There are a lot of misinterpretations about what chemical engineering actually is/what it involves.
This is a very good thread which addresses a lot of these issues: https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=5062198
I'd strongly recommend you give it a read, but perhaps don't let it influence you too much. It's insightful but perhaps has a slight bias.
Universities usually provide a fairly brief description, but take a closer look at their modules and other student accounts to become more informed.
This is a very good thread which addresses a lot of these issues: https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=5062198
I'd strongly recommend you give it a read, but perhaps don't let it influence you too much. It's insightful but perhaps has a slight bias.
Universities usually provide a fairly brief description, but take a closer look at their modules and other student accounts to become more informed.
Hi! My name is Leah and I am a second year chemical engineering student at the University of Bath 
That is actually a very difficult question to answer! When applying for chemical engineering, I had a vague idea of what it involved and the different career prospects and opportunities available were really appealing to me, but I didn't know exactly what it involved.
What I was told a lot when I started and at open days is that chemical engineering is making better stuff from ordinary stuff without making bad stuff, which isn't the most eloquent description but can actually be quite helpful! The overall idea is that we design processes which are used to make things, whether that be petrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, food, water (wastewater treatment) etc. There are so many applications.
We study reaction engineering, so how to design the best reaction for the products you want to produce. Separation processes, so how you get the desired product out of the reaction mixture. Mass and energy balances, which looks at what goes in and out of a process and how the mass and energy of the components are affected. Fluid mechanics and heat transfer, so how fluids flow in pipes and the velocity, pressure and heat properties associated with this. We also learn coding and how to model reactions and associated equations with numerical mathematical methods. We learn a software package called Aspen Plus, which is used to design processes and all of the associated thermodynamic calculations (I have only just started with this software so my knowledge of the uses of this is limited but I do know it is very wide!). We are also involved heavily in design tasks, including safety and ethics. I have labs, where we take these fundamental theoretical processes and apply them in an experimental context.
Hopefully that gives you a bit of an insight into chemical engineering - it is difficult to give an overview of what the course involves. It is not like anything I studied at school - there is obviously maths and elements of physics and chemistry from A-level but in a totally new context.
Please let me know if you have any questions and I will try my best to answer!
Leah
2nd Year Chemical Engineering
That is actually a very difficult question to answer! When applying for chemical engineering, I had a vague idea of what it involved and the different career prospects and opportunities available were really appealing to me, but I didn't know exactly what it involved.
What I was told a lot when I started and at open days is that chemical engineering is making better stuff from ordinary stuff without making bad stuff, which isn't the most eloquent description but can actually be quite helpful! The overall idea is that we design processes which are used to make things, whether that be petrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, food, water (wastewater treatment) etc. There are so many applications.
We study reaction engineering, so how to design the best reaction for the products you want to produce. Separation processes, so how you get the desired product out of the reaction mixture. Mass and energy balances, which looks at what goes in and out of a process and how the mass and energy of the components are affected. Fluid mechanics and heat transfer, so how fluids flow in pipes and the velocity, pressure and heat properties associated with this. We also learn coding and how to model reactions and associated equations with numerical mathematical methods. We learn a software package called Aspen Plus, which is used to design processes and all of the associated thermodynamic calculations (I have only just started with this software so my knowledge of the uses of this is limited but I do know it is very wide!). We are also involved heavily in design tasks, including safety and ethics. I have labs, where we take these fundamental theoretical processes and apply them in an experimental context.
Hopefully that gives you a bit of an insight into chemical engineering - it is difficult to give an overview of what the course involves. It is not like anything I studied at school - there is obviously maths and elements of physics and chemistry from A-level but in a totally new context.
Please let me know if you have any questions and I will try my best to answer!
Leah
2nd Year Chemical Engineering
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