Process engineering is synonymous to chemical engineering, a discipline that is focused on the operation, maintenance and design of various manufacturing processes, especially in their chemical aspects. We can find a lot of process engineers in different industries like mineral processing, IT, petrochemical, etc. because the function of the process engineer is crucial in a manufacturing company's business process. Without process engineering, there will be no systematic way of getting things done in big manufacturing companies. Process engineers make the skeleton of the various processes needed to take place before a product reaches the packaging department and eventually the consumer.
Just like mechanical or electrical engineering, process engineering is here for the pursuit of developing not only project engineering and troubleshooting but also of coming up with new processes as well. This is because process engineering is that engineering branch that combines chemistry, math and physics in turning raw materials into products or other useful forms. Nowadays, the definition has broadened with the introduction of fuel cells, biochemical engineering and nanotechnology, thanks to modern process engineers.
Process engineering highly focuses on the maintenance and planning of chemical processes for large-scale product development and manufacturing procedures. This is applicable to the manufacturing of a variety of products, both inorganic and organic industrial chemicals and other products such as ceramics, insecticides, plastics and fuels. Detergent products, flavors and dietary supplements can also be included.
Process engineers perform their function so that the processes involved in the manufacturing phase can achieve their most economical operation. For the sake of expense, the process engineer plans and controls the production chain. That is why most companies depend largely on process engineers because it is in their territory that a majority of the company's productivity (or lack of it) happens. If the engineer fails to make the correct planning or mixture of raw materials, the product and the company ultimately suffer.
Process engineering should not be confused though with modern chemical engineering, which encompasses the development of a diverse range of products that require high performance materials. Some of these products are biomedical, electronic or automotive in nature. To be more concrete, the products include ultra-strong fibers, fabrics, solar cells, gels and adhesives. Sometimes process engineering is related to biomedical engineering and biology. Some, in fact, are involved in various biology-related projects such as human genome mapping. These linkages make the line thinner between process engineering and biology.
Process engineers use unit operations that are mostly made up of processes such as chemical reactions or mass/heat/momentum-transfer operations. These operations are then grouped together in specific configurations for a specific purpose. Some larger processes are made by joining related and intertwined unit operations. This is not only true in these two disciplines for scientists and engineers--it combines their knowledge in math, physics, chemistry and biology to further create innovations in their respective disciplines. Soon enough, the scope of the job function of the process engineer would widen as technology unfolds year after year.
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