In this blog post, we will look at the essential differences between chemistry and chemical engineering, and the roles and purposes of each discipline in science and industry.
What is chemical engineering? And what is the difference between chemistry and chemical engineering? As modern science has developed, the types of academic disciplines have diversified, and chemical engineering has been derived and separated from the discipline of chemistry. However, most people still do not distinguish the difference between the two and believe that they are learning the same thing. However, the two are not only different in what they teach, but also have clearly different purposes.
Chemistry is a branch of natural science that studies and explores the materials and various phenomena that exist in nature. It mainly aims to study and explore the question, “What is this material and what are its properties?” and “What causes this phenomenon to occur?” In other words, chemistry is a natural science that seeks the truth of knowledge, and it is on par with mathematics, physics, biology, and earth science.
On the other hand, chemical engineering is a part of engineering that studies production and economic efficiency. It mainly studies how to produce something in large quantities and how to produce it more cheaply and efficiently. In other words, chemical engineering is a field that creates processes that don’t exist and ultimately seeks to make a lot of money. For example, if a chemist discovers a substance and its properties, a chemical engineer studies whether the substance is useful to humans and how it can be mass-produced. In short, chemistry is the study of answering the “what” and “why” questions about the undiscovered, while chemical engineering is the study of finding answers to the “how” questions by creating something out of nothing.
The flower of chemical engineering is the chemical process, or process. Process refers to the entire process of making a more valuable product through reaction, separation, and refinement of raw materials of relatively low value in devices such as reactors and separators. The types of these processes are very diverse, ranging from processes that can be mass-produced but have low added value, such as crude oil separation and processing, fertilizer production, and food processing, to processes that produce high-value-added materials relative to raw materials, such as pharmaceuticals, semiconductor processes, and polymer synthesis, although the production volume is relatively small.
When these processes are put together, a plant, or what is now called an industrial park, is created. The process of creating a plant is divided into three main categories: turnkey base system, license purchase, and custom-made production for research institutes.
A turnkey base system is a system that, as the name suggests, can be operated immediately by simply inserting a key and turning it on. In other words, it is a system that produces products by importing all the necessary facilities, equipment, personnel, and other necessary supplies from overseas. The advantage of this system is that it is possible to attract factories without any technical skills and without any responsibility for the factory, so that errors can be handled without incurring costs. However, this system has the disadvantage of requiring huge costs and royalties to attract factories and not having the right to the factories. An example is the Chungju Fertilizer Plant in the 1950s and 1960s. At that time, Korea was an agricultural country, so the demand for fertilizer was very high. However, since we did not have the technology to produce fertilizer, we had no choice but to receive full support from a fertilizer production plant overseas to produce fertilizer. As such, the turnkey base system is a method of building a plant when there is little technology.
Next, there is the license purchase method. This is a method of purchasing only the core processes needed to build a plant and producing the rest on your own. Currently, most chemical plants in Korea are built in this way. When you have some level of technology but not the technology for the core processes, you pay only for the core technology. This, too, has the disadvantage of high costs and royalties for the core processes you purchase.
Finally, there is the method of requesting a research institute in Korea to manufacture the product. In other words, it is a method of paying research funds to a national research institute or a university research institute and developing the technology needed for the factory to produce the product on its own without relying on foreign countries. This method has the advantage of not relying on foreign countries and developing the country’s own technology, but it has the disadvantage of being uncertain and taking a long time to develop the technology. There are few factories built in this way because Korea’s technology is still insufficient and all the patents for the disclosed processes are overseas. However, if we give up and simply import them from overseas, we will eventually become dependent on technology from other countries and will not be able to develop our country. Therefore, we should not give up on this.
Chemical engineering is becoming increasingly important in various industrial fields. With the recent increase in interest in environmental issues, chemical engineering is playing an important role in providing solutions for sustainable development. For example, various technologies related to environmental protection, such as the development of eco-friendly energy sources, waste treatment technologies, and water treatment processes, are emerging as research topics in chemical engineering. In addition, the field of bio-chemical engineering is contributing to the development of advanced products such as pharmaceuticals, biofuels, and biomaterials through the convergence of biotechnology and chemical engineering.
In conclusion, chemistry and chemical engineering have clear differences in their respective goals and research fields. Chemistry is the study of the principles of natural phenomena and the nature of matter, while chemical engineering is the study of developing technologies and processes that can be used in actual industries based on this knowledge. The two are in a complementary relationship and play an essential role in the development of modern society. Understanding the differences between the two disciplines and recognizing the importance of each will greatly help improve our quality of life with the advancement of science and technology.
