August 5, 2003
A: FROM MENTOR DIANA DEDE IN CO
Dear Abbe,
There are several differences between a chemist and a chemical engineer. A
chemist works primarily in a lab either defining chemical reactions or trying
to define a chemical process. The chemist may also be involved in working with
environmental issues by investigating what chemicals are found in waste
water, rivers, the air or on materials. A chemist may be involved in finding new
ways to form plastics that can be used commercially in clothes, household
items, medical items, space travel, etc.

I am a chemical engineer working in the petroleum industry as a petroleum
engineer. A chemical engineer learns to take a chemical process from a lab where
you are working in grams and milliliters and make the process work in a plant
with tons of materials amd gallons of liquid, maybe even thousands of
gallons. When you increase the scale and have to make the item commercially
economic, there is a greater difficulty in controlling all of the variables.

A lab is a closed system and keeping everything especially clean is
relatively easy. Because of the small scale the costs are not as critical.

As an example, producing a special plastic to use in a heart may work in the
lab and keeping everything especially clean for medical purposes can be
controlled. Hoqwever, the additional cost to scale to commercial size may be more
than the consumer (patient and insurance company) would be able to pay. A
chemical engineer will design a plant to produce this plastic including keeping
the plastic heart or item especially clean. The chemical engineer must design
the plant to keep the costs low so that the company can produce the plastic
item at a cost the consumer can handle as well as make a profit for the company.
The chemical engineer may also run the plant making sure that all the
processes are working properly. A chemist would test the plastic coming from the
plant to be sure the standards needed are maintained. Sometimes they will work
together.

There are many other examples. Think of a baker making cookies in a home
oven and Keebler making cookies for sale around the country. They are the same
process but the scale is much different. If you are interested in chemical
engineering, a visit to a nearby university that offers chemical engineering can
help answer your questions. Also you can contact a manufacturing company
near you and they may arrange a tour with a chemical engineer so that you can see
first hand how they take a lab process and transform the process to work on a
large scale.

Good luck with exploring the fields of chemistry and chemical engineering.
********************
A: FROM MENTOR DEBORAH GRUBBE IN DE
The primary difference between a scientist (chemist) and an engineer
(chemical) is that a scientist discovers the laws of nature and an engineer
turns that discovery into something that is useful to and improves the
condition of the human being in society. For example, a chemist would be
able to discover that Chemical X and Chemical Y, when put together, create
a new substance called Nylon. The chemist may also know that it is a
substitute fiber for silk. However, it takes the chemical engineer to
"scale up" the bench chemistry, design the machines, power the machines and
build the machines in order to create enough nylon of different thicknesses
and colors to meet the various needs of societal uses: toothbrush
bristles, parachute material, hosiery, windbreaker jackets, tire cord for
tires, airbags, carpet fiber, etc. The chemical engineer helps to create
the volume of nylon and the types of nylon that effectively make the world
a more healthier place, and most importantly, do it at a cost that the
customer who wants that product can afford. Chemists and Chemical
Engineers work together alot, and both are important to technology
development.