THE HISTORY OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING

THE HISTORY OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING
Chemical engineering as a profession was established over 100 years when it arose from the combination of mechanical engineering and chemistry1. In the developing chemical industry in the late 19th century there was a critical need for engineers involved in the design, construction, and operation of chemical factories to have a solid understanding of both engineering and chemical principles, particularly chemical reaction stoichiometry and kinetics. The first degrees in chemical engineering in the USA were awarded at that time and the American Institute of Chemical Engineers was established in 1908.

Throughout the 20th century, the profession of chemical engineering developed as the chemical and petrochemical industries2, 3 expanded and as more universities developed formalized chemical engineering curricula that incorporated solid fundamental education in the physical and chemical sciences. As the educational component of chemical engineering developed to include deep fundamental analysis of physical and physical chemical processes, particularly after the 2nd World War with the study of mass, momentum, and energy transport4, 5, the role of chemical engineers in industry and society broaden considerably6.

Because of the emphasis on fundamental principles in the education as opposed to the equipment-specific emphasis of the earlier years, chemical engineering employment diversified into new fields such as microelectronics processing and environmental engineering and pollution control7. The solid fundamental training of chemical engineers in the analysis of complex multiphase systems with chemical reactions and molecular transport was recognized in many industries and government laboratories. Today, the education of modern chemical engineers includes the full range of fundamental subjects in chemistry, physics, and engineering sciences such as thermodynamics, mechanics, fluid mechanics, heat and mass transport, and chemical reactor design. Understanding of these subjects, coupled with the capability to utilize advanced computational methods to solve systems of partial differential equations that describe how materials behave under a very large range of conditions, provide the modern chemical engineer the ability and skills to tackle many problems to improve our modern way of life.
In Nigeria, it started at obafemi awolowo university as department of chemical technology in1969. It became a constituent of chemical technology on the first of October 1971. In 1972 the name was changed to department of chemical engineering, the first set of students graduated 1973.
The post graduate program started in1980 and was developed to provide advance training in industrial development of the country.