemical engineers depend on computer-aided design (CAD) techniques to create chemical vegetation and gear, in accordance with the BLS. CAD techniques permit for fast and simple modifications of designs.
The place do chemical engineers work?
Chemical engineering jobs fall into two important teams: industrial purposes and growth of recent merchandise. Chemical engineers might spend time at industrial vegetation, refineries and different places, the place they monitor or direct operations or resolve on-site issues.
Manufacturing industries that make use of chemical engineers embrace petroleum refining, plastics, paint, batteries, agricultural chemical compounds (fertilizers, pest management and weed management), explosives, textiles, meals processing, shopper merchandise (cleansing, private care, garden care) and prescribed drugs in addition to chemical producers that offer merchandise to numerous different industries.
Many chemical engineers belong to the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), an expert group established in 1908 that has greater than 45,000 members in over 100 nations.
Chemical engineer wage
Most chemical engineer jobs require at the least a bachelor’s diploma in chemical engineering, and lots of employers additionally require state certification as an expert engineer (PE). A grasp’s diploma is commonly required for promotion to administration, and ongoing schooling and coaching are wanted to maintain up with advances in expertise, check gear, laptop {hardware} and software program in addition to authorities laws.
In response to Wage.com, as of July 2014 the wage vary for a newly graduated chemical engineer with a bachelor’s diploma is $53,493 to $82,127. The vary for a mid-level engineer with a grasp’s diploma and 5 to 10 years of expertise is $72,520 to $113,348; and the vary for a senior engineer with a grasp’s diploma or doctorate and greater than 15 years of expertise is $97,687 to $144,016. Many skilled engineers with superior levels are promoted to administration positions the place they’ll earn much more.
What’s the way forward for chemical engineering?
The BLS estimates that employment of chemical engineers will develop 4 % from 2012 to 2022, slower than the common for all occupations. “Demand for chemical engineers’ companies relies upon largely on demand for the merchandise of assorted manufacturing industries,” the BLS mentioned. There ought to nonetheless be many alternatives for extremely certified candidates, significantly those that have saved abreast of the most recent developments in expertise.
Jim Lucas is a contract author and editor specializing in physics, astronomy and engineering. He’s normal supervisor of Lucas Applied sciences.