E-StoreSome myths about chemical engineering u must be aware of!!!
If you are asked to make a choice between Computer Science/Electronics/Electricals & Chemical Engineering, you would definitely choose one of the former options. Why??
Because you feel chemical engineering has no scope or one needs to be a "chem-worm" to be a good chemical engineer etc etc...
MYTH
Chemical Engineering is pure chemistry.
TRUTH
NO.
Professor Lewis Norton of Massachussets Institute of Technology, USA introduced the first formal degree for chemical engineers and then other universities like Penn and Tulane Universities followed.
Chemical Engineering is known so not because it involves chemistry but because when this branch was invented, they had to give some name to this branch of engineering. And they didnt name it Physical or Mathematical Engineering just because the chemistry portion in this branch is slightly more than the physics/maths portion.
You produce ammonia in lab using a test tube and a beaker. That's chemistry. But what if you have to produce tonnes and tonnes of ammonia to be used as fertilizers for lakhs of farmers in the country? This is what chemical engineers do. It takes a whole different techonology, process and a huge plant to prepare such a huge amount of ammonia. Chemical Engineers are also called Process Engineers.
The ammonia plant is one of the numerous tasks a chemical engineer performs.
Achievements of Chemical Engineering -
1-Atom as large as life
2-Plastic Age
3-Human Reactor
4-Wonder Drugs for masses
5-Synthetic fibres
6-Liquified air
7-Food Processing
8-Petrochemicals
9-Synthetic rubber...And the list goes on.
Related fields/thrust areas-
1-Computational Fluid Dynamics
2-Membrane Processes
3-Microfluids
4-Nanotechnology
5-Biochemical Engineering
6-Biomedical Engineering
7-Fuel Cell Engineering
8-Virtual Reality in Chemical Engineering
MYTH
Chemical Engineering is a new branch and it has no or very less scope.
TRUTH
Chemical Engineering has a very good scope. Some of the top employers of Chemical Engineers are-
Du Pont
NASA
General Electric
Shell
BASF
Dow Chemicals
Exxon
General Motors
Boeing
Reliance Petrochemicals
IPCL/SPIC
BARC
HPCL/BPCL
ONGC
DRDO/CSIR
TOYO/UHDE/CHEMTEX
Larsen & Toubro
IICT etc...
A survey of average salaries of various engineers was conducted in USA-
Engineering branch-Average Salary-Increase/Decrease from last year
Chemical-$55,900- +4%
Electrical-$52,899- +3.5%
Mechanical-$50,672- -0.3%
Computer Science-$50,046- -2%
I dont have exact data for other engineering branches but this data is sufficient to tell you the exact picture of chemical engineering in global scenario. Sadly enough, such surveys are not conducted in India.
After reading this post, I think you will now think twice before completely ruling out the option of chemical engineering and make a more intelligent choice.
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