Chemical Engineering
Engineering, in general, is a business which deals with the design, construction, and operation of the systems and equipment for both industrial and public use. Chemical engineering, in particular, is devoted to the development of systems and equipment for the manufacture of products such as acids, dyes, drugs, plastics, and synthetics for the chemical industry. Chemical engineers are responsible for designing practical applications for basic chemical research in order to transform raw materials into useful products. They must use not only chemistry, but also mathematics, physics, and engineering in order to solve problems. Chemical engineering utilizes many aspects of chemistry, including energy transfer, thermodynamics, mass, momentum, and chemical kinetics.
Because the field of chemical engineering utilizes many different aspects of chemistry, there are numerous applications in which a member of the profession may specialize. A chemical engineer may specialize in pharmaceutical chemistry, petrochemicals, food additives, ceramics, environmental clean- up, safety engineering, or nuclear chemistry. Other important specializations include biotechnology, chemical production, electrochemistry, paints and coatings, and water technology. Two people who both call themselves chemical engineers may actually do two very different things.
The chemical engineering profession was not always so widely accepted and diverse. In the late 1800s there were people who called themselves "chemical engineers," but there was no unity in their education or specializations. The earliest chemical engineers were mechanical engineers who dabbled in chemistry or worked in a chemical plant. Chemical engineering, as we know it today, started in 1888, when the Massachusetts Institute of Technology first offered a formal degree in the field. In 1892 the University of Pennsylvania and later, in 1894, Tulane University both offered formal chemical engineering programs as well.
The field of chemistry existed long before that of chemical engineering. It became necessary to educate chemists differently as the Industrial Revolution began. Many so-called "industrial chemicals" were becoming necessary in great quantities in order to continue the expansion of industry. One such chemical was sulfuric acid. If a company could produce sulfuric acid in large quantities quickly and with low cost, it would enjoy large profits because of the great demand for the chemical. The method which was used to produce this acid in the early 1800s was the Lead-Chamber Method. This method simply required air, water, sulfur dioxide, a nitrate, and a large lead container. The nitrate was quite expensive and not very efficient to work with. The chemical plants which produced sulfuric acid could barely keep up with the demand. In 1859 a new method was introduced, called the Glover Tower. This utilized a mass transfer tower which recovered nitrate lost to the atmosphere in the Lead-Chamber Method. Engineers were becoming necessary in the chemical industry because of the economic demand for more modern and more productive chemical plants.
Another important industrial chemical at this time was soda ash (Na2CO3), which was used in the production of glass, soap, and textiles. This alkali compound was originally harvested from natural sources, such as trees or kelp. As these natural sources became depleted, a new source was needed. The Le Blanc Process, designed in the early 1800s, converted salt into soda ash. One problem with this process was the high levels of pollution and the potential health hazards to anyone living near a soda ash plant. Another process, called the Solvay Process, could produce soda ash in a more direct way which created much less pollution. Because it was a more direct process, complex engineering had to be employed in order to use it in a large-scale chemical plant.
The need for a new chemist who had an understanding of engineering processes was quickly becoming apparent. In England in 1880 a "Society of Chemical Engineers" was unsuccessfully attempted. Chemical engineering was still not considered a separate profession, and there was no clear- cut definition of what a chemical engineer actually did. It was only a few years later when formal chemical engineering programs were started in colleges and universities. The main focus of these programs was to prepare chemists to fulfill the demands of the chemical industry. The course work involved an emphasis on mechanical engineering in combination with industrial chemistry. Competition between chemical plants to manufacture the most product at the lowest cost increased the demand for the chemical engineer. Early chemical engineers focused on optimizing the chemical plants of the industrial revolution, utilizing such processes as continuously operating reactors, purification of products, and recycling reactants.
Despite the need for chemical engineers in industry, chemical engineering as a separate profession was not immediately recognized. Many members of industry believed that chemists could solve just as many problems. In 1908 the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) was formed in order to validate and unite the profession. Despite early conflicts with the American Chemical Society, AIChE survived and is still in existence today. The formation of this organization not only gave the field of chemical engineering formal recognition, but also helped convince the chemical industry that chemical engineers should be used in plant design and operation instead of mechanical engineers.
Despite the recognition of chemical engineering as a profession and the introduction of several formal chemical engineering programs, there were still inconsistencies in the education and training of chemical engineers. To solve this problem, AIChE started an accreditation program for schools offering chemical engineering degrees. In 1925 a list of 14 schools was published which had earned accreditation. Chemical engineering was the first profession which utilized accreditation in order to gain consistency and ensure the appropriate education of its members. Eventually, other branches of engineering followed suit and in 1932 the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology was formed.
The focus of the chemical engineering profession changed with the onset of World War I. Instead of being concerned with industrialization, the chemical engineer was enlisted to create materials which could be used in the war. Chemical industries in America were now working toward a common goal instead of competing with each other. As a result, ammonia plants were built which produced not only fertilizers, but the necessary explosives to help win the war.
During World War II, new applications of chemical engineering were introduced. In the beginning of the war, Japan captured rubber producing lands, including 90% of America's natural rubber sources. Rubber was very important during the war and was used by the military for tires, gaskets, hoses, and boots. Chemical engineers had to design factories to produce synthetic rubber and actually increased synthetic rubber production by over a hundred times. Efficient high-octane gasoline was also important for war efforts and in 1940 the Standard Oil Company developed a catalytic reforming process which produced not only high octane fuel from less expensive petroleum, but also toluene for trinitrotoluene (TNT). In 1942, the chemical engineers at Du Pont began the design and eventually the operation of a plutonium production plant to use for the new atomic bomb. This plant was called Hanford Engineering Works and was a major contribution of chemical engineering to the war efforts.
After the war, the chemical engineering profession began to focus on the petroleum industry, which is still a major branch of chemical engineering today. With the continuous introduction of new technologies, the field of chemical engineering is constantly evolving. Chemical engineers today need to respond to industrial as well as technological demands. Chemical engineering education is also changing, with a much stronger mathematical and technical background now than was found in the original chemical engineering programs. New fields of specialization are constantly being introduced, especially in the areas of biotechnology, electronics, food processing, pharmaceuticals, and environmental clean-up. Chemical engineering is an important profession and as long as technological advances continue to be made, the demand for chemical engineers will continue to rise.
This is the complete article, containing 1,278 words
(approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page).
