In this blog post, I’d like to examine the role of chemical engineering—which begins with the science of chemistry to understand the properties of matter and connects them to actual products and production processes—from the perspective of the science of daily life.
How does chemistry explain the properties of matter?
Friends who aren’t engineering majors might picture thick textbooks, lab coats, and blackboards covered in equations when they hear “engineering major.” While this isn’t entirely untrue, it’s hard not to get the impression that it’s a rather boring field of study. Thanks to advances in science and technology, we now lead lives that are incomparably more convenient than in the past. Given that we benefit from these advancements, it’s a shame to view science and technology as merely boring and difficult. If we come to understand exactly what this scientific field entails and how it’s applied across various sectors, we can move beyond the perception of difficulty and boredom to cultivate scientific curiosity and a spirit of challenge. Furthermore, chemical engineering is closely tied to our daily lives, as it deals with the raw materials and processes necessary for producing a wide variety of products and materials. In this regard, the field of life sciences—which uses basic raw materials and substances produced through chemical engineering, such as fibers and seasonings, to create innovative secondary products—can be seen as deeply interconnected with chemical engineering. Therefore, this article aims to introduce chemical engineering to students studying life sciences.
Chemical engineering is a field that encompasses a much broader range than most people generally realize. However, the various subfields of chemical engineering are based on principles from chemistry and other natural sciences, as well as engineering. For this reason, I would like to begin by introducing the science of chemistry. Chemistry is fundamentally the study of understanding the composition, structure, properties, and changes of matter, and utilizing those characteristics. So where do the properties of matter come from? Let’s imagine we have a T-shirt. If you cut that T-shirt with scissors, it will become a piece of fabric, and if you cut that piece of fabric again, it will become a very small piece of thread. If you continue cutting, its size will gradually decrease, and if you keep dividing it using microscopic and sophisticated machinery, it will eventually reach a size too small to be seen with the naked eye. So, does the matter that originally made up the T-shirt disappear and return to a state of nothingness? Of course not. In chemistry, an atom is considered the smallest unit that retains the properties of a chemical element. An atom consists of a nucleus and electrons, and the type of element is distinguished by the number of protons in the nucleus—that is, the atomic number. Hydrogen atoms are represented by the element symbol H, oxygen atoms by O, and carbon atoms by C. Therefore, while we can understand atoms by comparing them to the tiny, invisible thread fragments mentioned earlier, this does not mean that atoms actually have the same form as those thread fragments. Furthermore, when atoms bond, they can form various chemical entities, including molecules. A molecule is defined as an electrically neutral particle formed by the bonding of two or more atoms. Depending on the type of atoms, their arrangement, and the nature of their bonds, substances exhibit various chemical and physical properties. No one can look at a single tiny strand of thread and call it a T-shirt. However, small fibers come together to form thread, threads come together to form fabric, and T-shirts are made using that fabric. Returning to the original question, “Where do the properties of matter come from?” we can say that the properties of matter stem from the types and structures of the particles that compose it, as well as their interactions. The properties of a T-shirt—such as its elasticity, breathability, and moisture absorption—are also related to the fibers that make up the T-shirt, their molecular structures, and the physical properties of the materials. In any case, since the properties of a material stem from its constituent particles and structure, understanding the structure and properties of molecules and materials allows us to predict a material’s properties to some extent and even design or develop materials with desired characteristics. Because all materials around us possess these structural properties, the fields in which chemistry is applied—ranging from food to components of electronic devices—are extremely broad; in fact, chemical principles can be found in virtually every aspect of our daily lives.
What is the difference between chemistry and chemical engineering?
What I would like to introduce here is not chemistry, but chemical engineering. So, what exactly is engineering? In a chemistry department, students study chemistry as a science, while in a chemical engineering department, they study chemical engineering as a branch of engineering. Simply put, science focuses on exploring the principles and laws that hold true under various conditions through phenomena and experiments. Engineering, on the other hand, focuses on solving real-world problems based on scientific principles and mathematical and technical knowledge, while developing useful technologies and systems that take into account economic viability, efficiency, and safety. Chemical engineering can be defined as a field that uses the natural sciences—including chemistry, as mentioned earlier—and engineering principles to create materials and products useful in everyday life, and to develop methods for producing them safely and efficiently. This is the general perception of chemical engineering, and it is also the aspect that seems to differ little from chemistry as a natural science. As mentioned, engineering places great importance on developing economical and efficient technologies. Without consideration of costs, time, resources, and safety, it is difficult to call it an engineering design that can be utilized in actual industry. Chemical engineering does not stop at simply producing useful materials; it also involves the design and control of the technologies and processes used to create them. In the design and control of these technologies, various factors are considered alongside chemical aspects, including mass transfer, heat transfer, reaction engineering, fluid mechanics, and process systems. Imagine a candy factory where candy moves along a conveyor belt and a machine drips honey onto it. If the honey comes out of the machine too slowly, the coating will be too thick; if it comes out too quickly, the coating won’t be applied properly. Understanding the physical properties of honey—such as its viscosity and adhesion—and then using mathematical calculations and process design to determine the optimal honey flow rate that maintains the highest product quality without wasting raw materials is an example of a chemical engineering approach. Even if a fabric is developed that wicks away sweat effectively and flatters the body’s shape, if producing the garment requires excessive labor and costs, the fabric will lose its commercial value and never see the light of day. Producing one or two garments at the laboratory level during the development stage may not entail significant economic burdens or time commitments. However, scaling up garment manufacturing to the massive scale of a factory can introduce numerous variables—as well as economic and time-related costs—that were difficult to anticipate at the small-scale laboratory level. Therefore, it is necessary to scale up the technology verified in the laboratory to match actual production scales, design the process, and control the various variables that arise during production. Chemical engineering is precisely the discipline that encompasses this scaling up, as well as process design and control.
How does chemical engineering play a role in our daily lives?
Ultimately, chemical engineering is a field of engineering grounded in the natural sciences, including chemistry. It involves understanding the properties of materials to create or synthesize new substances useful in everyday life, developing economical and efficient technologies to produce those substances on an industrial scale, and controlling the production processes. Developing materials and technologies based solely on empirical trial-and-error—such as “this works” or “that works”—can result in significant waste of time and money, and it has limitations in achieving optimal efficiency under various conditions. Chemical engineering, which uses mathematical and scientific approaches to minimize such waste and find optimal efficiency under given conditions, is not merely a tedious discipline but a highly sophisticated and fascinating field of study. The scope of chemical engineering is vast, ranging from determining how to manufacture a target product to understanding its properties and managing the quality and safety of the production process. Therefore, chemical engineering is a vital engineering field that plays a fundamental role in our daily lives by being involved in the production processes of countless products and materials. Of course, studying scientific principles and applying them to practical technology is neither easy nor simple. However, using principles and theories that are intangible and invisible to the eye to create products and materials that we can actually hold in our hands and see with our own eyes is undeniably an appealing and challenging endeavor.
