Technology and Engineering Atlas

How Things Are Built
Fields

Chemical Engineering

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Chemical engineering is the branch of engineering concerned with designing and operating processes that convert raw materials into useful products through chemical, physical and biological transformation, at a scale ranging from the laboratory bench to the industrial plant. It grew out of industrial chemistry in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, as chemists and mechanical engineers combined their skills to design continuous, large scale production processes rather than one off batches.

Facts
Core Concern
Converting raw materials into useful products through chemical and physical processes at scale. 1
Core Principle
Chemical engineering applies chemistry, physics, mathematics, biology and economics together to design, produce, transport and transform energy and materials efficiently at industrial scale. 2
Disputed
Origin Year
1888 3
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology introduced the first dedicated course of study in chemical engineering in 1888; the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, the discipline first professional body, followed in 1908.
Cross-Tradition Connections

Associated With

Source Agricultural Engineering (Wikipedia)Wikipedia contributors
Petroleum Engineering, Fields

Refining crude oil into usable fuels and feedstocks is chemical engineering territory adjoining petroleum engineering own upstream focus.

Vulcanization, Methods

Includes

Source A History of TechnologyCharles Singer, E. J. Holmyard, A. R. Hall and Trevor I. Williams, editors
Nylon, Materials
Source Nylon (Wikipedia)Wikipedia contributors
Plastics, Materials
Source Encyclopaedia BritannicaEncyclopaedia Britannica editors
Source Technology: A World HistoryDaniel R. Headrick
Rubber, Materials
Source Encyclopaedia BritannicaEncyclopaedia Britannica editors
Source Encyclopaedia BritannicaEncyclopaedia Britannica editors
Source A History of TechnologyCharles Singer, E. J. Holmyard, A. R. Hall and Trevor I. Williams, editors
Vulcanization, Methods
Sources
1. Technology: A World History
Daniel R. Headrick, Oxford University Press, 2009
2. Chemical Engineering (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia contributors, Wikimedia FoundationOpening section
Quote, Opening section
Chemical engineering uses principles of chemistry, physics, mathematics, biology, and economics to efficiently use, produce, design, transport and transform energy and materials.
View the Source
2. Chemical Engineering (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia contributors, Wikimedia FoundationLead section, opening definition of chemical engineering
Quote, Lead section, opening definition of chemical engineering
Chemical engineering is an engineering field which deals with the study of the operation and design of chemical plants as well as methods of improving production.
View the Source
3. Encyclopaedia Britannica
Encyclopaedia Britannica editors, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
A History of Technology
Charles Singer, E. J. Holmyard, A. R. Hall and Trevor I. Williams, editors, Oxford University Press, 1954Includes: Charles Goodyear
A History of Technology
Charles Singer, E. J. Holmyard, A. R. Hall and Trevor I. Williams, editors, Oxford University Press, 1954Includes: Thomas Hancock
Agricultural Engineering (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia contributors, Wikimedia FoundationAssociated With: Agricultural Engineering, Lead sectionView the Source
Nylon (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia contributors, Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: NylonView the Source
Polyethylene (New World Encyclopedia)
New World EncyclopediaIncludes: PolyethyleneView the Source
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