Gauri Chhabra
One man’s magic is another man’s Engineering of has been rightly said about Engineering. Engineering may it be nay branch had made it possible to just dream and do. Have you ever wondered who converts raw materials in factories into valuable forms? Who is responsible for removing chemicals from factory waste? Who sets up and designs the factory plants? All this, and a lot more that seems magic to us is made possible by the chemical engineer- a person who has mastered Chemical Engineering.
Chemical Engineering, to put it simply, is the discipline that combines knowledge of Chemistry and Engineering for the production of chemicals and related by-products. This branch of engineering is a varied field, covering areas from biotechnology and nanotechnology to mineral processing. It covers various fields of chemical technology in mineral based industries, petrochemical plants, pharmaceuticals, synthetic fibers, petroleum refining plants and the like. Chemical engineers design and operate chemical plants and improve methods of production.
However, Chemical Engineering is different from chemical technology. Whereas the former is concerned with the designing, supervision, construction, installation and operation of plants and equipment for manufacturing chemical products and developing new methods of production, the latter deals with the actual production of substances with new properties which require new methods of production in the fields of petroleum refining, fertilizer technology, processing of food and agricultural products, paints and dyes; recycling metals, glass and plastics; cosmetics, mineral based industries and prevention and control of environmental hazards.
Career Pathways:
Since Chemical engineering occupies a broad spectrum, the job prospects and career options of a chemical engineer are also vast and varied. Chemical engineers play a key role in industries, mostly in the manufacturing field. Their work area varies from petroleum and petrochemicals to food, materials, specialty chemicals, plastics, power production, environmental control, waste management and biotechnology.
As it is a broad field,you could specialize in a particular chemical processand find your way in the following professions:
BioChemical Engineering:
Food companies hire chemical engineers to improve crop yields by developing safer pestcontrol products for farmers and distributors. Utility companies could employ you to examineways to dispose of waste more efficiently while delivering supplies of clean drinking water to challenginglocations.
Process Engineering:
A unit operation is a physical step in an individual chemical engineering process. Unit operations such as crystallization, drying and evaporation are used to prepare reactants, purifying and separating its products, recycling unspent reactants, and controlling energy transfer in reactors. 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 involve the conversion of material by biochemical, thermochemical and other means. Chemical engineers responsible for these are called process engineers.
As a Process Engineer, you can seek jobs in areas such as processing, operations or manufacturing, research and development, and the like.
Marketing:
Those with acumen for management may also pursue a management degree after B.Tech and take on marketing jobs. Private industry jobs are in bountiful after a management degree.In process industries they could work in positions such as a supervisor or manager, technical specialist, or a project manager.
Food Engineering:
In this world of ever increasing numbers, where everyone is becoming conscious of the quality of life, researchers are also looking for new andbetter ways to improve the quality and extend the life of food products. As a Food Chemical Engineer your job would be to make crops more disease-resistant and safer to eat.
Petroleum and Petro Chemical Engineering:
Petroleum is a finite resource, so Chemical Engineer sconstantly seek better ways to find and extract oil and natural gas. Oil companies deploy teams ofchemical engineers to existing plants and refineries to improve production that yields from dwindling fossilfuel deposits. Chemical Engineers also travel to new drilling locations to help team of scientists develop better ways to tap previously overlooked sources of oil and gas. At the same time, Chemical Engineers also search for safer and more efficient methods of developing oil-based products. By integrating smartproduction methods at the site of the drilling or during the refining process, chemical engineers have discovered ways to create useful products by recycling waste elements.
Pharmaceuticals:
In conjunction with medical researchers, as a Chemical Engineer you can help design andoperate the equipment that produces life-enhancing drugs specializing in taking the concept of new drugs from the lab to the factory floor by discovering ways to scale these new inventions.Over time, these efforts produce medicine that costs less for consumers and can be made more efficientlyin facilities around the world.
Production:
Some companies use chemical engineers to maintain production levels or to advise in thepurchase and layout of the equipment.They may be involved in designing and constructing plants as a project engineer. In this field, the chemical engineer uses their knowledge in selecting plant equipment and the optimum method of production to minimize costs and increase profitability. After its construction, you may help in upgrading its equipment and streamlining its daily operations.
Public Sector:
In the government sector, you may be employed to solve environmental problems such as waste and water treatment, on energy sector such as energy conservation and research on alternate energy sources and health-related research projects, defense establishments and atomic power plants. They are also employed in service industries such as scientific research and development services, particularly in energy and the developing fields of biotechnology and nanotechnology.
Other work areas include food processing, coal preparation and mineral processing, explosives manufacturing, chemical process industries such as fertilizer industry, including pesticides and herbicides, caustic soda, glass and specialty chemicals, dyes and dyestuff, paint, lubricants, steel and aluminum production. You may be employed in a variety of manufacturing industries other than chemical manufacturing, such as those producing electronics, photographic equipment, clothing, pulp and paper and even in the development of aircrafts.
The Road Ahead:
The scope for chemical engineers is expected to grow in future due to industrial expansion and the related scarcity of resources needed. They may be demand as they work to create synthetic replacements for those natural materials and resources that are in short supply. Overall chemical engineers could make a significant contribution for the improvement and maintenance of the quality of life.
For those of you who are wondering about the future, let me assure you the road ahead is both long and broad.You can get employment in almost all the sectors – Pharmaceuticals , Energy , Water , Food & Drink , Oil and Gas , Process Plants & Equipment , Biotechnology, Materials, Chemicals , Consultancy and the like.
Thus, climb up the ladder by opting for Chemical Engineering and a steep learning curve awaits you…
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