National
| Median wages (2008) |
$40.71 hourly, $84,680 annual |
| Employment (2006) |
30,000 employees |
| Projected growth (2006-2016) |
Average (7% to 13%)
|
| Projected need (2006-2016) |
10,000 additional employees |
17-2041.00 - Chemical Engineers
Design chemical plant equipment and devise processes for manufacturing chemicals and products, such as gasoline, synthetic rubber, plastics, detergents, cement, paper, and pulp, by applying principles and technology of chemistry, physics, and engineering.
Sample of reported job titles:
Process Engineer, Chemical Engineer, Engineer, Scientist, Project Engineer, Development Engineer, Engineering Scientist, Process Control Engineer, Process Development Engineer, Refinery Process Engineer
Tasks
- Develop safety procedures to be employed by workers operating equipment or working in close proximity to on-going chemical reactions.
- Troubleshoot problems with chemical manufacturing processes.
- Evaluate chemical equipment and processes to identify ways to optimize performance or to ensure compliance with safety and environmental regulations.
- Conduct research to develop new and improved chemical manufacturing processes.
- Determine most effective arrangement of operations such as mixing, crushing, heat transfer, distillation, and drying.
- Perform tests and monitor performance of processes throughout stages of production to determine degree of control over variables such as temperature, density, specific gravity, and pressure.
- Design and plan layout of equipment.
- Prepare estimate of production costs and production progress reports for management.
- Design measurement and control systems for chemical plants based on data collected in laboratory experiments and in pilot plant operations.
- Develop processes to separate components of liquids or gases or generate electrical currents using controlled chemical processes.
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Tools & Technology
Tools used in this occupation:
| Freezedryers or lyophilzers — Lyophilizers |
| Heat exchangers |
| Laboratory mixers — Benchtop mixers; Mixing tanks; Powder mixing equipment |
| Microcontrollers — Programmable logic controllers PLC |
| Vacuum pumps |
Technology used in this occupation:
| Analytical or scientific software — Chempute Software Engineer's Aide SINET; G&P Engineering Software EngVert; SoftLab PHEdesign; Thermal Analysis Systems The Energy Analyst |
| Computer aided design CAD software — CD-adapco STAR-CAD; SolidWorks CAD software |
| Data base user interface and query software — Chempute Software E-Notebook; G&P Engineering Software PhysProps; Microsoft Access; Relational database software |
| Object or component oriented development software — C++; Microsoft Visual C# .NET |
| Spreadsheet software — Microsoft Excel |
