Chemical Product Design and Engineering

Abstract

Today's chemical industry has goals that range from commodity chemicals to diverse high value added engineered chemical products, such as an exfoliating gel, a disposable nappy or an artificial heart valve. In response to these goals, chemical product engineering has been emerging within chemical engineering. In this chapter, chemical product engineering is described as a body of knowledge structured in terms of three main pillars: the chemical product pyramid; chemical product design and process design integration; and multifaceted multiscale approach. According to this conceptual model, these pillars support chemical product design as the central objective and operational facet of chemical product engineering. A six step template for chemical product design is also presented here. This template starts with the identification of the customer needs a successful product must be able to satisfy, followed by the translation of these needs into objective, quantitative terms. It then proceeds to the generation and selection of alternative product ideas, culminating with the full specification of the product functionality and characteristics. As chemical product engineering increases in importance, it needs systematization and heuristics, just as the well‐established traditional process engineering field has. Chemical products are immensely varied and the conceptual model and template discussed here do not offer a panacea; but they provide a framework within which thinking and practice are possible.

Product Design and Engineering in Chemical Engineering: Past, Present State, and Future

“…The approaches were increasingly generalized from simple products to increasingly complex products. Several decades later, the chemical product pyramid was developed as an extension of Rumpf's original concept. This chemical product pyramid parallels the material science tetrahedron as a central concept of material science and engineering (see, e.g., ) comprising the facets of structure, processing, performance, and properties.…”