Abstract
This chapter discusses the changing role of Chemical Engineering in the 21st century. Most of the materials in everyday use are still made with stuff dug from the ground and wrought in processes powered by fossil fuel energy. The ranges of materials that do not fit this wild generalization mostly have their origins in the petrochemical industry. In the developed world, it costs 10 calories of fossil fuel energy subsidy on an average to put 1 calorie of food on the table, which likewise remains in the Industrial Revolution idiom; plant breeding and genetics may have given the Green Revolution, doubling global food output on only 10% additional land, but it depended on the chemical engineering of fertilizer, pesticide, fungicide, and herbicide production, along with other mechanical inputs, for implementation. This chapter also focuses on some implications for teaching and practice of chemical engineering: curricula, attracting students, partnerships between academia and industry, patents, and other intellectual property.
Published Version
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