| Chemical engineering, traditionally speaking, is about the | | | | plants but it is now an interdisciplinary field. |
| design and operation of chemical plants. It is a | | | | As technology moves ahead by leaps and bounds, |
| combination of industrially relavant chemistry and many | | | | those studying chemical engineering today have to |
| physical process such as fluid motion, energy transfer | | | | deal with new topics such as surface science, |
| and diffusion of chemicals. It has evolved into an | | | | nanomaterials (nanotechnology), energy science, and |
| inter-disciplinary filed that combines biology with | | | | biological processes of industrial importance. Many |
| engineering and technology. | | | | elements of these areas are taught in chemical |
| Difference between chemical technology and chemical | | | | engineering, and chemical engineers now look at some |
| engineering. | | | | of these fundamental things instead of large-scale |
| Chemical technology was precursor of chemical | | | | (industrial) plants... |
| engineering. It was recipe based manufacture of useful | | | | "The discipline has evolved by subsuming these newer |
| goods at an industrial scale and was more an art than | | | | things and also by pursuing the understanding of |
| science. So people studied, in spearate strams, how to | | | | problems with more and more of science, at smaller |
| make paper, dyes, plastics etc. Chemal engineering | | | | and smaller levels. A modern curriculum has far more |
| was born out of the abstractions taken from the | | | | fundamental stuff than the more application-oriented |
| manufacturing prcesses of many products, so, for | | | | curriculum of yesteryears." |
| instance, heating something or separating two | | | | This interaction between sister sciences has thrown |
| chemicals was common to many technologies, so they | | | | open new professional vistas for chemical engineers, |
| came to be studied and designed in their own right. | | | | beyond traditional employers such as chemical, paints, |
| Chemical engineering does include chemistry but only | | | | oil and gas, pharmaceutical, polymers (plastics), glass, |
| about 10-20 per cent. Chemical engineering, traditionally | | | | cement and steel and aluminium industries. |
| speaking, is about the design and operation of chemical | | | | |