Chemical engineering

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Chemical engineers design, construct and operate process plants (fractionating columns pictured) Colonne distillazione.jpg
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.

Contents

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

George E. Davis George E Davis 2.jpg
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

New concepts and innovations

Demonstration model of a direct-methanol fuel cell. The actual fuel cell stack is the layered cube shape in the center of the image. Fuel cell NASA p48600ac.jpg
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

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

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

Chemical engineering involves the application of several principles. Key concepts are presented below.

Plant design and construction

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

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

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

Chemical engineers use computers to control automated systems in plants Chemengg.jpg
Chemical engineers use computers to control automated systems in plants

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]

See also

Associations

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Engineering</span> Applied science and research

Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to solve technical problems, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve systems. Modern engineering comprises many subfields which include designing and improving infrastructure, machinery, vehicles, electronics, materials, and energy systems.

Nuclear engineering is the engineering discipline concerned with designing and applying systems that utilize the energy released by nuclear processes. The most prominent application of nuclear engineering is the generation of electricity. Worldwide, some 440 nuclear reactors in 32 countries generate 10 percent of the world's energy through nuclear fission. In the future, it is expected that nuclear fusion will add another nuclear means of generating energy. Both reactions make use of the nuclear binding energy released when atomic nucleons are either separated (fission) or brought together (fusion). The energy available is given by the binding energy curve, and the amount generated is much greater than that generated through chemical reactions. Fission of 1 gram of uranium yields as much energy as burning 3 tons of coal or 600 gallons of fuel oil, without adding carbon dioxide to the atmosphere.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paper engineering</span>

Paper engineering is a branch of engineering that deals with the usage of physical science and life sciences in conjunction with mathematics as applied to the converting of raw materials into useful paper products and co-products. The field applies various principles in process engineering and unit operations to the manufacture of paper, chemicals, energy and related materials. The following timeline shows some of the key steps in the development of the science of chemical and bioprocess engineering:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chemical engineer</span> Professional in the field of chemical engineering

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

  1. Design, manufacture, and operation of plants and machinery in industrial chemical and related processes ;
  2. Development of new or adapted substances for products ranging from foods and beverages to cosmetics to cleaners to pharmaceutical ingredients, among many other products ;
  3. 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.

Process engineering is the understanding and application of the fundamental principles and laws of nature that allow humans to transform raw material and energy into products that are useful to society, at an industrial level. By taking advantage of the driving forces of nature such as pressure, temperature and concentration gradients, as well as the law of conservation of mass, process engineers can develop methods to synthesize and purify large quantities of desired chemical products. Process engineering focuses on the design, operation, control, optimization and intensification of chemical, physical, and biological processes. Process engineering encompasses a vast range of industries, such as agriculture, automotive, biotechnical, chemical, food, material development, mining, nuclear, petrochemical, pharmaceutical, and software development. The application of systematic computer-based methods to process engineering is "process systems engineering".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Unit operation</span> Basic step in a process

In chemical engineering and related fields, a unit operation is a basic step in a process. Unit operations involve a physical change or chemical transformation such as separation, crystallization, evaporation, filtration, polymerization, isomerization, and other reactions. For example, in milk processing, the following unit operations are involved: homogenization, pasteurization, and packaging. These unit operations are connected to create the overall process. A process may require many unit operations to obtain the desired product from the starting materials, or feedstocks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chemical reactor</span> Enclosed volume where interconversion of compounds takes place

A chemical reactor is an enclosed volume in which a chemical reaction takes place. In chemical engineering, it is generally understood to be a process vessel used to carry out a chemical reaction, which is one of the classic unit operations in chemical process analysis. The design of a chemical reactor deals with multiple aspects of chemical engineering. Chemical engineers design reactors to maximize net present value for the given reaction. Designers ensure that the reaction proceeds with the highest efficiency towards the desired output product, producing the highest yield of product while requiring the least amount of money to purchase and operate. Normal operating expenses include energy input, energy removal, raw material costs, labor, etc. Energy changes can come in the form of heating or cooling, pumping to increase pressure, frictional pressure loss or agitation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chemical plant</span> Industrial process plant that manufactures chemicals

A chemical plant is an industrial process plant that manufactures chemicals, usually on a large scale. The general objective of a chemical plant is to create new material wealth via the chemical or biological transformation and or separation of materials. Chemical plants use specialized equipment, units, and technology in the manufacturing process. Other kinds of plants, such as polymer, pharmaceutical, food, and some beverage production facilities, power plants, oil refineries or other refineries, natural gas processing and biochemical plants, water and wastewater treatment, and pollution control equipment use many technologies that have similarities to chemical plant technology such as fluid systems and chemical reactor systems. Some would consider an oil refinery or a pharmaceutical or polymer manufacturer to be effectively a chemical plant.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research</span> Indias premier nuclear research centre

Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR) is one of India's premier nuclear research centres. It is the second largest establishment of the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), next to Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), located at Kalpakkam, 80 km south of Chennai, India. It was established in 1971 as an exclusive centre dedicated to the pursuit of fast reactor science and technology, due to the vision of Vikram Sarabhai. Originally, it was called Reactor Research Centre (RRC). It was renamed to Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR) by the then Prime Minister of India Rajiv Gandhi in December 1985. The centre is engaged in broad-based multidisciplinary programme of scientific research and advanced engineering directed towards the development of fast breeder reactor technology in India.

In chemical engineering, process design is the choice and sequencing of units for desired physical and/or chemical transformation of materials. Process design is central to chemical engineering, and it can be considered to be the summit of that field, bringing together all of the field's components.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Packed bed</span> A hollow object filled with material that does not fully obstruct fluid flow

In chemical processing, a packed bed is a hollow tube, pipe, or other vessel that is filled with a packing material. The packed bed can be randomly filled with small objects like Raschig rings or else it can be a specifically designed structured packing. Packed beds may also contain catalyst particles or adsorbents such as zeolite pellets, granular activated carbon, etc.

Chemical engineering is a discipline that was developed out of those practicing "industrial chemistry" in the late 19th century. Before the Industrial Revolution, industrial chemicals and other consumer products such as soap were mainly produced through batch processing. Batch processing is labour-intensive and individuals mix predetermined amounts of ingredients in a vessel, heat, cool or pressurize the mixture for a predetermined length of time. The product may then be isolated, purified and tested to achieve a saleable product. Batch processes are still performed today on higher value products, such as pharmaceutical intermediates, speciality and formulated products such as perfumes and paints, or in food manufacture such as pure maple syrups, where a profit can still be made despite batch methods being slower and inefficient in terms of labour and equipment usage. Due to the application of Chemical Engineering techniques during manufacturing process development, larger volume chemicals are now produced through continuous "assembly line" chemical processes. The Industrial Revolution was when a shift from batch to more continuous processing began to occur. Today commodity chemicals and petrochemicals are predominantly made using continuous manufacturing processes whereas speciality chemicals, fine chemicals and pharmaceuticals are made using batch processes.

In the chemical and process industries, a process has inherent safety if it has a low level of danger even if things go wrong. Inherent safety contrasts with other processes where a high degree of hazard is controlled by protective systems. As perfect safety cannot be achieved, common practice is to talk about inherently safer design. “An inherently safer design is one that avoids hazards instead of controlling them, particularly by reducing the amount of hazardous material and the number of hazardous operations in the plant.”

Warren Kendall Lewis was an MIT professor who has been called the father of modern chemical engineering. He co-authored an early major textbook on the subject which essentially introduced the concept of unit operations. He also co-developed the Houdry process under contract to The Standard Oil Company of New Jersey into modern fluid catalytic cracking with Edwin R. Gilliland, another MIT professor.

<i>Perrys Chemical Engineers Handbook</i> 1934 reference book for chemical engineering

Perry's Chemical Engineers' Handbook was first published in 1934 and the most current ninth edition was published in July 2018. It has been a source of chemical engineering knowledge for chemical engineers, and a wide variety of other engineers and scientists, through eight previous editions spanning more than 80 years.

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to chemical engineering:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fluidized bed reactor</span> Reactor carrying multiphase chemical reactions with solid particles suspended in an ascending fluid

A fluidized bed reactor (FBR) is a type of reactor device that can be used to carry out a variety of multiphase chemical reactions. In this type of reactor, a fluid is passed through a solid granular material at high enough speeds to suspend the solid and cause it to behave as though it were a fluid. This process, known as fluidization, imparts many important advantages to an FBR. As a result, FBRs are used for many industrial applications.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Industrial engineering</span> Branch of engineering which deals with the optimization of complex processes or systems

Industrial engineering is an engineering profession that is concerned with the optimization of complex processes, systems, or organizations by developing, improving and implementing integumentary systems of people, money, knowledge, information and equipment. Industrial engineering is central to manufacturing operations.

Electrochemical engineering is the branch of chemical engineering dealing with the technological applications of electrochemical phenomena, such as electrosynthesis of chemicals, electrowinning and refining of metals, flow batteries and fuel cells, surface modification by electrodeposition, electrochemical separations and corrosion.

References

  1. ↑ Cohen 1996, p. 172.
  2. ↑ Cohen 1996, p. 174.
  3. ↑ Swindin, N. (1953). "George E. Davis memorial lecture". Transactions of the Institution of Chemical Engineers. 31.
  4. ↑ Flavell-While, Claudia (2012). "Chemical Engineers Who Changed the World: Meet the Daddy" (PDF). The Chemical Engineer. 52-54. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 October 2016. Retrieved 27 October 2016.
  5. ↑ Reynolds 2001, p. 176.
  6. ↑ Cohen 1996, p. 186.
  7. ↑ Perkins 2003, p. 20.
  8. ↑ Cohen 1996, p. 185.
  9. ↑ Ogawa 2007, p. 2.
  10. ↑ Perkins 2003, p. 29.
  11. ↑ Perkins 2003, p. 30.
  12. ↑ Perkins 2003, p. 31.
  13. ↑ Reynolds 2001, p. 177.
  14. ↑ Perkins 2003, pp. 32–33.
  15. ↑ Kim 2002, p. 7S.
  16. ↑ Dunn, Rob (May 31, 2012). "In retrospect: Silent Spring". Nature. 485 (7400): 578–579. Bibcode:2012Natur.485..578D. doi: 10.1038/485578a . ISSN   0028-0836. S2CID   4429741.
  17. ↑ Bennet, Simon (September 1, 1999). "Disasters as Heuristics? A Case Study". Australian Journal of Emergency Management. 14 (3): 32.
  18. ↑ Kim 2002, p. 8S.
  19. ↑ Perkins 2003, p. 35.
  20. ↑ CCPS (2016). Introduction to Process Safety for Undergraduates and Engineers. Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN   978-1-118-94950-4.
  21. ↑ Kim 2002, p. 9S.
  22. ↑ American Institute of Chemical Engineers 2003a.
  23. ↑ Towler & Sinnott 2008, pp. 2–3.
  24. ↑ Herbst, Andrew; Hans Verwijs (Oct. 19-22). "Project Engineering: Interdisciplinary Coordination and Overall Engineering Quality Control". Proc. of the Annual IAC conference of the American Society for Engineering Management 1 ( ISBN   9781618393616): 15–21
  25. ↑ "What Do Chemical Engineers Do?". Archived from the original on 2014-05-02. Retrieved 2015-08-23.
  26. ↑ McCabe, Smith & Hariott 1993, p. 4.
  27. ↑ Silla 2003, pp. 8–9.
  28. ↑ Bird, Stewart & Lightfoot 2002, pp. 1–2.
  29. 1 2 Garner 2003, pp. 47–48.
  30. ↑ American Institute of Chemical Engineers 2003, Article III.
  31. ↑ Soriano-Molina, P.; García Sánchez, J.L.; Malato, S.; Plaza-Bolaños, P.; Agüera, A.; Sánchez Pérez, J.A. (2019-11-05). "On the design and operation of solar photo-Fenton open reactors for the removal of contaminants of emerging concern from WWTP effluents at neutral pH". Applied Catalysis B: Environmental. 256: 117801. doi:10.1016/j.apcatb.2019.117801. ISSN   0926-3373. S2CID   195424881.
  32. ↑ Nieto-Sandoval, Julia; Gomez-Herrero, Esther; Munoz, Macarena; De Pedro, Zahara M.; Casas, Jose A. (2021-09-15). "Palladium-based Catalytic Membrane Reactor for the continuous flow hydrodechlorination of chlorinated micropollutants". Applied Catalysis B: Environmental. 293: 120235. doi:10.1016/j.apcatb.2021.120235. hdl: 10486/700639 . ISSN   0926-3373.
  33. ↑ Garner 2003, pp. 49–50.

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