What a chemical engineer do?

Hi, Steemers!! How are you all? Today we are going to talk about what exactly a chemical engineer do, starting with a non-technical post.

Figure 1- A chemical engineer in an industrial plant.

Image by UNSW Sidney from School of Chemical Engineering

A lot of people ask me what a chemical engineer do, even my mom haha. Actually sometimes even who studies or wants to study chemical engineering don't have the exactly idea of what a chemical engineer do.

Basically a chemical engineer is the professional responsible for develop, design and manage chemical manufacturing processes, transforming raw materials into manufactured products. This makes the chemical engineer a needed professional in almost all kind of industries as petrochemical, chemicals, automotive, pharmaceuticals and so on

Figure 2- Petrochemical industrial plant of Saudi Aramco, currently the biggest enterprise worldwide in market cap

Image by Anthony DiPaola from Saudi Aramco

But chemical engineering is a wide branch of science, making possible to a chemical engineer also work in many other different areas as environmental, renewable energy, business, sales, management and much more. It is worth to remember that that professional does not study only chemistry, but also physics, mathematics, and computer science applicable to chemical engineering as a basis to subjects as thermodynamics, transfer heat, unit operations and much more, which makes the chemical engineer a multidisciplinary professional.

And I cannot forget the promising, and my favorite, areas where a chemical engineer can work: biotechnology, new advanced materials and nanotechnology. Those are some of the areas who shape the 4.0 Industry and the future.

One example is graphene, a nanomaterial consisting of a single layer of carbon atoms arranged in a two-dimensional honeycomb lattice. It is a disruptive technology due its thermal, electrical, optical and mechanical properties. Graphene is the thinnest compound known to man at one atom thick, the lightest material known (with 1 square meter weighing around 0.77 milligrams), the strongest compound discovered (between 100-300 times stronger than steel), the best conductor of heat at room temperature and also the best conductor of electricity known. Other notable properties of graphene are its uniform absorption of light across the visible (almost does not absorbs visible light) and near-infrared parts of the spectrum, and its potential suitability for use in spin transport (GRAPHENEA).

Citing some applications in chemical engineering there are: Li-ion batteries, water desalination, coatings prevent corrosion and heat exchangers.

Figure 3- Computational 3D image of graphene

Image by Graphenea from Graphenea

The only obstacle to a Graphene Revolution is that the only method of making large-area graphene was a very expensive and complex process (Chemical Vapor Deposition, CVD). Therefore, it is the role of a chemical engineer to discover a better way to produce graphene and we are doing so right now.

In sum, a chemical engineer can do a lot of things and it is a very important professional nowadays and probably will be in the future. And this professional can work since from industries to laboratories and offices. However, I just cited some examples of what a chemical engineer do because if I was cite everything I would need more posts to do so haha.

Figure 4- Three chemical engineers working in a laboratory

Image by CareerOneStop from 17-2041.00 - Chemical Engineers.

I also recommend a very good video talking about the chemical engineer profession by Zach Star channel:
O que é engenharia química? (translation: what is chemical engineering?). Access on:

Well, that is all and I hope you like and learn with this post.

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Thanks again and see you!

References

DIPAOLA, Anthony. Saudi Aramco to lift oil-trading volume to 6 million barrels per day. Press: Shippingwatch, 2018. Available on: https://shippingwatch.com/Offshore/article10543745.ece. Access on: February 21th, 2021.
GRAFENEA. Graphene- What is it?. Available on: https://www.graphenea.com/pages/graphene#.YDJtx-hKjIU. Access on: February 21th, 2021.
OCCUPATIONAL OUTLOOK HANDBOOK. Chemical Engineers. Available on: https://www.bls.gov/ooh/architecture-and-engineering/chemical-engineers.htm#tab-1. Access on: February 21th, 2021.
UNSW SIDNEY. About chemical engineering. Available on: https://www.engineering.unsw.edu.au/chemical-engineering/study-with-us/careers/about-chemical-engineering. Access on: February 21th, 2021.