DEFINITION OF A MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY.

A manufacturing industry is an industry in which raw materials are treated or prepared in a series of stages using chemical processes which are known as unit operations. Some of these unit operations are distillation, crystallization, dissolution, filtration, and extract. Manufacturing industries include oil refining, petrochemicals, water and sewage treatment, food processing, and pharmaceuticals.
Chemical engineers are concerned with processes that convert raw materials or chemicals into more useful or
valuable forms. Hence a chemical engineer plays a lot roles in the manufacturing industry.

WHO EXACTLY IS A CHEMICAL ENGINEER


A chemical engineer creates and develops industrial processes to make the products on which modern society depends. These products include foods and drinks, fuels, artificial fibers, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, plastics, toiletries, energy and clean water. The work is about large-scale chemical and biochemical processes in which raw materials undergo change. Hence the task to select and specify the design that will best meet the particular requirements of production and the most appropriate equipment for the manufacturing industry is on the chemical engineer. This involves scaling up the manufacture of products and processes from the laboratory bench to full production plants. Designing equipment, understanding the reactions taking place, installing control systems, starting, running and upgrading the processes are all part of the job. Protecting the environment and safety are also significant concerns for the chemical engineer. A chemical engineer is capable of supporting the conversion of small-scale processes into commercially viable large-scale operations. Therefore, the typical tasks of chemical Engineers are performing optimization to: Increase Production, Reduce Cost, and Simplify Operation.
With the versatility of these professionals, as Chemical engineers can work in multiple fields whether chemical plant, oil industry, pharmaceutical industry, consulting, investment banking, etc. They are known as the "universal engineer" just because they have to learn a lot of different topics in different areas. A chemical engineer is also known as a “process engineer” or “plant engineer.” A chemical engineer is concerned with four fundamentals in each unit operation and they are:
1. The conservation of matter;
2. the conservation of energy;
3. the principles of chemical equilibrium;
4. The principles of chemical reactivity. Chemical engineers utilize the principles of mass, momentum and energy transfer along with thermodynamics, chemical kinetics and process control to improve unit operations and for process and equipment design.
The chemical engineer must organize the unit operations in their correct sequence, and they must consider the economic cost of the overall process. This is achieved by preparing flow diagrams and charts. Example is the brewing of beer which undergoes different stages of operation which have to be arranged in an appropriate sequence to obtain the final product which is safe for human consumption. Unit operations (such as crystallization,filtration,drying and evaporation) are very important as they are used to prepare reactants, purifying and separating its products, recycling unspent reactants, and controlling energy transfer in reactors.

A chemical engineer can be regarded as a profit-conscious business manager in the manufacturing industry as they modify manufacturing processes in order to save energy (they can recover heat energy which is necessary in processing) hence they are involved in managing cost and time constraints of projects in the manufacturing industry. Their main aim is to develop economic ways of using materials and energy.
They also do routine maintenance known as Turn Around Maintenance (TAM) in the oil industry. The chemical engineer is a professional who has multiple job responsibilities under their charge. Hence they are involved in a lot of research to determine the best way of producing certain products. Along with researching, the chemical engineer must design programs, machinery and processes which will allow the products to be manufactured. The chemical engineer must also perform a multitude of tests along the way to ensure that everything is going according to plan. Lastly, one who is a chemical engineer must consult with numerous individuals to ensure that their job is done to the best of their ability and the desired outcome is reached.
ROLES OF A CHEMICAL ENGINEER IN THE MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY

WASTE CONTROL
A chemical engineer reduces the production of hazardous waste in the manufacturing industries. Hazardous Wastes, solid, liquid, or gas wastes that can cause death, illness, or injury to people or destruction of the environment if improperly treated, stored, transported, or discarded. Substances are considered hazardous wastes if they are ignitable (capable of burning or causing a fire), corrosive (able to corrode steel or harm organisms because of extreme acidic or basic properties), reactive (able to explode or produce toxic cyanide or sulfide gas), or toxic (containing substances that are poisonous). Hazardous wastes may pollute soil, air, surface water, or underground water. Pollution of soil may affect people who live on it, plants that put roots into it, and animals that move over it. All this hazardous waste are harmful and are needed to be transformed to a useful product or have to be reduced in the manufacturing process and a chemical engineer is up to the task.
A chemical engineer controls hazardous waste by:
A Source Reduction
A chemical engineer eliminate hazardous wastes by not generating them in the first place. For example, in the production of integrated circuits: The toxic chlorinated hydrocarbons commonly used in the 1970s were replaced in the 1980s by less toxic glycol ethers and in the 1990s by low-toxicity esters and alcohols.
B Recycling
Recycling is the recovery or reuse of usable materials from waste.Hazardous waste is recycled as solvents; a similar amount is recovered as metals by chemical engineers.sulphuric acid is recycled in chemical manufacturing
C Treatment
Wastes may be made less hazardous by physical, chemical, or biological treatment. For example, sodium hydroxide has been used to treat acid wastes at integrated-circuit plants. Some newer plants now treat hydrofluoric acid wastes with lime, producing relatively harmless calcium fluoride, the mineral fluorite. Sulfuric acid wastes, if not recycled, can be treated with ammonia wastes from the same plant, forming ammonium sulfate, a fertilizer. Chemical engineers treat radioactive waste by turning it into a glass through a process known as vitrification.
In conclusion, they have to consider whether any chemicals used are harmful to the environment, and ensure they compliant with health, safety, and environmental regulations.
PETROCHEMICAL INDUSTRY

A chemical engineer can’t be ruled in the petroleum product manufacturing industry (oil refining industry and petrochemical industry). Using catalytic-cracking process, the crude oil is cracked in the presence of a finely divided catalyst. This permits in the processing industry to produce many diverse hydrocarbons that can then be recombined by alkylation, isomerization, and catalytic reforming to produce high antiknock engine fuels and specialty chemicals. The production of these chemicals has given birth to the gigantic petrochemical industry, which turns out alcohols, detergents, synthetic rubber, glycerin, fertilizers, sulfur, solvents, and the feedstock for the manufacture of drugs, nylon, plastics, paints, polyesters, food additives and supplements, explosives, dyes, and insulating materials. The innovations made by chemical engineers in the petrochemical industry ensured that oil and gas can be transformed into different useful product.

ADMINISTRATION

A chemical engineer can work in the administrative capacity of the manufacturing industry, in the development of guidelines, incorporating safety procedures
and specifications for the handling of dangerous chemicals, environmental protection, or standards for foods, materials and consumer goods. They also conduct economic and technical feasibility studies which aid in the manufacturing process. They prepare contract documents and evaluate tenders for the process aspects of industrial construction. They also supervise technicians, technologists and other engineers, to ensure that the manufacturing plant is working to its full capacity. They oversee the construction, modification, operation and maintenance of pilot plants, processing units or processing plants. They also establish and conduct quality control programs, operating procedures and control strategies to ensure consistency and adherence to standards
for raw materials, products and waste products or emissions



HOW A CHEMICAL ENGINEER IS ABLE TO FIT INTO A THE MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY
Chemical engineers have a strong background in multiple disciplines with competencies in rate and equilibrium processes, computational techniques examining heat and mass transport, reaction rate analysis, mixing/fluid dynamics, separation processes, scale-up phenomena, safety analysis, mathematical modeling and reactor/equipment design.

1.
o Chemical engineers have multiple job responsibilities and duties to perform on a daily basis. Meticulous research is an important first step in order to cover all issues before the production of products. Chemical engineers are also responsible for designing programs, machinery and processes that are used to manufacture their products. Performing a multitude of tests and analyzing data, problems and engineering design during the creation process is also key work of the chemical engineer. In addition, chemical engineers must prepare multiple reports and consult with other individuals on their findings.
Manufacturing
o Chemical engineers play an important role in the creation and manufacturing of materials that we use every day. For example, advances in polymer chemistry allowed the creation of plastic, which we use for almost everything in modern life. Also, materials created by chemical engineers are synthetic fibers. We use these synthetic fibers to make items such as clothes, beds and pillows, which help reduce the reliance on natural sources such as cotton and wool. Another important material that has been manufactured is rubber, which is used for many things from tires, hoses and conveyor belts to shoes.
o
Health
o Chemical engineers play an important role in public health. They study complex chemical processes and materials to improve and prolong the quality of life through the creation of vaccines, antibiotics and pharmaceuticals. Another important area in this field is the creation of medical devices such as prostheses and biomaterial. Examples are artificial hips, artificial organs, contact lenses, pacemakers and inner-ear implants. Chemical engineering is also responsible for chemical synthesis of drugs, genetic engineering and gene therapy.
Information and Communication
o Chemical engineers play a valuable role in the majority of information and communication technologies. They are involved in the processes and manufacture of optical fibers that are used for long-range transmission of data and voice. Also, the creation of plastic electronic packaging is key for providing a protective shell around consumer electronics that enable them to be transported and endure hot temperatures. Further, chemical engineers are involved in microelectronics, light-wave communication systems, optical interconnection and electronic microcircuits for devices we use every day, such as digital watches, calculators, microwave ovens, computer screens and telephones.
Environment
o The environment is another field where chemical engineers play an important role. They help to create economical answers to our waste and pollution problems. Creation of catalytic converters, smoke stack scrubbers, environmentally friendly products, recycling, and electronic vehicles are a few examples of their impact on the environment. Another important issue is the creation of processes to increase the efficiency of our fossil energy sources such as reformulated gasoline, and the creation of alternative, non-fossil sources such as solar, wind, water and nuclear energy.

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