A Curriculum in Chemical Product Engineering

Generally speaking, chemical engineering teaching programs at the undergraduate level focus on the continuous production of a single molecule, for which selectivity, yield, purity, as well as safety and environmental aspects are essential. Nevertheless, an increasing number of chemical engineers in Chemical Process Industries (CPI) have to face problems dealing with complex products, which include numerous compounds (among which particulate solids, polymers and surfactants are often essential), and demand the attainment of a specific structure which requires unconventional unit operations (such as granulation, emulsification, extrusion, etc.), usually in batch mode. This situation, which encompasses the recently proposed heading chemical product engineering, calls for a renewed educational program. A curriculum for (the equivalent of) first-year graduate students, developed three years ago in our department to achieve that purpose, is described and discussed in this paper. 

Keywords: product, engineering, teaching, chemical.