Advantages and Disadvantages of Chemical Engineering ...

Jul. 08, 2024

Advantages and Disadvantages of Chemical Engineering ...

Abstract

Chemical engineering is a branch of engineering that focuses on the design, construction, and operation of industrial processes involving the transformation of raw materials into useful products. Chemical engineers play a critical role in many industries, including petrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, and energy, by designing safe and environmentally friendly processes while minimizing waste and controlling emissions. Advances in technology and sustainability are driving continued innovation in the field, making chemical engineering an exciting and dynamic career choice. A strong background in mathematics, physics, and chemistry is required, and many universities offer undergraduate and graduate programs in chemical engineering. Chemical engineers undergo extensive on-the-job training to learn about specific processes and equipment.

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Keywords

Chemical engineering, Industrial processes, Raw materials, Design, Construction, Operation, Petrochemicals, Pharmaceuticals, Energy, Safety

INTRODUCTION

Chemical engineering is a branch of engineering that deals with the design, construction, and operation of industrial processes that involve the transformation of raw materials into useful products. It is a discipline that encompasses many areas of science and technology, including chemistry, physics, mathematics, and biology. Chemical engineers apply these principles to develop new and improved processes for producing chemicals, fuels, pharmaceuticals, and materials, as well as to design and optimize existing processes for greater efficiency and safety. Chemical engineers play a vital role in many industries, including petrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, food and beverage, plastics, and energy (Goodall WR, ). They are involved in every stage of the product lifecycle, from research and development to production and distribution. They also work to ensure that products are manufactured efficiently and cost-effectively, while meeting quality and safety standards. One of the key responsibilities of chemical engineers is to design processes that are both safe and environmentally friendly (Konoki K, ). They must consider the impact of the production process on the environment, and work to minimize waste, reduce energy consumption, and control emissions. Chemical engineers must also ensure that the products they produce are safe for human consumption or use, and those they meet all regulatory requirements (Lendoiro E, ).

MATERIAL AND METHODS

Education and training

To become a chemical engineer, a person must have a strong background in mathematics, physics, and chemistry (Milosevic M, ). Most chemical engineers hold at least a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering, although some also have degrees in related fields such as chemistry or mechanical engineering. Many universities offer undergraduate and graduate programs in chemical engineering. Chemical engineers also undergo extensive on-the-job training to learn about the specific processes and equipment used in their industry (Peskin LC, ). This training often includes hands-on experience in a laboratory or manufacturing facility, as well as coursework in safety, environmental regulations, and process optimization.

Advances in chemical engineering

Chemical engineering is a constantly evolving field, with new technologies and processes being developed all the time (Aleshin AS, ). Advances in computer technology, for example, have enabled chemical engineers to model complex processes and predict their behavior, allowing for greater precision and efficiency in production. Other areas of development include the use of renewable energy sources, such as biofuels and solar power, and the development of new materials with unique properties (Datta A, ). In recent years, chemical engineering has also played a critical role in addressing global challenges such as climate change and the need for sustainable energy sources. Chemical engineers are working to develop new methods for capturing and storing carbon dioxide, as well as for producing alternative fuels and materials that are environmentally friendly.

Disadvantage

One disadvantage of chemical engineering is that the processes and products involved can have negative environmental impacts if not properly designed, operated, and maintained. Chemical processes can generate hazardous waste and emissions, which can harm human health and the environment if not controlled properly (Carter CW, ). Chemical engineers must therefore prioritize safety and environmental considerations in their work to minimize these risks. Another disadvantage is that the field can be highly competitive, with a limited number of job opportunities in certain industries or geographic locations (Gadzhibabayeva DR, ). This can make it challenging for graduates to find suitable employment, especially in times of economic downturns. Furthermore, the work can be physically and mentally demanding, with long hours and the need to maintain a high level of concentration to ensure the safe and efficient operation of complex equipment and processes. Finally, the education and training required to become a chemical engineer can be rigorous and time-consuming. It requires a strong background in mathematics, physics, and chemistry, as well as extensive on-the-job training to learn about specific processes and equipment (Wang A, ). This can make it a challenging field to enter and may require significant personal and financial investment disadvantage of chemical engineering is that it can be a highly regulated field, with strict compliance requirements that can create additional costs and time constraints. Regulations related to safety, environmental impact, and product quality can be complex and constantly evolving, requiring chemical engineers to stay up-to-date on changes in legislation and industry best practices In addition, the costs associated with research and development for new processes or products can be significant, making it difficult for smaller companies or start-ups to compete with larger, established firms. The need to continually innovate and improve processes to remain competitive can also create pressure to take risks that could lead to failures or other negative consequences. Finally, the nature of chemical engineering work can be isolating, with a focus on technical expertise and problemsolving rather than interpersonal communication or teamwork. This can make it challenging for individuals who prefer a more collaborative or social work environment. Overall, while chemical engineering offers many exciting opportunities for innovation and impact, it is important for individuals considering this field to carefully weigh the potential advantages and disadvantages before pursuing a career in this area.

CONCLUSION

Chemical engineering is a crucial field that is essential to many industries and plays a vital role in ensuring that products are produced safely and efficiently. Chemical engineers are responsible for designing and optimizing industrial processes, while also working to minimize waste and control emissions. Advances in technology and a growing focus on sustainability are driving continued innovation in the field, making chemical engineering an exciting and dynamic career choice.

REFERENCES

Chemical and biological treatments: Pros and Cons

What are Chemical treatments?

The largest group of plant infection, diseases, and crop loss are caused by pathogens such as fungi, viruses, etc and by weeds, pests&#; attack. Chemical treatments: a method of agriculture disease management using different chemicals. Chemical treatments act on these diseases causing pathogens and are widely applied in agriculture to control the disease and improve the growth and yield of crops (Pujol et al., ). Chemical treatments are formulations of chemicals such as streptomycin sulfate, oxy- tetracycline, atrazine, chlordane, endosulfan, DDT, aldrin, 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic Acid (2,4-D), copper, sulfur, etc., which are toxic, pose risks to people and perform bactericides, insecticides, and fungicides action on pests and pathogens.

Global Market of Chemical treatments

Chemical treatment is the most effective method of control till date (Zhao et al., ), having a global market of USD $104.9 billion in with a growth rate of +3.7% per year to reach $121.3 billion by (Business Research, ).

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Advantages (Pros) of Chemical treatments

Advantages of chemical treatments across plant disease management are many, use and application is very easy and robust, covering large fields in less time, selective products depending upon the stages of growth. Production of these chemical agents can be carried out at large scale in minimum time, custom-made depending upon the plant growth and soil filed parameters, commercially available, and the regulatory registration process with agencies is straightforward.

Disadvantages (Cons) of Chemical treatments

These reasons encourage the application of chemical treatment worldwide; however, continuous, and long-term application of chemical agents leads to accumulations in soil and elevates the chemical resistance of plant pathogens (Zhao et al., ). In addition, the residues of chemical treatment have greater influence on the ecological system, soil fertility reduction, underground water contamination, affecting animals, and birds, promoting to seriously environment pollution (Gao et al., ). To add-on, chemical fungicides and insecticides are expensive, hazardous, progressively discouraged, deliver damaging and negative impact on beneficial soil microorganisms present that support to increase plant growth (Hashem et al., ).

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Search for Alternate Treatments

On the other hand, increasing demand to reduce the use of chemicals, low-input, low-cost, sustainable products, minimize environmental degradation, restoration of habitat, to preserve the ecosystem has resulted in greater interest and has become a focal point of research (Pozo et al., ). Alternative methods like biological control using microorganisms are getting encouraged, popular and progressively applied.

What are Biological treatments?

Biological treatments: a method of agriculture disease management using microbes. The biological interventions with the manipulation and use of native, beneficial soil microorganisms is recognized as a sustainable, non-hazardous, and eco-friendly strategy in agriculture application (Pujol et al., ). Application of microorganisms (fungi and bacteria) is also considered as organic farming carried out to increase productivity and disease resistance in crops in modern agriculture. Use of beneficial microbes, such as species of Arbuscular Mycoorhizal Fungi (AMF), Trichoderma, Bacillus subtilis, Pseudomonas fluorescens etc. promote positive impact on the host plant to increase biomass, growth upgrade, higher crop yield, improve nutrient efficiency, increase soil fertility, overcome biotic and abiotic stress conditions, minimize heavy-metal toxicity, promote disease resistance genes, and stimulate to synthesis wide range of antibodies and antimicrobial metabolite. These benefits could augment and terminate the use of chemical pesticides in future (Hashem et al., ).

Global Market of Biological treatments

Significant success of using biological control in plant health and disease management was carried out in 20th century and with advancement in modern biotechnology is predicted to be even more significant in the 21st century (Gao et al., ). Currently, the global markets of biopesticides exceeded USD $3 billion in , several companies worldwide are producing different products, predicted to grow at the rate of 15% per year and is growing at large scale especially in North America and Europe (Global market Insights, ).

Advantages (Pros) of Biological treatments

The application of biological control on different variety of seeds, plants and crop delivered increased root and shoot biomass, promoted defense systems against various diseases, increased the soil fertility, developed resistance to stress and drought conditions, and delivered significant higher yields. Under controlled-environment conditions, the mode of action and efficacy of microbial control overrides the chemical fungicides, with reduction in disease (Root rot, Clubroot, Sclerotinia stem rot, Blackleg, Verticillium wilt etc.) severity of more than 80% relative to pathogen inoculated controls (Debao et al., ) (Cheah et al., ) (Hanson et al., ) (Strelkov et al., ). Cultivation of crops in contaminated fields or heavy metals concentrated soil was only possible with use of biological control. Use of biological control have a clear edge over chemical treatment in agricultural management.

Disadvantages (Cons) of Biological treatments

However, several challenges are hindering the advancement and popularity of biological control from a scientific model to a viable commercial product. Few of the technical challenges such as major obstacle for massive inoculum productions, culturing obligate symbionts require host plants (Pozo et al., ), time consuming, inability to produce resting spores, quality consistence, formulation complications for commercial use (Weller et al., ). The antibiotic-producing biocontrol agent used in the treatment of plants, get transferred and when consumed by human and animal develop pathogen resistance against these antibiotics (Panpatte et al., ). The potential benefits of biological control are affected by crop management factors such as crop rotation, tillage practices and seeding equipment etc. In addition, nontechnical challenges such as registration process with regulatory agencies, approval of federal USEPA and authorization of agencies within each state is necessary requirement (Stockwell et al., ) (Panpatte et al., ).

Comparison across Chemical and Biological treatment

Till now, agriculture disease management rely mainly on the application of chemical treatment due to efficient strategy, cost-effective, availability, easy application, however chemical treatment poses serious risks to human health and environment. Therefore, biological treatment overcomes these issues for non-toxic, human and environment friendly, low-cost, however biological formulation production and effect is time consuming, and many companies&#; products are under stage of approval for worldwide applications. Table 1, compares the key features across chemical and biological treatment and Figure 1, represents the comparison of chemical and biological treatment on an infected plant.

Table 1: Key features comparison across chemical and biological treatment (Biological and Chemical, ).

Key featuresChemical treatmentBiological treatmentRaw materialNon-renewable, costly chemicalsRenewable, low-cost biomassCatalystMetals and oxidesMicrobes and enzymesOperating condition750 °F and 200-600 atm pressureAmbient temp and pressureEnergy input650- kJ/mol NH-350 kJ/mol NH4Production rateQuickTime consumingEfficiency50-70%80-90%EffectRapidSlowCostMarginal costLow costProductsManyFewSoil healthDeteriorates and degradesImproves and benefits Figure 1: Plant disease management by biological control such as Trichoderma spp. and use of chemical such as harzianic acid on infected plant as represented by (Manganiello et al., )

Balanced approach

A balanced approach of using biological and chemical treatment needs to be carried out to have a significant result in the plant health and disease management for improved and higher agriculture yield. This approach will deliver multidimensional advantages/benefits of both biological and chemical treatment and comes together with a better formulation choice to be exploited in the field of agriculture with economical and environmental benefits.

References:

Zhao, L., Feng, C., Wu, K., Chen, W., Chen, Y., Hao, X., & Wu, Y. (). Advances and prospects in biogenic substances against plant virus: A review. Pesticide biochemistry and physiology, 135, 15-26.
Business Research . https://www.thebusinessresearchcompany.com/report/chemical-fertilizers-market
Pujol, M., Badosa, E., Manceau, C., & Montesinos, E. (). Assessment of the environmental fate of the biological control agent of fire blight, Pseudomonas fluorescens EPS62e, on apple by culture and real-time PCR methods. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 72(4), -.
Hashem, A., Tabassum, B., & Abd_Allah, E. F. (). Bacillus subtilis: A plant-growth promoting rhizobacterium that also impacts biotic stress. Saudi journal of biological sciences, 26(6), -.
Gao, G., Yin, D., Chen, S., Xia, F., Yang, J., Li, Q., & Wang, W. (). Effect of biocontrol agent Pseudomonas fluorescens 2P24 on soil fungal community in cucumber rhizosphere using T-RFLP and DGGE. PloS one, 7(2), e.
Pozo, M. J., Jung, S. C., Martínez-Medina, A., López-Ráez, J. A., Azcón-Aguilar, C., & Barea, J. M. (). Root allies: arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi help plants to cope with biotic stresses. In Symbiotic endophytes (pp. 289-307). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.
Debao, X. T. Z. J. L. (). ANTAGONISM OF TRICHODERMA HARZIANUM T82 AND TRICHODERMA SP NF9 AGAINST SOIL-BORNE FUNGOUS PATHOGENS [J]. Acta Phytopathologica Sinica, 1.
Cheah, L. H., Veerakone, S., & Kent, G. (). Biological control of clubroot on cauliflower with Trichoderma and Streptomyces spp. New Zealand Plant Protection, 53, 18-21.
Hanson, L. E. (). Reduction of Verticillium wilt symptoms in cotton following seed treatment with Trichoderma virens.link: https://pubag.nal.usda.gov/catalog/
Strelkov, S. E., Hwang, S. F., Howard, R. J., Hartman, M., & Turkington, T. K. (). Progress towards the sustainable risk management of clubroot (Plasmodiophora brassicae) of canola on the Canadian prairies. https://doi.org/10./r3-vxq6-js48
Manganiello, G., Sacco, A., Ercolano, M. R., Vinale, F., Lanzuise, S., Pascale, A., &#; & Woo, S. L. (). Modulation of tomato response to Rhizoctonia solani by Trichoderma harzianum and its secondary metabolite harzianic acid. Frontiers in microbiology, 9, .
Global market Insights, . https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/biocontrol-agents-market.
Weller, D. M. (). Pseudomonas biocontrol agents of soilborne pathogens: looking back over 30 years. Phytopathology, 97(2), 250-256.
Panpatte, D. G., Jhala, Y. K., Shelat, H. N., & Vyas, R. V. (). Pseudomonas fluorescens: a promising biocontrol agent and PGPR for sustainable agriculture. In Microbial inoculants in sustainable agricultural productivity (pp. 257-270). Springer, New Delhi.
Stockwell, V. O., & Stack, J. P. (). Using Pseudomonas spp. for integrated biological control. Phytopathology, 97(2), 244-249.
(Biological and Chemical, ) https://www.differencebetween.com/difference-between-biological-control-and-chemical-control/

About Author: VINAYAK PACHAPUR, PhD

A balanced approach of using biological and chemical treatment will deliver multidimensional advantages/benefits of both biological and chemical treatment and comes together with a better formulation choice to have a significant result in the plant health and disease management for improved and higher agriculture yield. To support this approach, Vinayak and CAI team embarked on developing bio-based formulations to boost the consortia between plant and beneficial microbes for better agriculture disease management and providing a sustainable tool for higher crop yields.

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