In this blog post, we’ll explore the meaning and importance of process development—as well as its impact on society and industry—through examples from everyday life and key cases in chemical engineering.
As Chuseok approaches, we get to reunite with loved ones we haven’t seen in a long time, enjoy plenty of delicious food, and exchange warm words of goodwill—an experience that enriches everyone’s hearts. As the saying goes, “May every day be just like Chuseok.” However, for homemakers managing the household budget, the joy is matched by a host of worries—one of which is the enormous expense associated with Chuseok. With prices already high these days, they skyrocket even further during the Chuseok peak season. Yet, giving gifts to those we appreciate is an indispensable part of Korea’s Chuseok traditions. So, how can we celebrate a Chuseok that’s bountiful and fulfilling—not just in our hearts but also in our wallets—while saving as much as possible? You’ve likely heard about farmers’ markets through the news or newspapers. Ahead of Chuseok, farmers’ markets where farmers come directly to sell their produce to consumers are popping up all over major cities. A direct-sales market has even opened near Gangnam Station, right in the heart of downtown Seoul. Chuseok ritual food items and gift sets are being sold at prices about 30% lower than retail prices, and Hanwoo beef sets are reportedly available at discounts of up to 50%. This significant difference from retail prices is due to the elimination of unnecessary middlemen. In other words, by reducing the distribution margins incurred at each stage, producers can offer goods at prices significantly lower than those on the open market. Furthermore, even though the selling price is lower than before, the income returned to farmers has increased, benefiting both producers and consumers.
The process by which a product is delivered from the producer to the final consumer can be viewed as a single, large mechanism, much like the transformation of an initial reactant into a final product. In this context, “process development” refers to the regulation and management of intermediate distribution channels, as seen in the direct-sales model described above. A “process” refers to each individual work step a product must undergo before it is completed. Process development, as the term suggests, involves developing these processes, with the goal of optimizing each step within the overall mechanism for greater efficiency. To produce a product, a chemical plant must be designed, constructed, and operated. Large-scale plants are composed of a collection of small-scale, complex, and diverse unit operations and processes. Since a plant is also a business entity, economic advantage is paramount to its operation. No matter how noble a company’s mission may be, it will inevitably disappear if it cannot generate a profit. Process development is essential for enhancing a company’s efficiency and increasing profits; it is a core field of research directly linked to the plant’s survival. The process development team is tasked with developing better process methods at each stage or for the overall mechanism.
The significance of process development lies not only in the efficient operation of a single plant but also in its potential to make a major contribution to society. An anecdote about Haber, known as “the man who made bread from air,” illustrates this point. In the past, Europe faced a severe food shortage as its population surged. In response, Haber, through relentless process development, established the optimal conditions for the ammonia synthesis process—the raw material for fertilizer—and enabled a dramatic increase in agricultural production. Ammonia is synthesized from nitrogen and hydrogen; although nitrogen is the most abundant element in the atmosphere, accounting for 78% of its composition, its low reactivity made it difficult to use atmospheric nitrogen directly in the reaction. However, Haber established the optimal temperature, pressure, and catalyst conditions for the synthesis reaction, enabling the mass production of ammonia from nitrogen. Thanks to this, humanity was able to mass-produce fertilizer and escape the food crisis. This is a prime example of how the efficiency and economic viability of a process can impact Korean society.
The current Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Seoul National University, which originated from the former Department of Chemical Engineering, covers such process development as one of its major areas of study. As a college of engineering, it differs from the Department of Chemistry by focusing on the practical science and technology necessary for industrial production; however, since it is a chemistry-based discipline, chemical engineering holds greater importance than in other engineering fields. In chemical engineering, chemical reactions are fundamental to all fields; however, depending on the type of reaction or the reaction constants governing them, various chemical reactions exhibit vastly different yields under different conditions. Process development involves identifying the optimal conditions that yield the highest possible yield. Since the overall scale of a large-scale plant can be determined by the specific process established, process development plays an extremely significant role in chemical engineering. The Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering teaches the specialized knowledge required to identify these conditions.
Let’s take a closer look at Haber’s process development, mentioned earlier, from a more specialized chemical engineering perspective. He discovered the optimal process under conditions of 500°C and a pressure of 150–300 atm. How are these optimal conditions defined? The ammonia synthesis reaction is an exothermic reaction in which heat is released as the reaction proceeds. In other words, when nitrogen is synthesized into ammonia, heat is released to the surroundings, whereas when ammonia is converted back into nitrogen, heat is absorbed from the surroundings. Meanwhile, chemical reactions generally tend to proceed in a direction that mitigates changes in external conditions. Therefore, to increase the yield of ammonia, the temperature at which the reaction occurs must be lowered. This is because when the external temperature drops, the reaction proceeds toward the exothermic reaction to compensate for the lower temperature. However, in most chemical reactions, the reaction rate decreases significantly as the temperature drops, so there is a limit to how low the temperature can be reduced solely to achieve a high yield. Therefore, a balance must be found between increasing yield and decreasing reaction rate; the temperature at which this balance is achieved is the optimal temperature.
The same principle applies to determining the optimal pressure and plant scale. A balance must be found among the various corresponding conditions. For example, to create high-pressure conditions, the reactor volume must be reduced. This is similar to the situation where, if more people than the vehicle’s capacity are crammed into a small car, they are so squeezed together that the doors won’t close. Conversely, to create low-pressure conditions, the reactor volume must be increased, which incurs significant costs. In this case, a compromise must be found between the desired pressure conditions and cost.
Today, humanity lives in a highly industrialized society and is exposed to a flood of consumer goods; without chemical engineering, it would be difficult to maintain a satisfactory standard of living. The chemical company DuPont once adopted the motto, “Good things for life come from chemistry.” This once again underscores the importance of process development. All products that make our lives convenient are produced in large factories; therefore, process development—which focuses on researching how to operate such factories efficiently—is inevitably a core field of research for society. There is no single, definitive answer in process development. Even the most efficient process today will inevitably cease to be the best method as theory and technology advance, and many engineers are devoting themselves to research to develop innovative new processes that surpass the current best ones. As long as humanity exists, process development will remain an eternal challenge for humankind.
