THE CHEMICAL ENGINEER

foreign [Music] yourself in a situation like this a few years after your graduation from college for the moment Gentlemen let's forget the helium the Argon the neon neon art gases our company's primarily interested in the principal elements of the atmosphere the 79 nitrogen 21 oxygen so can you create for us a process that will separate 15 Tons of air every hour in such a way that out of every ton 79 parts will be pure nitrogen 21 parts for oxygen okay now picture yourself in another kind of situation in connection with the possibility of growing crops grain fruit trees and so on in Wasteland like this we're asking you back home to develop a synthetic material to do the job we'll eat it as soon as possible in commercial quantity and it'll have to sell it to figure the folks out here can afford to pay or would you like to be deep in a project like this one maybe actually head up that project the concept of four-man Space Station our new contract requires us to create a life support system for such a vehicle based upon a power plant capable of supplying that station and those who live on it for weeks at a time one of you fellows perhaps one of them perhaps me with continuous energy for five years ten years a power plant which will push the vehicle Beyond orbit yet become packed in size and in weight [Music] foreign get its power how can we create continuous energy such questions such problems are fundamental to the profession of chemical engineering this picture is about that profession and those who practice it [Music] a good way to start telling you something of chemical engineering is to remind you of what chemistry is this tree is working in a lab with small quantities of chemicals moved measured mixed by hand chemistry uses tabletop apparatus usually glass to explore the basic conditions of a chemical reaction foreign the chemist is not concerned with efficient procedure is not concerned with costs and profits what he principally wants to know is does the reaction go will it work when his studies are through he has a sample of something something better or something that never existed before a new kind of synthetic rubber say but only a sample of it a small quantity like chemistry chemical engineering starts in the lab and then goes far beyond the lab chemical engineering is taking lab equipment and scaling it up so that it produces massive quantities of useful product chemical engineering is Big Concepts big processes maintained and controlled over days and time sometimes over miles and distance the apparatus of chemical engineering is big Precision built designed by the chem engineer himself and motor power moves it [Music] [Applause] apparatus that encloses tremendous chemical reactions reactions many of them involving tremendous pressures tremendous extremes of temperature [Music] of chemical engineering can extend through an entire plant so when the chem engineer designs the plant which he does and when he runs it which he does he must make sure it is so designed and his technician so operated that people are safe in the surrounding community in the plant itself person is to enter any barricade unless all vessels and process lines have been vented and flushed to the atmosphere with nitrogen use of an aluminum protective suit will be required the chem engineer thinks in terms of efficiency of costs and of profits and of output and that output is a continuous output comprising the many many chemicals almost without number on which modern civilization depends the raw materials and the converted raw materials of the earth and of the atmosphere solids liquids gases [Music] comprises the basic industrial chemicals made from such converted raw materials and it comprises the new products and the improved products made from the industrial chemicals and through chemical processes the processes of chem engineering make possible the seemingly impossible separation of the components of the air for instance on demand in any specified quantity as in this plant which provides a huge steel plant with high pressure oxygen oxygen that speeds up the change of molten iron into steel of highest quality chem engineering can now produce from petroleum chemical mulch which holds moisture even in arid soil result crops grow more abundantly can grow even where none grew before chem Engineers seeking compact power for space travel teamed up with other of America's top technical personnel and through mhd Magneto hydrodynamics obtained electricity directly from the heat source when a plasma consisting of high temperature gases containing ions and electrons is made to race through a strong magnetic field it produces current just as copper wires produce current in a generator [Music] without the chemical engineer space Vehicles would remain EarthBound [Music] the chem engineer supplies the Exotic fuels that energize rockets and missiles the less exotic ones that move our boats and cars his engineering enables chemicals to create horsepower it packages all sorts of power for us foreign [Music] nature could produce the rubber these workmen are removing from a mole the materials that clothe us and those that make Footwear and footballs and soccer balls M Engineering produces film that records life Pharmaceuticals that prolong life chem engineering transforms coal into medicine stone and rock into glass [Applause] [Music] Farm crops into antibiotics [Music] it fortifies and freezes our food from it come our soaps and detergents our paints and Plastics all the new textiles the sprays and repellents materials that make the attractive even more attractive [Music] and materials that protect against humidity and against heat and against cold foreign all of these things and practically everything else we can see or touch are the achievements of chemical engineering and chemical engineering is the chemical engineer a man sometimes a woman invariably though a special kind of human being whose special kind of thinking results from his professional Education and Training Education and Training that reward him in many ways and through what he creates the plants the processes the products benefit all the peoples of the Earth foreign [Music] school today were attracted to science how could you tell whether you'd be successful in a scientific field so much broader than conventional lab chemistry well here are some indications a future chem engineer might mix a solution to go into say an automobile engine but the automobile involved need not necessarily be his people ask him to do things for them to make things that make other things work better a combustion chamber a motor fuel anything [Music] it was intended to do the future cam engineer maintains good Scholastic averages he organizes his assignments his thinking [Music] such a youngster wants to know why when troubles develop and can improvise ways to remedy those troubles aha oven's not level by this much when such a youngster builds things he does more than what's required he's imaginative a glider a plane can they be linked up can the plane tow the glider well let's see [Music] foreign [Music] the youngster who's likely to enjoy chemical engineering and be successful at it has probably stolen early interest in things like these [Music] abstract concepts for him offer no particular problems and he can explain them clearly to others though he's a team player he expects always to retain his individuality which he will if he becomes a chemical engineer it's that kind of profession colleges of chemical engineering like medical schools like law schools like the service academies have high academic standards admission is not for everyone but those who qualify should do well if they utilize the good study methods they've been taught in Secondary School [Music] away from his desk the student translates classic scientific theory into action this glassware encloses a separation process which simply means removing chemicals from liquids gases and solids when scaled up such processes are the heart of chemical engineering [Music] anything you use mathematics that important tool of chemical engineering and you check your calculations on a computer because what you're preparing to build means the expenditure even in College of appreciable time and money if you've made a mistake it's best to discover that mistake before you go on as you will to process design to plant design to constructing and operating the plant itself your group's practical application of Separation phenomena which this is first observed through glass in a lab other phenomena other courses suggest what research and development can mean as the student investigates reaction kinetics the magic that heat performs he learns how to link molecules together to create polymers new kinds of molecules he learns how to make them go places and do things and moving a molecule from point A to point B constitutes no trivial problem [Music] s which formerly might have taken a lifetime to solve can be solved in minutes thanks to the student's newly acquired ability to program today's superb digital computers through such developing Technologies the student moves the molecules he learns how other Technologies make possible the control of intricate production processes improve plant operations thereby creating profits which Finance the research out of which come tomorrow's products ever higher standards of living he frequently encounters tomorrow's science headline in today's class and so gentlemen we see that the plasma jet is another engineering device of Aid to chemical engineers it can be used for example as a Thrust in rocket engines is also useful for high temperature cutting but of most important new Concepts quickly become his to ponder upon and to utilize make the laser an unique tool for the chemical engineer not only for the study of chemical reactions but also as a potential mean triggering specific reactions for commercial production he utilizes such exotic tangibles as the elements uranium-235 plutonium-239 [Music] he begins to understand what radioactivity can achieve for him and for society [Music] when he manipulates his materials in the radiation chamber he enters a fantastic new world as his familiarity with chemistry and physics increases he'll proceed further into that world still in college he could become known as one of its explorers still in college and a chem engineer can look forward to this all his life opportunities will come to him opportunities which he will know how to grasp opportunities in Industry whose Representatives during the months before his graduation will visit his college interview him Mr Miller I understand that you're primarily interested in research and development that's right sir I am now as you probably know I am also involved in the research and development area and we're interested in a particularly right now he'll be asked what he's looking for technically geographically and usually he can find it I'm particularly interested in Practical experimentation sir well we have a great many programs in process Improvement which require uh young men in the pilot plant areas and here are interested in people who have an ability in mathematics have the adaptability to work with equipment in a pilot plant environment get along with other Engineers a man with a chemical engineering degree is sought after on many levels and professionally he'll continue to be sought after as an increasing world population increases its demands on chem engineering forever larger quantities for better products better quality foreign is vital to National Security but it's one technological discipline not dependent on armaments on weapons which means that in any kind of economy the salary of the chemical engineer mounts ever higher as he goes forward in his Dynamic profession the chemical engineer is a bridge between science and business he thinks like a scientist and like a corporation executive he's trained that way whether concerned with people cash chemicals is company's fortunes and his own are interlocked interlocked as he makes possible with draftsman as always executing his ideas more efficient operation of existing plans interlocked in the selling of chemicals of chemical products of big chemical equipment these are areas of engineering where the mutual rewards can be considerable interlocked in the creation of new plants all over the world with the chem engineer on the scene telling the businessman yes it's practical to invest here it's practical to build here telling the businessman how much the completed plant will cost and how much money the plant should make and the businessman relies on the chemical engineer's answers answers that for both have a high market value how do such extensive Enterprises begin as simply as this a formula a small amount of material a liquid which after exposure to heat becomes a strip of solid film then someone's belief that these few square inches can be transformed into a continuous flow of product people need and will buy if the chem engineer can work out the problems foreign said if you put A and B and C together you'll get d chemical Engineers want to know much more how are we going to be able to put them together most efficiently pass DB for each production line how are we going to control the temperature of the autoclave where the polymer is made how should we control color and then as you see here gentlemen we have a presentation to company brass and our economic analysis of our new product now what I'd like to go into is the cost of the sales plus 10 percent return on our new product and when all the factors have been evaluated this letter a chemical engineer makes the Command Decision [Music] I authorize you to proceed with the design of the commercial plan please expedite matters so that we will have a construction cost estimate the pilot plant is the first manufacturing process chem Engineers design it build it a pilot plant as its name implies is one that leads the way [Music] all but continuous quantities of material it gives chemical Engineers the Practical information they need before they scale up to full size this modest Forerunner of what will come can indicate potential manufacturing problems and assure their economical solution meanwhile other chem Engineers work with miniature models of what's coming so they may anticipate problems involving flow of fluids waste disposal danger location of equipment and eventually the full-size plant as the chem engineer in charge of its construction you also start up the manufacturing process which technicians operate to specifications set forth by a chem engineer the process in the plant will begin with the large extruder temperature control will be accomplished with control valves which will mix cool and hot oil to achieve proper temperature control the elbow will be similarly temperature controlled for the extruder and Associated units there has been provided a scale up using different speeds and depth ratio as the film enters the machine Direction unit it will contain several impurities which will be removed in the operation and the film will emerge for final winding finished rolls will be removed from the wind-up by means of an overhead hoist and monorail system [Music] specifications covering the complete functioning of a one-of-a-kind completely controlled fascinatingly intricate chemical process which chemical engineering and chemical Engineers develop through thinking and planning like this from Beginnings like this and from this [Applause] chemical engineering goes beyond the lab in many directions for the qualified young person it can open many doors and not all of them need be those of big chemical or industrial corporations many chem Engineers are independent Consultants to Industry many teach chem Engineering in universities [Music] veneer has enviable status in business in his community and he can expect an income to go with that status and income assuring the kind of Life most of us wish for ourselves and those close to us Outsiders and rightly so view The Versatile chem engineer as being constantly called on at home and away to deal with ever more provocative challenges here are some just over the horizon waiting for well who knows to come up with the answers energy of the Sun discover an effective means of harnessing that energy from these four basic chemicals and Expedition living on the moon can manufacture its own balanced daily diet where is the person who will devise a practical way of producing such synthetic food how can we get electricity direct from the atom without going through the thermal cycle who will come up with the magic formula in the fields of radio television weather control who will contribute to the next advances we are now purifying sea water separating it into a number of its components we remove the salt we capture the bromine and magnesium it is also possible to produce gold from seawater who one of these days will show us how to produce that gold in quantity and at a price do such challenges Intrigue you are you undecided like many others about where you want to be 10 years from now do you like science are you perhaps thinking of physics of chemistry of the older engineering disciplines well they're all involved in chemical engineering used to go into chemical engineering you'll not be abandoning your present interests you'll be enlarging upon them you'll be learning more about your favorite subjects utilizing all of your talents so that later they can be the prime tools of your profession when you're a chemical engineer you know a great deal about a great many things and the world you serve so well will serve you well in return [Music] thank you thank you [Music] [Music] [Applause]