Thread: futurer chemical engineer ... needs your help :)

hi every one ! ...
i 've graduated from high school and i am intending to inter university ... i chose the major of chemical engineering ... and i was confirmed ....
well , i have some questions for chemical engineers ... i wish you could help me ...
first of all , what topics gonna we study ... i mean is it all chemistry ?! .. actually i can't tell the difference between chemistry and chemical engineering ?! so can you clarify for me how do they differ ... in general i wanna know if my decission of joining chemical engineering depatment was right !

No, it is not all chemistry. In fact some other disciplines like to refer to chemical engineers as glorified plumbers because a lot of what they do is connecting things up with pipe. You'll study chemistry, fluid flow, heat transfer, reaction kinetics, mathematics, economics, and unit operations which means the individual processes and equipment that are used to make up a process plant such as distillation, separation of phases, filtration, crystallization, drying, etc.

You will have to understand the basic chemistry, but you'll find that a lot of the routine calculations of reactions, separations processes, distillation, etc. are actually performed by simulation programs such as Aspen Hysys. See the link for some info on Hysys in universities. You'll see students with happy smiling faces and colorful shirts, so there's really nothing to worry about. 8)

http://www.aspentech.com/corporate/university/index.cfm

dear professor ...
first of all thanks for your valuable feedback ... ,
well , i am confused in making a decision ... i have got the opportunity to study in a petroluem institute - here in uae - where work after graduation is garunteed but in the petroleum field .. so do you think that working in petrol companies for chemical engineers is appropriate ..
and do you recommend me to read any thing as a perparation for college ... - i feel am exaggerating ! - ... but am really worried ...
again thanks for your response professor ...
best regards ..

I'm not a professor - that's just a silly title gained by posting many posts, regardless of quality.

There's no doubt that chemical engineering is an appropriate field of study if you want to work in petroleum engineering. There are two sides to petroleum - upstream, which is essentially production of oil and gas, and upgrading it to pipeline quality; and downstream, which is essentially refining and producing saleable products. In UAE there is now emphasis on liquified natural gas, and on synthetic fuels because their huge reserves of gas are far from the potential markets, so the gas has to be converted into a more energy-dense product so it can be transported by ship or pipeline. Synthetic fuels is a very interesting chemical engineering field (check out the Oryx GTL Project in Qatar) but has so far not proved to be economical. It's still an interesting developing field that needs new ideas.

dear bunbury ... thanks again for your appreciated response ...
and yes ... there is a significiant emphasis - here in the arabian gulf region - on the liquefied gas " autogas" due to its excessive efficiency , easy transport - relatively - beside that it is a clean source of energy ...
experts in this field will be so demanded and desired ...
and for the professor thing .. lol am sorry ! however i would like it if people considered me a professor ... thats an honor !

Originally Posted by sara azzam

dear bunbury ... thanks again for your appreciated response ...
and yes ... there is a significiant emphasis - here in the arabian gulf region - on the liquefied gas " autogas" due to its excessive efficiency , easy transport - relatively - beside that it is a clean source of energy ...
experts in this field will be so demanded and desired ...
and for the professor thing .. lol am sorry ! however i would like it if people considered me a professor ... thats an honor !

You're welcome, and good luck in your university experience.

By the way, autogas, or LPG, may be a cleaner fuel than oil, but it is not the same product as the synthetic fuel that the Oryx and the Pearl projects produce. The latter actually releases more CO2 cradle-to-grave than conventional oil.

I don't know about the UAE, but in the USA chemistry and chemical engineering have been merging more and more lately, especially at the higher levels. There are many conferences that are attended by people from both disciplines now, and simply looking at their research usually won't tell who is from which discipline.

Hey, just ran across this thread, I'm new here. I am also in my first semester of engineering at college and I'm pretty sure that I want to do ChemE. The only thing is, I have a strong interest in space exploration and furthering the progress of humanity, etc etc. From what I've heard, most Chemical Engineers end up working at a plant or for a corporation. Are there many job opportunities for Chemical Engineers outside of the chemical industry. I dunno, this seems like a dumb question, but it's kinda been nagging me since I got here. I know I won't really make a difference, but I want to try to do more than just make bleach.

Well many, perhaps most ChemE's start out working in a plant, running some unit in a refinery or a chemical plant, but they don't necessarily spend their entire careers there. The big oil companies do carry out research into interesting fields outside of oil and gas, such as synthetic photosynthesis, algae, and other renewable energy fields. It's relatively tiny part of their portfolio, although their advertising would make you think it's much bigger than it is.

I'm a chemical engineer, but I've never made bleach. I did make soap powder during an internship though. :P

Thanks for the info. Good to know that the field does have some depth. Having been through it already, do you have any recommendations for someone about to start the Chemical Engineering curriculum? Many of the engineering students at my school seem to think that the workload is formidable. Not that I'm worried about getting the work done, I'm more interested in if you have any advice or any outside reading that would be helpful to a student.

Chemical Engineering by Coulson and Richardson is available on Google Books. It will give you a good idea of what is to come. However I don't know how up to date it is.

The other indispensable book is Chemical Engineer's Handbook by Perry.

Here you can read a number of articles about current chemical plant engineering issues:

http://www.chemicalprocessing.com/issues/

Thanks so much I appreciate it. I started reading the Chemical Engineering book, looks really interesting.

Originally Posted by sara azzam

hi every one ! ...
i 've graduated from high school and i am intending to inter university ... i chose the major of chemical engineering ... and i was confirmed ....
well , i have some questions for chemical engineers ... i wish you could help me ...
first of all , what topics gonna we study ... i mean is it all chemistry ?! .. actually i can't tell the difference between chemistry and chemical engineering ?! so can you clarify for me how do they differ ... in general i wanna know if my decission of joining chemical engineering depatment was right !

futurer=future

i am intending to inter= I intend to enter

decission=decision

depatment=department

You're welcome.

Originally Posted by scones

... I want to do ChemE. The only thing is, I have a strong interest in space exploration and furthering the progress of humanity, etc etc.

Biopharma needs CE's to design, create, validate, test, troubleshoot, repair and maintain their in-lab systems, laboratories and facilities.

For that matter, there is nothing wrong with making bleach. You can develop a more efficient process for making bleach, perhaps one that produces less harmful byproducts. More efficient processes means cheaper bleach for the consumers of bleach. Therefore they will have more disposable income and leisure time for loftier pursuits. The progress of humanity is furthered.