A multi-layered view of chemical and biochemical engineering

Highlights

• A multi-layered view of chemical and biochemical engineering (C&BE) is given.

• Aspects of research, education and practice are highlighted.

• Perspectives in terms of current state and significance of C&BE are presented.

• Perspectives in terms of future scope and significance of C&BE are presented.

Abstract

The contents of this article are based on the results of discussions the corresponding author has had since 2015 with the co-authors, who are members of academia and industry in Europe, on the scope and significance of chemical and biochemical engineering as a discipline. The result is a multi-layered view of chemical and biochemical engineering where the inner-layer deals with the fundamental principles and their application; the middle-layer deals with consolidation and expansion of the principles through a combination of science and engineering, leading to the development of sustainable technologies; and the outer-layer deals with integration of knowledge and collaboration with other disciplines to achieve a more sustainable society. Through this multi-layered view several important issues with respect to education, research and practice are highlighted together with current and future challenges and opportunities.

Introduction

Industrial chemical technology revolutionized the modern world in the 20th Century, and now in combination with industrial biotechnology it is set to do the same in the 21st Century. Underpinning these developments is the discipline of chemical and biochemical engineering (C&BE). The discipline applies, among others, the fundamental principles of thermodynamics, reaction stoichiometry and kinetics, biochemistry and cell biology as well as transport phenomena together with the laws of conservation of mass, energy and momentum to create better materials, products and processes that are useful to society. In other words, at a technical level chemical and biochemical (C&B) engineers work with unit operations (be it at industrial scale, pilot scale, micro-scale or nano-scale) for the purposes of chemical and/or biochemical synthesis followed by downstream separations, which are all based on phenomena such as thermodynamics, reactions (chemical, biochemical, or thermal conversions), transport (mass, heat and momentum). In this way, C&B engineers solve problems related to synthesis, design, analysis, implementation, operation-control, optimization, etc., of chemical and biochemical processes needed to manufacture the products required by society. This implies that the scope and significance of C&BE is potentially enormous. In a given case, the scope is defined by the raw materials that can be converted to the desired products through the corresponding manufacturing processes where resources such as energy are consumed, water is used and the environment is affected. Nevertheless, the conversion of the resources to products is in all cases incomplete and therefore the issue of recycle and regeneration of resources becomes increasingly important and urgent (Negro et al., 2018). Over the past decades, as the demand for better and more versatile products and their corresponding flexible manufacturing processes has increased, so has the need for increased knowledge on related topics that is perhaps not well understood in the context of application of C&BE based technologies but are nevertheless very important. Moreover, society currently faces grand challenges like climate change, growing global population and resource limitations that require innovative solutions regarding the way products and services are provided. In this way, C&BE is also an evolving discipline.

Historically, chemical engineering came into existence more than a century ago by synthesizing the fundamental scientific disciplines of chemistry, physics and mathematics with mechanical engineering competences required for industrial processes and contributing, thereby, to the world’s economic progress (Wei et al., 1979). Indeed, while chemical engineering has made enormous contributions as a discipline (and profession), it has also embraced rapid and dynamic technological changes and has frequently been at the center of emerging new developments (Butz and Tauscher, 2002). Today, perhaps more than at any other time in history, we face formidable challenges (Negro et al., 2018). But these challenges also represent unique opportunities such as exploring and exploiting new abundant resources (Wang and Krupnick, 2015); substituting and/or improving the exploitation of resources in current use (Christensen et al., 2008); delivering sustainable solutions related to energy (Chu and Majumdar, 2012), water (Gleick, 2016), environment (Allen et al., 2018) and food (Papargyropoulou et al., 2014); contributing to avoid danger and risk, for example, climate change (Monastersky, 2013) or accidents (Brunaud et al., 2019) and, optimizing the operation, distribution and safety of manufacturing processes (Grossmann, 2005).

The objective of this paper is to present a multi-layered view of chemical & biochemical engineering, through which its scope and significance, as well as its future role can be better understood. This view highlights the important outcomes of chemical and biochemical engineering as a discipline as well as a profession. The inner core fundamental layer involves process-product related activities where application of the fundamental concepts of C&BE help to design, build and operate manufacturing processes that convert specific raw materials to desired products. The middle interface consolidation layer involves resources-efficiency related activities where improved understanding of the concepts and combination of science and engineering lead to the development of new technologies that when applied, lead to more sustainable engineering solutions. The outer unifying layer involves society-challenges related activities where industrial development helps to address challenges that when resolved would lead to a more sustainable society. Here, integration of knowledge, such as ideas, disciplines etc., play a major role. The main issues, challenges and opportunities at each level are discussed with respect to education, research and practice related to each layer.