Scope of Chemical Engineering Flashcards
chemical engineers are involved in products in terms of their..
quality, economy, safety, environment
where are chemical engineers are concerned
not only with the manufacture of these compounds but also improving their quality by ensuring that they have desired
physical and chemical properties
where does the quality of the product should be dependent
market demands and other considerations such as impact
on health and environment
chemical engineers ask themselves: what are the properties required of the
end product they are manufacturing so that…
▪ it helps them design new processes to improve the quality of existing products.
▪ it forces them to innovate continuously and improve the quality of the existing products
and bring about changes in technology
in what way/s chemical engineers must learn in manufacturing?
▪ in an economical way,
▪ in a safer way, and
▪ in an environmentally friendly way.
what makes the chemical engineer versatile
sound knowledge of physics, chemistry, biology, and mathematics combined
with engineering principles
what is one characteristic of chemical engineering?
it is interdisciplinary as broad knowledge base gives the chemical engineer an opportunity to work in a wide
range of industries and disciplines
what does chemical engineers do?
- scaling up or down
- design of processes and process equipment
- design of utility support systems
- sales and marketing
- safety and environment
- cost estimates
- supervision of actual chemical plant operations
- chemical engineering research
- business and executive management
- study of biological systems
- development of system models
depending on the processes involved one has to have basic knowledge of what?
chemistry, biology,
and physics
In which an idea is developed from laboratory to industrial scale
scaling up
one of the challenges faced by chemical engineers
transformation from a concept in the laboratory to the process in a commercial
plant, i.e. increasing production from a few grams per hour to a few tons per hour
steps of scaling up operations
▪ After an idea is developed in a laboratory a demonstration plant of an intermediate scale
or size (known as pilot plant) is built before going in for the full-scale commercial
production.
▪ This helps identify new challenges that have to be addressed as a result of increasing the
scale of production.
▪ The operation of the pilot plant results in a lot of new knowledge being generated.
▪ The operation at this scale allows us to test different ideas to improve the performance.
▪ For instance, in a large vessel mixing the contents to maintain a uniform composition
could be a challenge.
▪ Similarly, ensuring a uniform temperature inside a large vessel is difficult as mixing is
usually poor.
▪ These issues have to be resolved production going from a small-scale to a large-scale
TRL
technology readiness level
chemical engineers are trained to…
identify the areas in a plant where improvements can be
made
process of production of a chemical or analysis of a
chemical can be carried out on a small chip
scaling down
example of scaling down
hand-held device to measure sugar levels in the blood for
patients with diabetes
major advantage of the scaling-down approach
affords a possibility to
have a decentralized way of producing and analyzing chemicals
several situations in which the scale-down approach is advantageous
designing a portable system for analyzing water samples in remote areas
aim of miniaturization of laboratory on a chip
similar revolution in the chemical industry
wherein it may be possible to carry out several reactions, analyze several species and produce
several products in a small hand-held device
The piping size; the number and type of trays in a distillation tower; the
configuration of coils, tubes, and baffles in a heat exchanger; the shape and size of
an agitator system; the shape and geometry of a solids hopper; the shape and
configuration of a chemical reactor; and the depth of packing in a tower are all
examples of such detailed design calculations.
design of processes and process equipment
design a system that will achieve the desired goals, but within practical
limitations
design or processes and process equipment
includes the supply of water for process and emergency cooling, continuity of
electrical supply for powered process equipment such as pumps and agitators, and
supply of oil, gas, or coal to generate steam and power
design of utility support systems
ability to understand the customer’s
process may be critical to the ability to
sell a material to a customer, especially if
it is a new material or requires substantial
change in a customer’s operation
sales and marketing
understand the basic
limitations of chemical processes, laws
of thermodynamics, and the limits of measurement capabilities
writing rules and regulations in safety and environment
