What do chemical engineers know?

Chemical engineers learn a range of scientific and engineering principles and techniques. Training programmes rest on a firm base of maths and science - typically requiring A-level chemstry, maths and physics - and explore the following principles and areas. A small selection are described in more detail.

The link at the bottom of the page may be followed to tour the pages in order:

• Conservation of mass and energy
• Equations of heat and mass transfer, on both microscopic and macroscopic scales
• Fluid dynamics
• Basic structural mechanics
• Particulate processing
• Biotechnology
• Process dynamics and control
• Optimisation techniques
• Dimensional analysis
• Process safety and risk assessment
• Economics

Unit Operations

Commercial processes usually comprise distinct steps; chemical engineers call each step a unit operation. There are a number of unit operations common to diverse industries and Chemical Engineering courses typically study these detail. This is an opportunity to see some of the above principles in action, as well as preparing the chemical engineer with some specialist knowledge which is likely to be of use at some stage in his or her career.

The range of unit operations varies slightly between courses, but the most common are:

• Distillation columns
• Filtration units
• Reactors
• Heat exchangers

Conservation of mass and energy