Chemical engineering is an engineering field which deals with the study of the 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.
A chemical engineer is a professional equipped with the knowledge of chemistry and other basic sciences who works principally in the chemical industry to convert basic raw materials into a variety of products and deals with the design and operation of plants and equipment. This person applies the principles of chemical engineering in any of its various practical applications, such as
- Design, manufacture, and operation of plants and machinery in industrial chemical and related processes ;
- Development of new or adapted substances for products ranging from foods and beverages to cosmetics to cleaners to pharmaceutical ingredients, among many other products ;
- Development of new technologies such as fuel cells, hydrogen power and nanotechnology, as well as working in fields wholly or partially derived from chemical engineering such as materials science, polymer engineering, and biomedical engineering. This can include working of geophysical projects such as rivers, stones, and signs.
Soni Olufemi Olubunmi Oyekan was a Nigerian-American chemical engineer, inventor, entrepreneur, author, mentor and educator. Oyekan was the President and CEO of Prafis Energy Solutions, an oil refining and energy consulting company. During his career, he has been involved in both research and development and management at a number of major oil companies. He held patents and has made other contributions in the areas of chemical engineering, oil refining, and catalytic systems, including the publication of Catalytic Naphtha Reforming Process (2018).
Biological engineering or bioengineering is the application of principles of biology and the tools of engineering to create usable, tangible, economically viable products. Biological engineering employs knowledge and expertise from a number of pure and applied sciences, such as mass and heat transfer, kinetics, biocatalysts, biomechanics, bioinformatics, separation and purification processes, bioreactor design, surface science, fluid mechanics, thermodynamics, and polymer science. It is used in the design of medical devices, diagnostic equipment, biocompatible materials, renewable energy, ecological engineering, agricultural engineering, process engineering and catalysis, and other areas that improve the living standards of societies.
The Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE) is a global professional engineering institution with 30,000 members in 114 countries. It was founded in 1922 and awarded a Royal Charter in 1957.
Process safety is an interdisciplinary engineering domain focusing on the study, prevention, and management of large-scale fires, explosions and chemical accidents in process plants or other facilities dealing with hazardous materials, such as refineries and oil and gas production installations. Thus, process safety is generally concerned with the prevention of, control of, mitigation of and recovery from unintentional hazardous materials releases that can have a serious effect to people, plant and/or the environment.
William Hultz Walker was an American chemist and professor. He was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and graduated in 1890 at Penn State College and took his Ph.D. at Göttingen (1892). In 1894 he accepted the chair of industrial chemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where from 1908 he was also director of the research laboratory of applied chemistry. Walker was vice president of the International Congress of Applied Chemistry in 1893 and president of the American Electrochemical Society in 1910. The New York Section of the American Chemical Society conferred on him its Nichols medal in 1908.
Cato T. Laurencin FREng SLMH is an American engineer, physician, scientist, innovator and a University Professor of the University of Connecticut.
Margaret Hutchinson Rousseau was an American chemical engineer who designed the first commercial penicillin production plant. She was the first female member of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers.
Rakesh Agrawal is the Winthrop E. Stone Distinguished Professor of Chemical Engineering at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. He is a chemical engineer known for contributions to separations, cryogenic gas separation and liquefaction, and for contributions to renewable energy including the conversion of biomass to chemicals and fuels, inorganic solar cell fabrication, and the synergistic use of solar energy.
Thomas Flynn Edgar is an American chemical engineer.
Ruth Misener is a professor at the Department of Computing, Imperial College London. Her research concentrates on the development of software and optimisation algorithms for energy efficient engineering and biomedical systems.
Camille Petit is a Reader in Materials Engineering at Imperial College London. She designs and characterises functional materials for environmental sustainability.
Carol Klein Hall is an American chemical engineer, the Camille Dreyfus Distinguished University Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at North Carolina State University. Her research involves biomolecule simulation, self-assembly of soft materials, and the design of synthetic peptides.
Pablo G. Debenedetti is the Class of 1950 Professor in Engineering and Applied Science and a professor of chemical and biological engineering at Princeton University. He served as Princeton's Dean for Research from 2013 to 2023. His research focuses on thermodynamics, statistical mechanics, and computer simulations of liquids and glasses.
Ignacio E. Grossmann is an American chemical engineer. He is the R. R. Dean University Professor in the department of chemical engineering at Carnegie Mellon University. Grossmann received his B.S. degree from Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City in 1974. He did his M.S. and Ph.D. at Imperial College London with Roger W. H. Sargent in 1975 and 1977 respectively. In 2015 he was the first recipient of the Sargent Medal of the Institution of Chemical Engineers, named in honor of his doctoral advisor.
Martha Anne Grover is an American chemical engineer who is a professor and chair of graduate studies at the Georgia Tech School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. Her research considers molecular self assembly and the emergence of biological functions.
Christine Sharon Grant is an American chemical engineer who is the Associate Dean of Faculty Advancement at North Carolina State University. Her research considers surface and environmental science. She is the 2022 President of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers.
Kristen A. Fichthorn is an American chemical engineer and condensed matter physicist
Dianne Dorland is an American chemical engineer and STEM education advocate. She served as the first female president of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers. She is also the former chair of the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Minnesota Duluth and the former dean of the Henry M. Rowan College of Engineering at Rowan University.
