化学工程是一门将化学和加工技术的新知识推向实际应用的学科。化学工程师通常在化学过程的设计和操作中，生产高级材料，能源，燃料或药品的行业工作。化学工程比化学更广泛，因为化学工程还涉及通过单元操作（例如气体洗涤器，蒸馏，化学提取，过滤等）来处理和处理材料。化工专业的学生接受过过程安全，过程控制，管理和经济学方面的培训。化学工程师参与了诸如合成纤维，塑料，纸张，肥料，洗涤剂，食品，矿物，合金和陶瓷等商品的制造。化学工程师是解决环境问题的关键，他们经常开发新的无污染工艺而不是简单地处理废物。需求增长的领域包括生物
Chemical Engineering is a discipline which advances new knowledge in chemistry and processing technology to practical application. A chemical engineer often works in industries that produce advanced materials, energy, fuels, or pharmaceuticals in the design and operation of chemical processes. Chemical engineering is broader than chemistry, in that it also involves the handling and processing of materials by unit operations such as gas scrubbers, distillation, chemical extraction, filtration and so forth. Chemical engineering students are trained in process safety, process control, management, and economics. Chemical engineers are involved in the manufacture of such commodities as synthetic fibres, plastics, paper, fertilizers, detergents, foods, minerals, alloys and ceramics. Chemical engineers are key to the solution of environmental problems, often developing new non-polluting processes rather than simply treating wastes. Areas of increasing demand include biotechnology, biorefining, mineral processing, and petroleum.