Chemical Engineering

What is a Chemical Engineering?

By definition: Chemical Engineering is the profession that combines chemistry and engineering concepts to help solve problems related to world hunger, pollution of our environment, creating new materials, or meeting demands for energy usage.

However, there are many ways to describe Chemical Engineering which is uniquely different from other forms of engineering. All engineers use mathematics, physics, and the engineering to overcome technical problems in a safe and economical way. Yet, it is the chemical engineer alone that draws upon the vast and powerful science of chemistry to solve a wide range of problems. The strong technical and social links between chemistry and engineering are unique in the fields of science and technology. The diversity that chemical engineering offers indicates that chemical engineers are an integral part of the fabric of the world industrial complex, and they will be called upon in the future to solve the worlds environmental, energy, and chemical process problems. .

The best way to understand chemical engineering is to celebrate their achievements. Over the past century, chemical engineers have made tremendous contributions to our standard of living. The American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) has compiled a list of the "Top Ten Chemical Engineering Contributions to Society" below:

1. Fuelling the world's economies

The world's $64 trillion economy needs energy to keep it moving. Chemical Engineers have made incredible strides in stretching our supplies of fossil fuels. From high-octane gasoline to jet fuel to motor oil, chemical engineers are powering world progress.

2. Creating clean energy

While reducing fossil fuel emissions, chemical engineers are also creating a new generation of clean energy technologies. Starting from nuclear power plant that provides electricity to your home, to the really small NiMh battery that powers your Prius. Chemical engineering is critical to meeting our future energy challenges.

3. Products for growing populations

Chemical engineers have purified our water supply and given us safer, slow-releasing fertilisers. And with the greening of manufacturing, like improvements in the production of ibuprofen, chemical engineers give us a way to better cope with the headaches of every life, without increasing the headaches for the environment.

4. Removing harmful sulphur from fuels

Fill up your car at the petrol pump today and you may cringe. But the discomfort centers on your wallet and not on any risk to your health. The catalytic converter developed by chemical engineers cleaned up automotive exhaust. Unleaded petrol is another chemical engineering innovation that made life better for children and living things.

5. Better living through chemistry

Like the commercials say, "Plastics made it possible". And chemical engineers have made plastics possible. Its easy to call plastics to mind - think bottles, bags, Tupperware. But, to recognise others - Bakelite, pantyhose, Styrofoam - you have to think outside the box. Just like chemical engineers do. That's why some plastics today are made from plants, rather than petroleum.

6. Stretching Natural Resources

Chemical engineers make innovative materials...from synthetic rubber that helped allies win World War II...to the thermoplastics on the soles of your athletic shoes...to the Kevlar vest  that protect law enforcement and our troops.

7. Large scale production engineering

Even if a product was created by a scientist, there's a good chance it was perfected and made practical by a chemical engineer. Your car doesn't rust because chemical engineers figured out how to protect  iron and steel. Your laundry detergent is more concentrated, cleans your clothes better, and is friendlier to the environment. And those handy disposable diapers? Thank chemical engineers.

8. Convenient and abundant food

When popping your favourite ready to eat meal in the microwave, don't just thank Chef Boyardee- thank Chemical engineers! They're responsible for putting some of your favourite foods into their more available, convenient forms. Think creamy peanut butter, cake mixes, fat-free snacks, pudding cups and beverage bottles.

9. Healing diseases and extending life

Chemical engineering has advanced medical science, improving  the quality of life and saving millions of lives. They've brought us an abundant supply of penicillin and other wonder drugs, the portable dialysis machine, transdermal patches, new treatments and painless testing for diabetics, non-invasive surgical techniques, and even modern sunscreen....to name a few innovations.

10. Powering the personal computer

The tools chemical engineers use to improve computers may have long-winded names, but their advances make our gadgets all the more powerful. Divided-wall columns for processing petrochemical fractions that help computers use less energy. Germanium-based silicon chips that help your laptop perform faster. From thin-filmed liquid crystal displays to software that simulates complex industrial processes, chemical engineers are helping to continue the computer revolution.

The above 10 achievements would not have been possible without chemical engineering. At the same time, all due credit should be given to scientists, inventors and other engineers, without whom it these achievements could not be realised.