How do chemistry and chemical engineering differ, and what are the goals and roles of each discipline?

Chemistry is the study of substances and phenomena in nature, while chemical engineering is the study of efficient production methods based on those substances. Chemistry seeks truth, while chemical engineering seeks industrial utilization and economic efficiency. These two disciplines are complementary and play an important role in the development of modern society.

 

With the development of modern science, the discipline of chemistry has been diversified, and chemical engineering has been derived and separated from the discipline of chemistry, but most people still cannot distinguish the difference between the two and have the view that they are learning about the same thing. However, not only do they learn different things, but the goals of the two disciplines are clearly different.
Chemistry is a part of the natural sciences, and it is the study of substances and various phenomena that exist in nature. It aims to answer questions such as “What is this substance and what are its properties?” and “What causes these phenomena to occur?” In other words, chemistry is a natural science that seeks the truth about knowledge and stands alongside math, physics, biology, and earth sciences.
Chemical engineering, on the other hand, is the study of production and economic efficiency as part of engineering. It mainly studies “how can I produce this in large quantities?” and “how can I produce this cheaper and more efficiently?” In other words, chemical engineering is all about creating processes that don’t exist and ultimately making money. For example, if a chemist discovers a substance called A and its properties, a chemical engineer studies whether it is useful to humans and how it can be mass-produced. To summarize, chemistry answers the what and why of undiscovered entities, while chemical engineering answers the how by creating something out of nothing.
The flower of chemical engineering is the chemical process, or process. A process is any process in which a relatively low-value raw material is reacted, separated, or purified in a reactor, separator, or other device to create a higher-value product. These processes range from low-value-added but mass-producible processes such as crude oil separation and processing, fertilizer production, and food processing, to processes that produce relatively small amounts of substances with high value-added compared to raw materials, such as pharmaceuticals, semiconductor processing, and polymer synthesis.
When these processes are gathered together, a plant, also called an industrial park, is created. The process of creating a factory is divided into three main parts. They are: turn key base system, license purchase, and lab request production.
The turn key base system literally means that the factory can be operated immediately by turning a key. In other words, all the facilities, devices, manpower, and other necessary equipment for the factory are imported from overseas to produce products. The advantage of such a system is that you don’t need to have any technical skills to attract a factory, and you don’t have any responsibility for the factory, so you can handle any errors without cost. However, the disadvantages of this system are the huge costs and royalties required to attract factories and the inability to own the rights to the factories. An example is the Chungju fertilizer plant in the 50s and 60s. At that time, Korea was an agricultural country, so the demand for fertilizer was very high. However, we did not have the technology to produce fertilizer, so we had to import fertilizer production plants from overseas to produce fertilizer. In this way, the turn key base system is a way to build a factory when there is little technology.
Next, there is the license purchase method. This is a method of purchasing only the core process needed to build a plant and producing the rest by yourself. Currently, most chemical plants in Korea are built in this way. When a company has a certain amount of technology but does not have the core process technology, it pays only for the core technology and buys it. This also has the disadvantage of high costs and royalties for the purchased core process.
Finally, the last method is to request Korea’s research institutes to produce, which means paying research fees to national research institutes or university research institutes to develop the necessary technology for the factory and produce it by themselves without relying on overseas. This method has the advantage of not relying on foreign countries and being able to develop its own technology, but it has the disadvantage of uncertainty and time-consuming technology development. There are few factories built in this way because Korea’s technology is still lacking and the patent rights of the disclosed processes are all overseas, but we should not give up on this method because if we give up and only buy from overseas, we will eventually become technologically dependent on other countries and will not be able to develop our country.
Chemical engineering is becoming increasingly important in various industries. In recent years, with the growing concern for environmental issues, chemical engineering has played an important role in providing solutions for sustainable development. For example, the development of green energy sources, waste treatment technologies, water treatment processes, and many other technologies related to environmental protection are emerging as research topics in chemical engineering. The field of biochemical engineering is also contributing to the development of advanced products such as pharmaceuticals, biofuels, and biomaterials through the convergence of biotechnology and chemical engineering.
In conclusion, chemistry and chemical engineering have clear differences in their goals and fields of study. While chemistry explores the principles of natural phenomena and the nature of matter, chemical engineering uses this knowledge to develop technologies and processes that can be utilized in real-world industries. They are complementary to each other and play an essential role in the development of modern society. Understanding the differences between the two disciplines and recognizing the importance of each will go a long way toward advancing science and technology and improving our quality of life.