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Chemical Engineering: Background Reading
What is Chemical Engineering?
Shawn, a chemical engineer in industry, has made a short video on chemical engineering, including
an overview of the key topics covered. It’s a brilliant video and we recommend you watch it for a
better idea of what you will study in the next three years: https://youtu.be/ifUgW2DJO14
The IChemE
The Institution of Chemical Engineers, or IChemE, is the key accreditation body in the UK. They exist
to advance chemical engineering contribution to benefit society. They also play a key role in
ensuring Chemical Engineering courses contain all the relevant information required to become a
successful graduate chemical engineer – all our courses at Surrey are accredited by the IChemE.
To help prospective and current students get a better idea about chemical engineering, they have
prepared the webpage “Why not Chem Eng?” which contains an introduction to this subject. You
may have found this page already while applying for the course, but if you haven’t, then have a read
for some background information.
Key topics in Chemical Engineering
The points below give a brief overview of some key technical aspects of chemical engineering. Many,
if not all, of these topics are interrelated and impact each other. A fundamental understanding of
each aspect is crucial to become a well-rounded chemical engineer – and this is what you will learn
during your time at Surrey. This list is not exhaustive and you may wish to add to it as you continue
through your studies!
If there are any words or phrases you are unfamiliar with, this is a good opportunity to look them up.
• Mass and energy balances
The conservation of both Mass and Energy are fundamentals on which all chemical
processing is based. This topic involves being able to properly formulate and solve material
and energy balances. It also involves integrating and interpreting physical property data
from different sources and in a variety of different units.
• Fluid dynamics
It is a crucial skill as a chemical engineer to understand how fluids flow and behave in
different systems, whether they are static or dynamic. Fluid properties such as density,
viscosity and surface tension are key aspects to understand. Flow regime i.e. laminar and
turbulent flow is another crucial concept. Pumps and system pressure are also considered in
this topic.
• Heat transfer and thermodynamics
This covers aspects such as work, energy consumption/generation, system efficiency. The
laws of thermodynamics are key concepts to understand as chemical engineers. Further to
this, how heat is transferred and the mechanisms by which this happens is of fundamental
importance in many aspects of process design (heat exchangers in particular). Fouling and
heat transfer coefficients are also important parameters in this topic.
