研究物料发生物理或化学状态变化的工业生产过程及所用装置的设计和操作的一门技术科学。源起於西欧以无机和煤为基础的化学工业，以及北美的炼油工业。在两次世界大战期间因对化学制品的需求而刺激化学工程的发展。在化学工程领域内有六项主要工作，即研究、设计、施工、操作、销售和管理。化学工程师必须精通三门主要学科，即化学、物理学和数学。他们不仅要关心化学反应的性质，还要关心诸如温度和压力对反应平衡的影响和催化剂对反应速率的影响等方面，在工程科学和技术上，则需注意流体流动、传热、蒸发、蒸馏、吸收、过滤、萃取、结晶和各种其他操作。除在化学工业和石油工业中工作外，化学工程师还任职於诸如食品工业和造纸工业等多种其他加工工业中，一些较新工业（核工业、生物工程）也需要越来越多的化学工程师。
chemical engineering
Academic discipline and industrial activity concerned with developing processes and designing and operating plants to change materials' physical or chemical states. With roots in the inorganic and coal-based chemical industries of western Europe and the oil-refining industry in North America, it was spurred by the need to supply chemicals and products during the two World Wars. The field includes research, design, construction, operation, sales, and management activities. Chemical engineers must master chemistry (including the nature of chemical reactions, the effects of temperature and pressure on equilibrium, and the effects of catalysts on reaction rates), physics, and mathematics. The engineering aspect, involving fluid flow (see deformation and flow) and heat and mass transfer, is broken down into “unit operations,” including vaporization, distillation, absorption, filtration, extraction, crystallization, agitation and mixing, drying, and size reduction; each is described mathematically, and its principles apply to any material. Chemical engineers work not only in the chemical and oil industries but also in such processing industries as foods, paper, textiles, plastics, nuclear, and biotechnology.
