Future Students

Chemical and Process Engineering

Chemical and process engineers intimately deal with the scaling up of chemical reactions or processes that are of importance to society. Chemical and process engineering is a field distinguished from the science of chemistry by the scale and industrial applications to which the principles are applied. Put simply, chemists deal with fundamental phenomena such as determination of the chemical reactions, while chemical engineers must determine how to exploit this information to design and operate the facilities and processes in order to produce commercial quantities of a product.

Chemical and Process Engineering is a challenging and rewarding profession for all men and women who aspire to make their mark in, for example:

• protecting and improving the quality of our environment,
• reliably supplying precious energy to society,
• developing and manufacturing raw materials, chemicals and pharmaceutical products to sustain the quality of modern living
• the discovery of new materials through nanotechnology and life science for the betterment of society.

Level 1

All engineering students follow a common course in Level 1, allowing you the flexibility of selecting any engineering stream at the end of the level. The subjects include mathematics, engineering fundamentals and physics, plus electives from a variety of engineering streams.

Level 2

• modelling and computer analysis
• inorganic and physical chemistry
• fluid mechanics
• chemical engineering thermodynamics
• heat and mass transfer
• process fundamentals
• mathematics
• chemical and process engineering topic chosen from a list of options

Level 3

• chemical engineering thermodynamics
• materials engineering
• chemical kinetics and reactor design
• mechatronics systems
• a research or development project
• chemical and process engineering topics chosen from a list of options.

Level 4

• engineering for sustainable development (ethics, environmental and social impact of engineering)
• a research or development project
• process modelling
• majors.

If students decide to specialise, they can choose their elective units to qualify for a major in one of the following areas:

• chemical engineering
• hydrocarbon processing
• mineral processing

Career opportunities

Chemical and process engineering is a well-respected general degree which opens a diversity of career paths in industry, commerce and finance.

Chemical and process engineers are responsible for:

• monitoring and reducing the impact of human activities on the environment
• extracting and transporting fossil fuels such as crude oil and natural gas
• refining and processing crude substances to realize a full repertoire of modern-day materials
• manufacturing of high value adding chemicals and pharmaceutical products
• discovering and synthesizing novel materials through cutting edge research to improve our quality of life.

Chemical and Process Engineers are in high demand in Australia and overseas and are employed by a range of industries including food and beverage, oil and gas processing, mining, petroleum refining, pharmaceutical manufacture and many more!