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Chemical Engineering

OVERVIEW


Chemical engineering is the branch that deals with everything related to health care and daily usage products. Chemical Engineers understand the behavior of matter, how energy flows from one medium to another and power plant reactors. They use this knowledge to develop large scale processes that convert chemicals, raw materials, living cells, microorganisms and energy into useful forms and products. Chemical Engineers apply principles across biology, physics, chemistry, applied mathematics and economics. Hence Chemical Engineering is not only about Chemistry, as the name might suggest.

WHAT DOES A CHEMICAL ENGINEER DO?

Do you know what your soap is made of? Different type of chemical substances, right. But, how did those different chemicals mix together to form soap? This is only one example of problems Chemical Engineers solve everyday. As explained above, a chemical engineer starts with a daily need, identifies the raw materials, and then designs the processes required to create the needed products under certain operational constraints, such as resources and cost. In the case of a soap, the chemical engineer will decide what materials will go into making a soap and in what quantity. He/she will then decide what machines will be required and in what order. It is important to emphasize that chemical engineering is not all about chemistry. Chemistry is definitely used but to a limited extent.

To get a fair idea of the things a chemical engineer does have a look at the table below:

 

Situation

Chemical  Engineers 

The farmers in the world need to increase quantity and quality of food they produce. Improve food processing techniques and methods of producing fertilizers.
You fall ill and need medicines. Develop methods to produce large quantity of medicines using machines so that they are not costly.
You want appropriate clothes to travel to a colder location. Design synthetic fibres suitable to different weather conditions.
You need a ride to school. Create safer, more efficient methods of refining petroleum products, making energy and chemical sources more productive and cost effective.

TOP GLOBAL COMPANIES WHICH HIRE CHEMICAL ENGINEERS

KEY QUALITIES REQUIRED

Since chemical engineers deal with many non-technical people – their team members, people from other departments in their organization or people from different organizations, companies look for following qualities during recruitment:
Problem Solver – Understands complex issues and knows how to use technology to solve them.
Creative Thinker – Able to develop new approaches to development
Communicator – Can speak in both technical and nontechnical terms to a variety of audiences.
Collaborator – Able to use the input of others to design solutions.
Team Player – Works effectively in group settings.

FAMOUS CHEMICAL ENGINEERS

HOW TO BECOME A CHEMICAL ENGINEER?

STEP 1 : Choose Science With Mathematics after 10th (PCM)* And Prepare For Engineering Entrance Exams.

*Preferred stream for pursuing a career in Chemical Engineering. However, you can enter this field through other streams also by studying B.Sc Chemistry

As the name suggests, becoming a Chemical Engineer requires studying “Engineering”. Most of the colleges require students to compulsorily take Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics during 10+2. All engineering colleges in India admit students on the basis of competitive entrance exams – JEE Mains, JEE Advanced, BITSAT, MHT CET, ComedK as of February 2016. More information about these exams can be found in the appendix.

Step 2 : Take admission in Chemical Engineering or related Engineering disciplines

EXPLORE THE FIELD

RELATED CAREERS

Occupation

Job Description

Process Design Engineer Designs machines and materials in a manufacturing plant. Provides technical support and troubleshoots processes in a production facility.
Biomedical Engineer Works to develop artificial organs and to develop new treatments for human diseases.
Research & Development Engineer Seeks out new and efficient ways of producing existing products. Explores and develops new processes and products.
Quality Control Engineer Monitors the manufacturing process of a product to ensure that it meets specifications. Also, tests materials to determine how they perform over time.

USEFUL LINKS

 

Video on what a Chemical Engineer does Profile of Chemical Engineers who changed the world Chemical Engineering – Is it right for me? Top colleges to study Chemical Engineering in India
https://cdn.careeronestop.org/CareerVideos/17-2041.00.mp4 http://www.thechemicalengineer.com/chemical-engineers-who-changed-the-world.aspx https://youtu.be/5f5D194LHjw https://www.nirfindia.org/engg

Avanti, Chemical Engineering, Engineering

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