[fuwei]

hello...
my interest is improving and upgrading a product, creating new product using chemical formula....
is this in chemical engineering ?

[Arkcon]

Not really, chemical engineering is more along the lines of process scale-up:  designing very large reaction containers, such that they still mix adequately, or bulk purification of products, with new methods more suited to a large quantity.  On some level 'tho, chemical engineering techniques can be applied very early in the process, but with a general question like yours, an industrial chemist is where you should start.  You can search this group for chemical engineer, you'll find ... very colorful (and, IMHO, boringly typical) opinions on the subject.

[fuwei]

"You can search this group for chemical engineer, you'll find ... very colorful (and, IMHO, boringly typical) opinions on the subject."

i don really understand.....can explain once again plz ?

so, i should aim for chemist and not chemical engineer due to my interest ?

[Polleke]

I think he means that you can search in the forum itself for topics about chemical engineering.

Anyway: I know a lot of people who are chemical engineers and they do what you want to do (as far as I have an idea of what you want...)

And I know others that do the opposite..

It all depends on yourself and where you want to go and work...


If you are chemical engineer or chemist.. a lot of the times it doenst even matter...

Just check the jobopenings: a lot of the times they ask a chemist or a chemical engineer...   (at least in belgium , dont know in your country...)

[fuwei]

So, can somebody give me conclusion plz ?
Is my interest(improving product, upgrading product and creating new product using chemical formula) lead to chemical engineering ?

[Polleke]

So, can somebody give me conclusion plz ?
Is my interest(improving product, upgrading product and creating new product using chemical formula) lead to chemical engineering ?

Its up to you to decide what you want ...

We cant decide for you.
I think you just need to check the lessonprograms etc.. and see what does interest you the most...

PS. in belgium the first 3 years are almost the same (basic sience are always the same for people that study chemistry, chemical engineering) , so after those 3 years you can still decide to either pick chemical engineering or chemistry ...
I dont know if you have that option?

[DrCMS]

What you describe sounds to me more like chemistry than chemical engineering.

[tripton]

In my opinion this is one of the chemistry typical activities.
Perhaps, you would find some chemical engineer who do it too but our formation is focussed in other topics. Really, lot of chemical engineers have experiences working in development of new products from the first laboratory stage, but propperly this job´s corresponds to a chemist. Ussualy a chemical engineer should be the encharged to scale-up the production system from the laboratory scale to real industrial size.

[eugenedakin]

Hi fuwei,

As a general rule-of-thumb, a chemist makes molecules and designs small versions of process plants.  A chemical engineer usually takes an existing plant and increases its size. Again, this is a generalization.

If you want to make molecules and chemicals, you probably want to be a chemist.

If you want to take the information that a chemist does, and make it on a large scale, you probably want to be a chemical engineer.

I hope this helps,

Eugene

[technologist]

U r welcome
I am also doing the same thing.
Improvement in Technologies using

1. Alternate raw materials
2. Alternate processes for reduced energy or cost
3. Higher productivity.
4. Waste recovery
5. Value addition to waste

My learnings

1. Recovery of acetic acid from waste water
2. Recovery of sulohuric acid from waste
3. Improvements in Hydrofluoric acid production
4. Improvement in Inorganic Fluorides.
5. Beneze Derivatives
6. Pharma Intermediates - Chloro, Fluoro & Nitro Derivatives of Benzene & their combinations

All these processe I can offer with great savings in production cost compared to current conventional processes.

I will start one section on my blog sooner related to Technologies

[Gerard]

i thought i made a mistake taking up chemical engineering but i am happy i landed in this field...
as what i experience we are the process engineers...uhm we can work in the laboratory but our field is more on the industrial-technical side not on the conceptual side

[technologist]

NO my dear friend
To be a good process engineer U need to improve your conceptualization otherwise U cant improve your processes or technology.

[Gerard]

NO my dear friend
To be a good process engineer U need to improve your conceptualization otherwise U cant improve your processes or technology.

really, to be honest that i havent been on the conceptuality myself all i do is do the math math math....
however i study both the concepts and the theories when in comes to subject where chemical engineering is linked to biology and toerh life sciences but the rest i just do the math for the sake that "math" is the language of the chemical engineers...
even in our chemistry all we do is study the mathematical aspects not the conceptual aspects....my professors said it is the chemists' job....

[technologist]

No
Chemistry needs concepts first unless U conceptualize different reactions U cant define the system & therefore U cant do real calculations required.

For example let us say one rxn is going on in some reactor. If U Dont know the mechanism & type U cant calculate its reaction rate properly.

So, Though math is very important for any engineer, concepts are more important.