Cairo UniversityFaculty of Engineering

Chemical Engineering Department

Introduction to Chemical Engineering

Chapter 1INTRODUCTION

October 2009

contents

1. General

2. What is a chemical engineer ?

3. What is special about chemical engineers?

4. Chemical engineers ten Greatest Achievements

5. Where you will get a job ?

6. Summary

7. Course outline

1. General

• Chemical engineering is one of the big four branches of engineering: civil, mechanical, electrical and chemical

• Chemical engineering is well established in Egypt ( see next slide )

• Chemical engineers are very well recognized in North America and Europe

Chemical Engineering Departments in Egypt

Cairo University1942

Alexandria University1946

Menya University 1978

Military Technical College 1962

10th of Ramadan Technical Institute 1990

Al Sherook Academy 1998

2. What is a chemical engineer?

We will answer the question after presnting two illustrative examples

Illustrative example 1

A chemist working in the research and development (R&D) department in a pharmaceutical company discovered a process for producing a new valuable substance C. The reaction he applied is as follows:

A + B C + unreacted A + unreacted B

The work of the chemist in the Lab may be illustrated as follows:

Lab Glassware

Inputs Process Outputs

10ml A

10ml BReaction

70o C

Heat Energy

Cooling

Filtration

Drying

Warm tap water

(Filtrate)

Unreacted A + B

Vapors

Product C19 m / batch

Heat energy

Cold tap water

Solid C

Inputs Description of Work in the Lab Outputs

10ml A10ml B

Heat energy

Tap waterfor Cooling

Filteration

Drying

Substance C

Filtrated to Sink

Product D one gram

Tap water to sink

Precipitated C

Glass rod for mixing

From laboratory scale to industrial scale

After a lot of discussions and studies (?), the company decided to build a plant to produce substance C with a production capacity of 1 ton/day.

lab scale: 1 gm/dayindustrial scale: 1,000,000 gm/dayscale up factor: 1,000,000

In the lab,a glass beaker isused as a reactor

Industrial reactor

Industrial size Chemical Reactor

Storage of raw materials

Liquid storage tank

Industrial dryer

Steam-tube rotary dryer

3. What is special about chemical engineers?

Chemical engineers master the process design required for the production of materials we use in our daily life.

They are involved in all phases of technology development:

IDEA APPLICATION of SCIENCE MANUFACTURE

• Physical, chemical, biological & engineering science• Economics, business, management science

Chemical engineers are described as the “universal engineer” because they have a broad knowledge of:

Chemical engineers design, test, scale-up, operate, control, and optimize "unit operations“ of a process, such as distillation, mixing, and reactions.

Only chemical engineers use chemistry along with mathematics, physics, biology to solve technical problems in a safe and economical fashion.

Chemical engineering science uses mass, momentum, and energy transfer along with thermodynamics and chemical kinetics to analyze processes and improve them.

Only chemical engineers develop chemical and biochemical processes that turn raw materials into valuable products.

4. Chemical engineers ten Greatest Achievements

1. Splitting of the atom and isolating isotopes. 2 . Mass production of cheap plastic. 3 . The development of the "Unit Operations" of the human

reactor 4 . Low price, high volume production of wonder drugs for

the masses.5. Synthetic fibers.6 . Liquefied air and its separation into pure constituents. 7 . Environmentally conscious engineering 8 . Chemical fertilizers, food processing, Biotechnology of

food production.9 . Petroleum processing 10. Synthetic Rubber.

5. Where you will get a job ?

Products and Processes

• Consumer ProductsFood, water, clothing, medicines, health & beauty aids, fuels, lubricants

• Commodity ChemicalsOxygen, water, sulfuric acid, ammonia, chlorine, lye (soap), ethylene oxide, plastics, rubber

• Electronic/Optical Matls.High purity silicon, compound semiconductors, thin films, optical polymers

• Special materialsBiomaterials (prostheses), Nylon, Kevlar, Teflon

• ProcessesLarge scale chemical plants continuous processes that make commodity chemicals at low cost($100–500 million)

Intermediate scale plants for specialty chemicals($10–100 million)

Small scale batch processes for biomaterials and bioengineering($1–10 million)

SOME SUB-CATAGORIES:

Pharmaceutical Engineering Plastics and Polymer Engineering Petroleum Engineering…

Chemical engineers provide the skills needed to develop new polymers for medical devices, powerful new alloys for aircraft, components for the development of computer and other electronics industries. Health care will require new manufacturing processes for pharmaceutical products and surgical procedures.

Chemical engineers are in many industrial sectors

Bachelor's Master's Doctor'sChemical Engineering $46,900 $52,100 $67,300Electrical Engineering $45,200 $57,200 $70,800Mechanical Engineering $43,300 $51,900 $64,300Civil Engineering $36,100 $42,300 $58,600

Source: "National Association of Colleges and Employers, 1999 Survey"

Note that BS chemical engineers are loosing their salary advantage

USA data: 1999 Entry Level Wages Based on Degree Earned

Bachelor's Master's Doctor'sChemistry $29,500 $38,500 $59,300Source: "ACS Survey of recent graduates, 1998"

USA data: 1998 Entry Level Wages Based on Degree Earned

http://www.aiche.org/careerservices/library/pdf/salary080202.pdf

Please read this article:

6. Summary

• Chemical engineering is the application of science, mathematics and economics to the process of converting raw materials or chemicals into more useful or valuable forms.

• Chemical Engineering largely involves the design and maintenance of chemical processes for large-scale manufacture. Chemical engineers in this branch are usually employed under the title of process engineer.

(Cnt’d) Summary

The individual processes used by chemical engineers (eg. distillation or chlorination) are called unit operations and consist of chemical reaction, mass-, heat- and momentum- transfer operations. Unit operations are grouped together in various configurations for the purpose of chemical synthesis and/or chemical separation.

(cont’d) Summary

Three primary physical laws underlying chemical engineering design are Conservation of mass, Conservation of momentum and Conservation of energy. The movement of mass and energy around a chemical process are evaluated using Mass balances and energy balances which apply these laws to whole plants or a single unit operation.

In doing so, Chemical Engineers use principles of thermodynamics, reaction kinetics and transport phenomena.

(cont’d) Summary Chemical engineers are now engaged in the development

and production of a wide range of products, as well as in commodity and specialty chemicals. These products include high performance materials needed for aerospace, automotive, biomedical, electronic, environmental and military applications. Examples include ultra-strong fibers, fabrics, adhesives and composites for vehicles, bio-compatible materials for implants and prosthetics, gels for medical applications, pharmaceuticals, and films with special dielectric, optical or spectroscopic properties for opto-electronic devices. Additionally, chemical engineering is often intertwined with biology and biomedical engineering.

7. Course Outline

1. Introduction

2. History and basic concepts

3. Product design

4. Process design

5. Plant design

6. The sugar industry

7. The petrochemical industry

(Contd.) Course Outline

8. Energy, fuels and environmental problems

9. Biotechnology

10. Biomedical engineering applications

11. Cleaner production

12. Overview of the chemical process industry: past , present and future