The domain of process engineering is so broad. Basically, it covers all the basics of engineering like mechanical engineering parts in the beginning. And then, once you go more into detail of actual process engineering, it’s basically about developing or optimizing industrial processes like making the processes more user-friendly or making it more cost-effective.
Examples of efficiency in process engineering
A lot of people go into pulp and paper industry or chemical industry, they sometimes need to figure out how the pipes go and the lines go and what are the actual chemical processes happening inside, in which process engineering comes to play.
Process engineering is not only about developing a new process but very often about optimizing your process, which would be energy efficiency or heat recovery as well as having a better product output or a better reaction rate.
Potentially because you need a process engineer pretty much everywhere. It is also helpful with civil engineering as you’ll learn how to install it and it’s also about process safety, like you need to think a bit further than just how to make things.
Also, there’s just so many moving parts and complex supply chains there’s so many things that could go wrong in these chemical processes and a lot of people rely on you to be on your toes and figure things out when things go wrong but you’re not alone you work on a big team of people.
What to expect as a Researcher or Employee
The question that you may get asked in our studies is, you look at something, and you look at a problem and you’re like is this even possible? This could be the main thing that you look at, and then you find ways to get them.
Also, you need to work with a lot of projects. For example, you may ask to analyse the Ozone or to make one it has few problems, like one of them is it’s not very energy efficient, so you get a produce the Ozone on the spot because it’s only stable very less time in water. So you have to produce, and the fraction Ozone takes a lot of electricity. Then figuring out how to make this process more efficient.
If you’re planning to do research or job in this domain then you’re going to have to be on site either at a chemical facility or outdoor indoor environment. It’s not like a lot of other engineering jobs in that way it’s really on your feet hands-on role that’s really interactive you’ll be out there collecting data scanning pipes maybe turning valves in some cases it’s very hands-on but on the other side of that the con of this whole thing is that it’s also very tiring sometimes people are on their feet a lot sometimes it’s not always accommodating to different disabilities, and it’s not very easy going it can be kind of strenuous.
In the manufacturing environment things are closely monitored and the money that comes in every single day is very well understood and easy to model, so when things are going well people can see that and when things aren’t going well people can also see that sometimes really high levels of management, so when information gets up to chain and people find out about a company losing a lot of money because of some production issue it can lay down pretty heavy on the engineers or the teams that are working in that area there’s also a lot of pressure and a lot of initiatives to make sure that things are running smoothly and properly in the first place.
