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:

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

Mukesh Ambani

Chairman of Reliance Industries Chemical Engg.,Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai

Devang Vipin

Current Director of IIT Bombay Khakhar, B.Tech Chemical Engineering, IIT Delhi 1981

Yoshio Nishi

Invented Lithium Ion batteries which power all Phones & laptops Chemical Engg., Keio University

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

For Class 10 and Below

Make your own waterproof shirt using principles of nanotechnology, an emerging area in Chemical Engineering from TryNano.Org

For Class 10 and Below

Make your own recycled paper at home & learn how Chemical Engineers have designed ways to manufacture large quantities of recycled paper in paper factories

For Class 10 and Below

Explore the 5 fundamental steps in “Engineering Design Process” which all engineers use to create a product or solution

For Class 11 aand 12

See how a copper coin changes color when dipped in different kitchen material and learn how Chemical Engineers use similar principles to coat Metals to make them corrosion resistant in industry

For Class 11 and 12

Participate in “Intel Science and Engineering Fair”, where 70 lakhs pre-college students from across the globe compete to present their ideas and projects.

For Class 11 and 12

Attend and participate in technical fests of Engineering colleges. E.g., Techfest IIT Bombay or Tryst IIT Delhi TH TH FOR CLASS 11 -1

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