In the field of engineering, a chemical engineer is the profession in which one 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 to perform such work.^[1] In general, a chemical engineer is one who applies and uses principles of chemical engineering in any of various practical applications; primarily with respect to the study of the design, manufacture, and operation of plant and machinery in industrial chemical and related processes. A number of famous or historical chemical engineers can be found in the list of chemical engineers. Engineering is the applied science of acquiring and applying knowledge to design, analysis, and/or construction of works for practical purposes. ... The chemical industry comprises the companies that produce industrial chemicals. ... Chemical engineering is the branch of engineering that deals with the application of physical science (e. ... This is a list of notable chemical engineers, people who studied or practiced chemical engineering. ...

History

The term appeared in print in 1839, though from the context it suggests a person with mechanical engineering knowledge working in the chemical industry.^[2] In 1880, George E. Davis wrote in a letter to Chemical News 'A Chemical Engineer is a person who possesses chemical and mechanical knowledge, and who applies that knowledge to the utilisation, on a manufacturing scale, of chemical action.' He proposed the name Society of Chemical Engineers, for what was in fact constituted as the Society of Chemical Industry. At the first General Meeting of the Society in 1882, some 15 of the 300 members described themselves as chemical engineers, but the Society's formation of a Chemical Engineering Group in 1918 attracted 400 members. ^[3] 1839 (MDCCCXXXIX) was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... Mechanical Engineering is an engineering discipline that involves the application of principles of physics for analysis, design, manufacturing, and maintenance of mechanical systems. ... The chemical industry comprises the companies that produce industrial chemicals. ... Year 1880 (MDCCCLXXX) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a leap year starting on Tuesday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... George E. Davis (1850-1907) is regarded as the founding father of the discipline of Chemical Engineering. ... The Society of Chemical Industry (SCI) is a learned society set up in 1881 to further the application of chemistry and related sciences for the public benefit.[1]. The headquarters are in Belgrave square, London, but there are also offices in the USA, Canada and Australia. ... Year 1882 (MDCCCLXXXII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Friday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ...

In 1924 the Institution of Chemical Engineers adopted the following definition 'A chemical engineer is a professional man experienced in the design, construction and operation of plant and works in which matter undergoes a change of state and composition.'^[4] (The first female member joined in 1942.)^[5] For the rap album, see 1924 (album). ... The Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE) is a British professional engineering institution founded in 1922. ...

As can be seen from the latter definition, the occupation is not limited to the chemical industry, but more generally the process industries, or other situations in which complex physical and/or chemical processes are to be managed. The chemical industry comprises the companies that produce industrial chemicals. ...

In 1951 the President of the Institution of Chemical Engineers said in his Presidential Address "I believe most of us would be willing to regard Edward Charles Howard (1774-1816) as the first chemical engineer of any eminence"^[6]. Others have suggested Johann Rudolf Glauber (1604-1670) for his development of processes for the manufacture of the major industrial acids^[7]. Edward Charles Howard was a Brittish chemist. ... Johann Rudolf Glauber (1604 - March 10, 1670), a German-Dutch alchemist and chemist. ...

Overview

Historically, the chemical engineer has been primarily concerned with process engineering. The modern discipline of chemical engineering, however, encompasses much more than just process engineering. Chemical engineers are now engaged in the development and production of a diverse range of products, as well as in commodity and specialty chemicals. These products include high performance materials needed for aerospace, automotive, biomedical, electronic, environmental and military applications. Examples include ultra-strong fibers, fabrics, adhesives and composites for vehicles, bio-compatible materials for implants and prosthetics, gels for medical applications, pharmaceuticals, and films with special dielectric, optical or spectroscopic properties for opto-electronic devices. Additionally, chemical engineering is often intertwined with biology and biomedical engineering. Many chemical engineers work on biological projects such as understanding biopolymers (proteins) and mapping the human genome. “Process engineering is about applying engineering approaches, techniques, and tools to the construction of Process Models. ... A chemical substance is any material substance used in or obtained by a process in chemistry: A chemical compound is a substance consisting of two or more chemical elements that are chemically combined in fixed proportions. ... Look up aerospace in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Automotive engineering is a branch of Vehicle engineering, incorporating elements of mechanical, electrical, electronic, software and safety engineering as applied to the design, manufacture and operation of automobiles, buses and trucks and their respective engineering subsystems. ... The AbioCor artificial heart, an example of a biomedical engineering application of mechanical engineering with biocompatible materials for Cardiothoracic Surgery using an artificial organ. ... This article is about the engineering discipline. ... Environmental engineering[1][2] is the application of science and engineering principles to improve the environment (air, water, and/or land resources), to provide healthy water, air, and land for human habitation and for other organisms, and to remediate polluted sites. ... It has been suggested that Textile be merged into this article or section. ... An adhesive is a compound that adheres or bonds two items together. ... Biocompatibility is the ability of a material to perform with an appropriate host response in a specific application. ... In optical filters and theatrical lighting a color gel is a transparent or translucent colored panel used to change the color of transmitted light. ... Pharmacology (in Greek: pharmacon is drug, and logos is science) is the study of how chemical substances interfere with living systems. ... Extremely high resolution spectrogram of the Sun showing thousands of elemental absorption lines (fraunhofer lines) Spectroscopy is the study of the interaction between radiation (electromagnetic radiation, or light, as well as particle radiation) and matter. ... Biology studies the variety of life (clockwise from top-left) E. coli, tree fern, gazelle, Goliath beetle Biology (from Greek: βίος, bio, life; and λόγος, logos, knowledge), also referred to as the biological sciences, is the study of living organisms utilizing the scientific method. ... The AbioCor artificial heart, an example of a biomedical engineering application of mechanical engineering with biocompatible materials for Cardiothoracic Surgery using an artificial organ. ... A representation of the 3D structure of myoglobin, showing coloured alpha helices. ... The Human Genome Project (HGP) is a project undertaken with a goal to understand the genetic make-up of the human species by determining the DNA sequence of the human genome and the genome of a few model organisms. ...

Employment and Salaries

In the United States of America, the Department of Labor estimated in 2006 the number of chemical engineers to be 29,060. The average hourly wage for a chemical engineer was $39.23 per hour, but ranged from $24.07 to $57.05 per hour. The median annual salary for a chemical engineer was $78,860, with the middle 80 percent of chemical engineers making between $50,060 and $118,670 annually.^[8] Chemical engineering has been cited as the highest-paying degree for first employment of college graduates.^[9] Subsequently, a high-end salary grade is common to this profession in the USA. The United States Department of Labor is a Cabinet department of the United States government responsible for occupational safety, wage and hour standards, unemployment insurance benefits, re-employment services, and some economic statistics. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

In the UK, the Institution of Chemical Engineers 2006 Salary Survey reported an average over £53,000, with a starting salary for a graduate averaging £24,000^[10]. The Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE) is a British professional engineering institution founded in 1922. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

See also

• American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE)
• Distillation
• Fluid dynamics
• Heat transfer
• History of chemical engineering
• Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE)
• List of chemical engineering societies
• List of chemical engineers
• Mass transfer
• Process design (chemical engineering)
• Process engineering
• Unit operations
• WikiProject: Chemical and Bio Engineering

The American Institute of Chemical Engineers, AIChE, (pronounced AKE ee) was established in 1908, with the purpose of establishing chemical engineers as a profession independent from chemists and mechanical engineers. ... Laboratory distillation set-up: 1: Heat source 2: Still pot 3: Still head 4: Thermometer/Boiling point temperature 5: Condenser 6: Cooling water in 7: Cooling water out 8: Distillate/receiving flask 9: Vacuum/gas inlet 10: Still receiver 11: Heat control 12: Stirrer speed control 13: Stirrer/heat plate... Fluid dynamics is the sub-discipline of fluid mechanics dealing with fluids (liquids and gases) in motion. ... In thermal physics, heat transfer is the passage of thermal energy from a hot to a cold body. ... Chemical engineering as a discipline is a little over a hundred years old. ... The Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE) is a British professional engineering institution founded in 1922. ... This is the list of chemical engineering societies in the world. ... This is a list of notable chemical engineers, people who studied or practiced chemical engineering. ... Mass transfer is the phrase commonly used in engineering for physical processes that involve molecular and convective transport of atoms and molecules within physical systems. ... Process design is the design of processes for desired physical and/or chemical transformation of materials. ... “Process engineering is about applying engineering approaches, techniques, and tools to the construction of Process Models. ... Unit operation is the basic principle of chemical engineering. ...

References

1. ^ Licker, Mark, D. (2003). Dictionary of Engineering, McGraw-Hill, 2nd Ed.
2. ^ Ure,Andrew (1839) A Dictionary of Arts Manufactures and Mines, London: Longman, Orme, Brown, Green & Longman, page 1220
3. ^ Colin Duvall and Sean F, Johnston (2000) Scaling Up: The Institution of Chemical Engineers and the Rise of a New Profession Kluwer Academic Publishers
4. ^ Transactions of the Institution of Chemical Engineers volume 2 page 23 (1924)
5. ^ Colin Duvall and Sean F, Johnston (2000)Scaling Up: The Institution of Chemical Engineers and the Rise of a New Profession Kluwer Academic Publishers
6. ^ Transactions of the IChemE (1951) Volume 29 page 163
7. ^ Herman Skolnik in W. F. Furter (ed) (1982) A Century of Chemical Engineering ISBN 0-306-40895-3 page 230
8. ^ U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics: Chemical Engineers
9. ^ Chemical Engineering Ranked Highest Paying Degree, Department of Chemical Engineering, Princeton University, February 15, 2006
10. ^ Institution of Chemical Engineers Annual Review 2006

External links

• Chemical Engineering Information Exchange
• American Institute of Chemical Engineers (USA)
• Institution of Chemical Engineers (UK)
• Canadian Society for Chemical Engineers
• Engineers Australia (AUS)
• Chemical Engineering sites (Open Directory Project)
• Chemical Engineering software (Open Directory Project)