Chemical processing-Work of chemical Engineer in Chemical processing

Chemical Processing and the work of chemical engineer:-

By 1990 there were about 60,000 chemical engineers and 250,000 chemists gainfully employed in United States. There are a modest number of self trained persons and transfers from other fields of science and engineering who have entered the chemical manufacturing. So probably around 200,000 professional persons are engaged in chemical manufacturing in some fashion. Most chemical engineers work for private industry. In 1981, surveys by the American institute of chemical engineers  (AIChE) showed over 90 percent so employed in following functional area.

Area	%
Process	23.4
Research and development	23.0
Administration	9.3
production	7.7
Design	5.0
consulting	4.9
Project management-construction	4.5
Environmental engineering	4.1
Education	4.8
Product engineering	1.3
Maintenance	0.9
Quality control	0.7
Other	4.6

Source AIChE report AUGUST 1981

The wide spectrum of application shows that chemical engineers must be trained to function in any phase of chemical manufacturing.

Commercial chemical processing involves chemical conversions and physical operations and presupposes factory scale equipment and chemical engineering experience. To keep the factory from corroding away, resistant construction material must be selected. Efficient plant operation requires instruments for recording and controlling processing variables. Harmful impurities in raw materials must be controlled and product purities monitored .Instruments that perform these functions have largely replaced analytical chemists mainly because of lower cost and for greater speeds.

Basic Chemical Data:-

Chemistry is the basic science on which the chemical industries rest. The function of chemical engineer is to apply the chemistry of a particular process through the use of coordinated scientific and engineering principles. To do this effectively, the engineer must develop the research laboratory results of chemist into an economical chemical process. The most important single factor in cost is usually the yield, which must be carefully differentiated from conversions. Yield is that fractions of raw materials recovered as the main (or desired) product. Conversion is that fraction changed to something else-by products as well as products.