Process and product engineering – achievements, present and future challenges

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In this paper, present and future challenges faced by chemical engineers are discussed. To place the development of this discipline in its industrial and social context, a short history of chemical engineering in one of the major global chemical companies (BASF) is given. The ‘scientific part’ of chemical engineering consists in breaking down real complex systems into subsystems, which are then described using our understanding of fundamental chemical and physical processes. The ‘engineering part’ of chemical engineering consists in using this new found knowledge in the design and construction of a working plant which is capable of producing the desired product, even if our understanding of the single subsystems is today incomplete. From the components that make up our discipline, process engineering has in the last several decades attained a high degree of scientific maturity. Further developments are needed and expected in the improved description of fundamental chemical and physical processes necessary particularly to model reaction systems. The other field, product engineering, is a younger, less mature area where the scientific elucidation of the structure/property relationship at molecular and microscopic levels first needs to be tackled. This knowledge is required to model disperse systems so as to design products and develop appropriate production facilities. Improving the design and evaluation of complex systems for the production of real products will require further research into methodologies, tools and strategies. Firstly, these improvements will enable us to combine various unit operations so as to obtain an optimal overall process within an optimally designed production plant. And secondly, this individual production plant should in turn be optimally integrated into the entire production site. Such procedures must take into account both the requirements of customers as well as environmental concerns. The challenges faced by the chemical engineering community can only be met if two preconditions are fulfilled: both organisations carrying out basic research and R&D departments focussed on applied research within companies must be at the cutting edge of technology. And furthermore, they must work even more closely together if we are to meet the challenges described in this paper. It is also essential that young engineers and scientists as part of their education should be integrated into this research effort and become fully committed to it.