Study Plan for Chemical Engineering
Chemical Engineering and its importance Advertisements Chemical engineering has a number of applications in our day to day lives. This course is offered to students at the graduate and postgraduate levels. Upon the accomplishment of their studies, individuals can apply for jobs with firms of the private or public sector firms. Placement opportunities are available for aspirants within some of the prestigious Indian firms such as Reliance and Indian Oil etc. One can say that this sector is one of the many areas where one can get good jobs as well as other opportunities of the right type.
In this article we are going to discuss about the importance of chemical engineering as well as its numerous applications. Importance of Chemical Engineering Areas where chemical engineering is applicable in our day to day lives include: Coal preparation and mineral processing Explosives manufacturing Fertilizer industry Food processing Glass and specialty chemicals Paints Steel and aluminum production In addition to the above mentioned areas, chemical engineering also has applications in production of electronics, clothing, paper and photographic equipment etc.
The scope for individuals in the field of chemical engineering is bound to grow in time. This is mainly because of industrial growth as well as the related scarcity of the resources those are required. In future years, chemical engineers will be needed to develop synthetic replacement for those resources as well as materials that are low in supply. In overall, it can be said that chemical engineers will be able to make very crucial contributions to the improvement in addition to the maintenance of the quality of our lives.
Areas where one can apply his knowledge: Although chemical engineering is relatively a new field, this field of engineering has shown a speedy expansion during the last few decades. This has in turn led to rise in importance of chemical engineering as well as the number of jobs. Career opportunities for these professionals are available with R&D departments, especially in the field of energy as well in developing fields such as nanotechnology and biotechnology. Chemical Plants Petrochemical Plants Pharmaceuticals Petroleum Refining Plants
Mineral Based Industries Electronics Industry Photographic Equipment Units Clothing Units Pulp and Paper Manufacturing Aircraft Industry Some Job Types Supervisor Technical Specialist Project Manager Project Engineer Teacher Researcher Environmental, Safety & Regulatory Manager Quality Manager Senior Process Engineer Product Development Engineer Fuel Meter Calibration Technician In the government sector, chemical engineers can find jobs in areas where solutions for environmental problems like recycling, water treatment and others are needed.
They can also get work with departments of energy conservation as well as with defense establishments. Sir William Wakeham on the Importance of Chemical Engineering Sep. 06, 2011 Sir William Wakeham, President, IChemE Sir William Wakeham, President, IChemE more Sir William Wakeham, President, IChemE From Reliance Industries’ Mukesh Ambani to stand-up comedian and perpetual watermelon smasher … A Wide Range – From Reliance Industries’ Mukesh Ambani and SABIC’s Mohammed al-Mady to stand-up comedian and perpetual watermelon smasher Gallagher, chemical engineers can be found in almost every walk of life. And if you have never heard of Gallagher, you can replace him with Dolph Lundgren, who forewent a career in chemical engineering when he found success as Ivan Drago in the movie Rocky IV). These days, chemical engineering is as diverse as the people who study it, covering areas from biotechnology to mineral processing, and its significance for the chemical industry is now more important than ever. Sir William Wakeham is currently president of the Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE), a global professional membership organization for people who have an interest in and relevant experience in chemical engineering.
He spoke with Brandi Schuster on how the field has evolved, what IChemE does to encourage students to study chemical engineering and the importance of having chemical engineers in all levels within chemical and pharmaceutical companies. CHEManager Europe: Sir William, the term “chemical engineering” doesn’t have quite the same meaning as maybe 50 years ago. How do you think the profession has evolved? Sir William Wakeham: These days there is much more of a focus on the word “process engineering” rather than “chemical engineering. Often the processes involved are still chemical, but they now encompass many more things than we thought about 50 years ago. These days you have trained chemical engineers working in many process applications that aren’t necessarily within the traditional realm of the chemical industry. One example of that is within the pharmaceutical business, in formulation engineering. This consists of the construction of pills, which goes hand-in-hand with the drug formulations.
That involves quite a lot of chemical engineering, but wouldn’t have been thought of as such 50 years ago. It’s a similar situation within the water industry. There is a lot of activity which could be considered process engineering, and probably most of the reactions, if there are any, are biological reactions. All in all, I think the term has been broaden quite a bit over the last several decades in order to include many more aspects and technologies. In fact, the term “chemical engineer” is probably being replaced by “process engineer. Is the future of chemical engineering one with a very broad base? Sir William Wakeham: Yes, and in my own experience, trained chemical or process engineers are the kinds of engineers who are most able to work with other disciplines, because they have already quite a breadth in their formation as engineers. That is not quite the same for, let’s say, civil engineers whose chemistry training is quite limited. Process engineers have a unique opportunity to bring scientists and other engineers together.
Most of the big problems that the world is facing are a bit like that; people have to be brought together from different areas. What about diversity within the profession, particularly when it comes to women? Sir William Wakeham: In the UK, total chemical engineering undergraduate numbers are the most positive for women’s recruitment of any engineering discipline. In the UK, about 27% of chemical engineering students are women; this is certainly a step in the right direction. What kind of activities does IChemE have to encourage more people to study chemical engineering?
Sir William Wakeham: We have an enormous focus on bringing people into chemical engineering courses; this has, at least in the UK, pushed the numbers through the roof. We are particularly interested in attracting women, and one of the key elements of doing that is having women on the staff of chemical engineering departments who do the recruitment. Here in the UK, most departments have a substantial number of women on their faculty. In other areas of the world, such as in the Middle East, there are some cultural issues that are additional difficulty.
However, in Malaysia, where we are also active, there are a significant number of women studying chemical engineering now. Apart from its European offices, IChemE is also represented in Asia, Africa and Australasia. Do you work towards promoting chemical engineering for women in these parts of the world as well? Sir William Wakeham: Yes. We have been using our activities in the UK as a basis, but fine-tuning it for the different cultural backgrounds. Clearly what needs to be done in Malaysia is not the same thing as what needs to be one in the UK. Our offices in these areas are usually staffed by local people, which is important for creating an understanding of the country’s needs. What is a chemical engineer’s role in an oil and gas industry? 2 years ago Report Abuse Shape Shape Best Answer – Chosen by Voters This is a very broad question as chemical engineers (as in someone with a chemical engineering degree) can do many different engineering jobs in the oil and gas industry, but other engineers can do them as well.
For example I know people with mechanical and chemical engineering degrees that are maintenance engineers with the same job responsibilities. The same goes for a drilling fluid engineer which could be held by people of varying background and technical degrees. A chemical engineer can be involved in all parts of the oil and gas industry from building the oil rigs, drilling the wells, pumping it out of the ground, transferring it through pipelines, separating in into usable chemicals in a refinery, and finally making petroleum based products in a chemical plant.
Source(s): Chemical Engineer Where Do Chemical Engineers Fit into the Upstream Oil and Gas Industry? By Katie Horner | Comments (8) Before working for an upstream oil company, I was under the impression that chemical engineers working in oil and gas belonged in pipeline and downstream operations. For those of you not in the industry, most large, integrated oil companies consist of an upstream organization and a downstream organization. The former focuses on exploration and production and the latter refines crude petroleum into usable products (gasoline, lubricants, etc. . Within upstream, processes and departments are often separated by subsurface work and surface facility work. Generally, most ChemE’s in upstream are found on the facility side, managing projects related to tanks, pumps, pipelines and separators. Pumping Unit in Bakersfield, Ca You may be asking, what about subsurface? And, can chemical engineers contribute to a traditionally petroleum engineering realm? The answer is, most definitely! A reservoir is essentially a large tank filled with porous media and reservoir fluids – oil, gas and water.
In order to recover oil or gas from a reservoir, chemical engineering fundamentals such as fluid mechanics, thermodynamics and heat transfer must be understood and applied. Petroleum engineering is not an exact science. Precise reservoir boundaries are often unknown, PVT samples are few and far between, recovery mechanisms are sometimes unclear, and original and current oil in place is determined probabilistically. The fact is, it wouldn’t be economical to collect all of the data to make it an exact science.
Without having all of the data, oil companies still have been successful in recovering resources thus far. However, we’ve picked the low hanging fruit when it comes to oil and gas resources and are moving toward environments with increased complexity – heavy oil, challenging shale plays, tight gas, deepwater exploration, etc. It’s often said that the best place to find oil is within currently or previously producing reservoirs. As we go back in and try to capture the residual oil, chemical engineering concepts will be critical in designing processes to recover these resources.
Many oil or gas recovery mechanisms are well understood, such as waterfloods or gas cap expansion. Fortunately for our profession, there are areas, such as steam and polymer floods, that still need the keen eyes of engineers to model and optimize. As we attempt to tackle the current global energy challenges, oil and gas will continue to be a key factor in the equation. While the focus of many chemical engineering graduates is in alternative energy solutions, there are still plenty of opportunities for a chemical engineer to make an impact in the world of upstream oil and gas.
