Why a “Chemical Engineer” has a Bright Future in India?

India is a developing country where the demand and competition, in terms of innovative chemical based consumer goods & medicines is ever increasing. So, this industry is considered the most important check point in terms of the quality as well as uniqueness of most products.

Biggest examples which will prove the need for skilled chemical engineers is the different variants of the same product, you are witnessing around you. A few years ago, a face cream was not categorized based on Gender. Now due to the competition, every company has come up with a new product to add distinction.

To change the promise your product makes, new and new chemicals are researched upon and added. And this is just a small glimpse of the big picture, of how chemical engineers are changing the world around us?

Through this article our aim to provide an insight into the chemical engineering industry, so that you can make your choice of opting chemical engineering as a career.

What is Chemical Engineering?

Chemical engineering, from its name, feels like something that has to deal with chemicals. Yes, this is true, but it is certainly not the exact definition of Chemical Engineering.

Chemical Engineering means designing processes and methods to treat chemicals and other materials with each other to do production on a large scale. Now the important thing here is designing processes, which is a major part of what Chemical Engineer does. Someone might be able to produce a single unit of any material in a lab, but certainly that thing cannot be produced in thousands of units using the same process in that lab. And this is where chemical engineers come handy; they are the ones who facilitate such transformation of chemicals or materials on larger scale. Thus, to complete this is the simplest form, we can say Chemical Engineering is that branch of engineering that deals with processes that convert raw materials into usable materials.

Why the world needs Chemical Engineers?

The question that is very important to understand why chemical engineering is a good option for someone’s career, one first needs to know the importance of chemical engineers. So, the point is, why do even need chemical engineers?

The answer to this question is very simple - chemical engineers are needed in almost every industry that is manufacturing anything. Yes, chemical engineers might not be needed in companies like Google, Facebook or Infosys, but they are of utmost importance in companies like P&G, Pfizer or Nestle. Right from FMCG to semi-conductor chip makers, all kinds of industries require chemical engineers.

To explain this a bit further, let us take an example. Let’s say a person who was doing research in a laboratory, found a new kind of drug. Now it took years of research to manufacture that one unit, and in his lab, he can manufacture that medicine only semiconductor at a time. Of course, he needs to scale up and apply big machines to take his invention to new heights. But treating chemicals on a larger scale will be altogether a different game than treating in a lab. Therefore, to facilitate this thing, he will need the help of a chemical engineer. Chemical engineers have the knowledge of Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, and Biology, which they apply in taking the production from smaller level to higher level. So, if there were no chemical engineers in the world, you probably would have to wait for months to get one tablet for curing your headache, because the production would not have been much.

Innovations in Chemical Engineering Industry

Just like any other field of engineering, innovations keep on happening in the Chemical Engineering industry as well. Now we can talk about some huge machinery, processes or plants, under chemical engineering, which seems like the innovations done by chemical engineers, at the first instance. Yes, chemical engineers have design]’ed some ultra-modern production processes, but that is not all. Chemical engineers have made some life changing inventions or innovations, which seem very simple but are not, and have become the necessity of our life. One of these inventions is Packaged Drinking Water or Mineral Water. We all know how important purified water is for us, but we don’t know the role of chemical engineers in making this mineral water. So now you probably know that mineral water is a gift given to us by the chemical engineers, we have got to respect them for this.

Another major invention is modern medicine, or dosed medicine, to be precise. Production of tablets, pills, and capsules would not have been possible without chemical engineers. And this something really big, something on which modern world relies.

Apart from these, alternatives sources of energy like Solar Energy, Petroleum Products, Plastics, and fertilizers are some of the very important inventions that have happened in the chemical engineering industry, which make this field of engineering an important one.

Chemical Engineering Job Prospects in India

After all the talking, here comes the practical part, or you can say the bigger question - What are the career opportunities available after doing chemical engineering?

After knowing what chemical engineers do, you must have got a slight idea of what someone will have to do after doing a graduation in Chemical Engineering. But we will talk in a bit precise manner here. Let us first look at some companies that may hire you in India. The list of companies is huge, to name a few in their respective sectors, we can say in Pharmaceutical Sector you may get to work at companies like Cadila and Sun Pharma. In FMCG Sector, companies like P&G, Marico, Dabur, Colgate Palmolive and R&B are amongst the options. In Petroleum sector, chemical engineers in India are needed in companies like Reliance, Essar and Bharat Petroleum.

After knowing about possible companies in which one may work. Let us talk about some job profiles that are offered to chemical engineers and what kind of work will a person need to do after getting in such a job role. So here we go -

After all the talking, here comes the practical part, or you can say the bigger question - What are the career opportunities available after doing chemical engineering?

After knowing what chemical engineers do, you must have got a slight idea of what someone will have to do after doing a graduation in Chemical Engineering. But we will talk in a bit precise manner here. Let us first look at some companies that may hire you in India. The list of companies is huge, to name a few in their respective sectors, we can say in Pharmaceutical Sector you may get to work at companies like Cadila and Sun Pharma. In FMCG Sector, companies like P&G, Marico, Dabur, Colgate Palmolive and R&B are amongst the options. In Petroleum sector, chemical engineers in India are needed in ensure like Reliance, Essar, and Bharat Petroleum.

After knowing about possible companies in which one may work. Let us talk about some job profiles that are offered to chemical engineers and what kind of work will a person need to do after getting in such a job role. So here we go -

REFINING ENGINEE RS

By the name of the job it’s obvious that refining engineer has to work in refineries, or majorly in petroleum companies. Refineries involve a considerable amount of risks like leakages and explosions. The role of a Refining Engineer is to facilitate the refining process in the safest and efficient way possible. A Refining Engineer has to work mainly in the refinery itself, rather than being in any office or so.

PETROCHEMICAL ENGINEER

A petrochemical engineer also works in the same industry as that of a refining engineer, but their work is totally different. A petrochemical engineer is concerned with the initial work like excavating and digging up crude oil and gas from the earth. He is concerned with developing instrumentation and piping, and also with maintaining safety during the process.

PROCESS DESIGN ENGINEER

Process Design Engineer is the most basic form of Chemical Engineering jobs. The work of a process design engineer is exactly the same as we talked about earlier, for a chemical engineer. The work of a process design engineer is to develop and maintain processes for producing new kind of products. This kind of equipment work is related to more of designing and testing new processes, and then ultimately implementing them.

PRODUCTION ENGINEER

Production Engineers also deal with processes, just like the process design engineers, but their work is totally different. Production Engineers are more concerned with the maintenance part of the processes. These endure that the processes keep on running smooth and efficient. Production engineers also have to deal with deadlines and budgets. Thus, a production engineer controls the whole production process and ensures economical and timely production.

SHIFT ENGINEERS

The work of a shift engineer and production engineer is more or less the same as both of them are concerned with similar things, like meeting production deadlines, cost cutting and smooth working. So a Shift Engineer is one who maintains the operational level activities in a shift.

CHEMICAL EQUIPMENT ENGINEER

A Chemical Equipment Engineer is concerned with various kinds of equipments involved in the production processes. These develop and maintain the instruments and equipments that are required for carrying out chemical engineering activities.

CHEMICAL ENGINEERING CONSULTANT

A Chemical Engineering Consultant is the one who advises various firms and companies about what they should do to make their chemical engineering activities better. These are actually experts who help out firms in various kinds of problems and help them in carrying out new kinds of activities and projects. This job requires a lot of expertise and experience.

Top Chemical Engineering Colleges in India

So, after you have known all about chemical engineering and if you have made up your mind that this is the career option for you, then you must also know about some top chemical engineering colleges or universities in India. So let us talk about some top colleges in the country for chemical engineering.

Indian Institute(s) of Technology are probably the hub for engineering in India, or you can say they are the best in class when we talk about most of the fields of engineering in India. So if I have to name a few IITs, IIT Bombay, IIT Delhi, IIT Kharagpur, IIT Kanpur and IIT Madras are the top IITs offering chemical engineering. Other IITs also offer chemical engineering, but you can call these as the top 5 IITs for chemical engineering.

Apart from these, here are some Non-IIT colleges which are considered very good for chemical engineering:-

Chemical Engineering is a field that is a buzzing one and is also constantly refreshing itself with new innovations. With industries ever expanding and new forms of businesses coming up every day, chemical engineers are in high demand. So if you have the interest as well as talent towards industrial processes and chemical processes, then Chemical Engineering is probably the right field for you. Good Luck!