Chemical engineering is a branch of engineering that uses the principles of chemistry, physics, mathematics, and economics to efficiently use, produce, transform, and transport chemicals, materials, and energy. A chemical engineer designs a large-scale process that converts 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 assessment, process design and analysis, control engineering, chemical reaction engineering, construction specifications and operating instructions.
Video Chemical engineering
Etymology
The 1996 Journal article for the History of Science quotes James F. Donnelly for referencing the 1839 reference to chemical engineering in relation to the production of sulfuric acid. However, in the same paper, George E. Davis, an English consultant, is credited for having created the term. Davis also tried to find the Society of Chemical Engineering, but he was named the Society of Chemical Industry (1881), with Davis as its first Secretary. The Science History in the United States: An Encyclopedia puts the use of the term around 1890. "Chemical engineering", describes the use of mechanical equipment in the chemical industry, became a common vocabulary in England after 1850. In 1910, the profession, "engineer chemistry, "is already commonly used in the United Kingdom and the United States.
Maps Chemical engineering
History
Chemical engineering appears on the development of unit operations, the basic concept of chemical engineering disciplines. Most authors agree that Davis discovers the concept of unit operations if not substantially developed. He gave a series of lectures on unit operations at the Manchester Engineering School (next part of Manchester University) in 1887, regarded as one of the earliest on chemical engineering. Three years before Davis's lecture, Henry Edward Armstrong taught chemistry courses at City and Guilds of London Institute. Of course Armstrong "fails just because his graduates... are not very attractive to employers." Employers at that time will employ chemists and mechanical engineers. Courses in chemical engineering offered by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the United States, Owens College in Manchester, England, and University College London suffer under similar circumstances.
Beginning in 1888, Lewis M. Norton taught at MIT the first chemical engineering course in the United States. The Norton course is contemporary and essentially the same as the Armstrong course. Both courses, however, merely combine chemistry and engineering subjects. "Practitioners have trouble convincing engineers that they are engineers and chemists that they are not just chemists." The unit of operation was introduced to the course by William Hultz Walker in 1905. In the early 1920s, unit operations became an important aspect of chemical engineering at MIT and other US universities, as well as at Imperial College London. The American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), founded in 1908, plays a key role in the manufacture of chemical engineering that is considered an independent science, and a central operations unit for chemical engineering. For example, it defines chemical engineering to be "the science itself, the basis of which... unit operations" in the 1922 report; and by that principle, has published a list of academic institutions that offer "satisfactory" chemical engineering courses. Meanwhile, promoting chemical engineering as a distinct science in England led to the establishment of the Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE) in 1922. IChemE also helped to create an operating unit that was considered essential to discipline.
New concepts and innovations
In the 1940s, it became clear that the operating units alone were not sufficient in developing chemical reactors. While the dominance of unit operations in chemical engineering courses in England and the United States continued into the 1960s, transportation phenomena began to experience greater focus. Along with other new concepts, such as process system engineering (PSE), the "second paradigm" is defined. The transport phenomenon provides an analytical approach to chemical engineering while PSE focuses on its synthetic elements, such as control systems and process design. Developments in chemical engineering before and after World War II were mainly instigated by the petrochemical industry, however, advances in other fields were made as well. Advances in biochemical engineering in the 1940s, for example, found applications in the pharmaceutical industry, and enabled the mass production of various antibiotics, including penicillin and streptomycin. Meanwhile, advances in polymer science in the 1950s paved the way for the "plastic age".
Security and hazards developments
Concerns about the safety and environmental impact of large-scale chemical manufacturing facilities also increased during this period. Silent Spring , published in 1962, reminded readers of the harmful effects of DDT, a potent insecticide. The 1974 Flixborough disaster in the United Kingdom resulted in 28 deaths, as well as damage to chemical plants and three nearby villages. The Bhopal disaster of 1984 in India resulted in nearly 4,000 deaths. This incident, along with other incidents, affected the reputation of trade because industrial safety and environmental protection were given more focus. In response, IChemE needed safety to be part of every accredited degree program after 1982. In 1970, legislation and monitoring institutions were institutionalized in various countries, such as France, Germany, and the United States.
Recent progress
Advances in computer science invented the application of designing and managing plants, simplifying the 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 promoting chemical engineering but also genetic engineering and genomics. Principles of chemical engineering are used to produce large quantities of DNA sequences.
Drafts
Chemical engineering involves the application of several principles. Key concepts are presented below.
Chemical reaction engineering
Chemical engineering involves managing plant processes and conditions to ensure optimal plant operation. Chemical reaction engineers construct models for reactor analysis and design using laboratory data and physical parameters, such as chemical thermodynamics, to solve problems and predict reactor performance.
Factory design and construction
The design of chemical engineering concerns the creation of plans, specifications, and economic analysis for pilot plants, new plants or crop modifications. Design engineers often work in the role of consultants, designing plants to meet client needs. The design is limited by a number of factors, including funding, government regulations and security standards. These constraints determine the choice of processes, materials and plant equipment.
Plant construction is coordinated by project engineers and project managers depending on the size of the investment. Chemical engineers may undertake the work of a full-time project engineer or part of the time, requiring additional training and job skills, or acting as consultants to the project group. In the United States, chemical engineering graduate education from Baccalaureate programs accredited by ABET usually does not emphasize project engineering education, which can be gained by specialized training, as an option, or from a graduate program. Project engineering work is some of the largest companies for chemical engineers.
Design and process analysis
Unit operation is a physical step in individual chemical engineering processes. Unit operations (such as crystallization, filtration, drying and evaporation) are used to prepare the reactants, purify and separate the product, recycle the unused reactants, and control the transfer of energy in the reactor. On the other hand, the unit process is the chemical equivalent of unit operation. Along with unit operations, the unit process is a process operation. Unit processes (such as nitration and oxidation) involve the conversion of materials by biochemical, thermochemical and other means. The chemical engineer responsible for this is called the process engineer.
Process design requires the definition of the type and size of equipment as well as how they are linked together and construction materials. Details are often printed on Process Flow Charts used to control the capacity and reliability of new or modified chemical plants.
Education for chemical engineers at the first college level 3 or 4 years of study emphasizes the principles and practice of process design. The same skills are used in existing chemical plants to evaluate efficiency and make recommendations for improvement.
Transport phenomenon
Modeling and analysis of transport phenomena is essential for many industrial applications. The phenomenon of transport involves fluid dynamics, heat transfer and mass transfer, which is governed primarily by momentum transfer, energy transfer and transport of each chemical species. Models often involve separate considerations for macroscopic, microscopic and molecular-level phenomena. Modeling transport phenomena therefore requires an understanding of applied mathematics.
Apps and practices
Chemical engineers "develop an economic way of using materials and energy". Chemical engineers use chemicals and techniques to convert raw materials into usable products, such as pharmaceuticals, petrochemicals and plastics on a large scale, industrial settings. They are also involved in waste management and research. Applied aspects and research can utilize computers extensively.
Chemical engineers may be involved in industrial or university research where they are tasked to design and conduct experiments to create better and safer methods for production, pollution control, and resource conservation. They may be involved in designing and building factories as project engineers. Chemical engineers who serve as project engineers use their knowledge in choosing optimal production methods and factory equipment to minimize costs and maximize safety and profitability. After construction of the plant, chemical engineering project managers may be involved in equipment upgrades, process changes, problem solving, and daily operations either in full-time or consulting roles.
Related fields and topics
Today, the field of chemical engineering is diverse, covering areas from biotechnology and nanotechnology to mineral processing.
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See also
- Contemporary food engineering
- Education for Chemical Engineers
- British Engineering Unit
- List of chemical engineering communities
- List of chemical engineers
- List of chemical process simulators
- Chemical engineering outline
References
Bibliography
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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