COMPTE-RENDU Huitiéme cor.cr4s canadien de l'éducation en ingénierie Ingénierie et société Engineering and Society Eighth Canadian Conference on Engineering Education PROCEEDINGS se UNIVERSITEEighth Canadian Conference on Engineering Education Laval University, 24-26 May 1992 CHEMICAL TECHNOLOGY VERSUS CHEMICAL ENGINEERING EDUCATION Fathi Habashi Department of Mining and Metallurgy Laval University, Quebec City G1K 7P4 ABSTRACT. Chemical technology (applied chemistry) as an academic discipline is virtually non-existent in North America while it is thriving in Europe. On the other hand, chemical engineering (applied physical chemistry) has gained an unprecedented development. The historical background for the two sectors is discussed and it is suggested that a balance between the two disciplines should be considered by educators. INTRODUCTION It is important from time to time to consider the educational source of professional knowledge. In this connection it is remarkable to note that the teaching of chemistry and chemical engineering in North America is completely different from that in Europe. The major difference lies in the fact that in Europe, chemical engineering is a part of a vast system of education known under various names such as applied chemistry, technical chemistry, practical chemistry, chemical technology, or industrial chemistry while in North America only chemical engineering is recognized. These disciplines are usually taught in Europe in what is known as technical universities (Table 1) while chemistry as a theoretical science is usually taught in universities. In North America there is no such system as a technical university except one or two and in these applied chemistry is only given a limited review, As a result there are only two separate curricula: chemistry and chemical engineering, Beside the difference in curricula there is also a difference in the structure of academic ranks which applies to all teaching institutions. In North America the ranks are in decreasing order: Professor, Associate Professor, and Assistant Professor. The tendency in any one department is the number of the teaching staff: Professors > Associate Professors 458> Assistant Professors. In Europe, the order is reversed: for any one subject there is usually only one Professor, 2 or 3 Associate Professors, and a large number of Assistant Professors (10 to 20). Both systems make use of Teaching Assistants who are selected graduate students hired to help students in laboratories and in exercises. CHEMICAL TECHNOLOGY In the the early days of chemical education in the USA, young chemistry graduates were sent to Europe for post-graduate studies. They were mainly sent to German universities and particularly to TUbingen, Gottingen, Heidelberg, and Berlin and none to technical universities. The reason may be due to the erroneous belief that the German Technische Hochschule is a Technical High School Table 1- The first Technical Universities Year Name Place founded 170 Technische Hochschule Berlin 1794 Ecole Polytechnique Paris 1815 Technische Hochschule na 1925 Technische Hochschule Karlsruhe 1827 Technische Hochschule Munich 1828 Technische Hochschule Dresden 1840 Technische Hochschule Stuttgart 1847 Technische Hochschule Hannover 1855 Eidgendssische Technische Hochschule Zurich 1863 School of Engineering Milan 1870 Rhicinish- Westfliche Technische Aachen 1873 Ecole Polytechnique Montréal when translated word for word. In North America a Technical High School is not a university but a high school, ‘This may be the reason why in recent years these European institutions changed their names to Technical Universities to erase this ambiguity. This seems to be the reason that chemical technology curricula were not introduced to North America, and instead it was only chemistry. As a result, chemistry departments in US universities may be quite large — 40 or 50 faculty members. Naturally, some of these chemists will have inclination towards chemical industry and may be conducting research to solve some industrial problem or developing a new process. However, because of the lack of 459engineering background their researches may not be quite realistic. Hence, it appears that chemists with engineering background would be most suitable for solving the problems of chemical industry or developing new industrial processes. This is the idea behind the chemical technology curriculum. On the other hand, in the German system a department in a faculty is called Institut which may well be translated /nstitute. This term, however, has a different meaning in North America, In the USA, an institute may be a Faculty of Engineering like, for example, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In Canada, on the other hand an institute may be a junior college for technicians, for example, the British Columbia Institute of Technology which has an option program on industrial chemistry, or the Manitoba Institute of Technology which has a Department of Chemical Technology. In Canada, there was a Professor of Applied Chemistry at the School of Practical Science at Toronto as early as 1882 and a Diploma in Analytical and Applied Chemistry was offered until 1892 when a Bachelor of Science degree program was started. The Schoo! was finally transformea into the Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering at the University of Toronto in 1900. ‘The Department of Chemistry established at Queen’s College in Kingston, Ontario created a program in Engineering Chemistry whose first graduates left in 1898. Tn this program, courses in industrial chemistry, among other things were taught, In 1909, the Department was reorganized and three years later offered a fully integrated course in chemical engineering. A Faculty of Applied Science appeared in 1916, then in 1922 a Department of Chemical Engineering was created. Today, Toronto and Queen’s are the only universities offering modest programs in chemical technology while all other Canadian universities are offering only chemical engineering. At the Ecole Polytechnique in Montreal, industrial chemistry was taught from 1912 to 1958 when it was transformed to chemical engineering. In the US it seems that there are only two universities offering Bachelor of Chemical Technology degrees: Quincy College in Quincy, Mlinois and the University of Dayton in Dayton, Ohio. ‘The neglect of teaching chemical technology in North America is reflected in the absence of major textbooks on this subject as compared to Europe (Table 2). Thus, in Germany a 2-volume book entitled Handbuch der Technischen Chemie by G.F. Gmelin appeared as early as 1795 while in the USA a one volume textbook entitled Outlines of Industrial Chemistry by F.M. Thorp appeared as late as 1901. In Germany, Rudolf Wagner started publishing a comprehensive annual progress report on chemical technology in 1855 under the title Jahresbericht tiber die Fortschritte der Chemischen Technologie. In modern times, the comprehensive volumes Chemische Technologie edited by Winnacker and Weingiriner which first appeared in 1952 are still being revised and made up to date (Table 3). Extractive metallurgy, ie., the art and science of extracting metal form ores is usually very well covered in chemical technology books. According to some accounts, the books on industrial chemistry lacked quantitative and theoretical treatments and thus the subject seemed too much like “memory work" for most students who preferred to learn these topics from inudustrial practice. AS a result, the subject of industrial chemistry declined and became extinct in USA. This is, however, a false argument because chemical technology is more or less chemistry applied to industrial processes. 460Table 2- Major works on industrial chemistry Date | Author/Editor Title Volumes | Place of of first publications edition 1795-96 | J.P. Gmelin” Handbuch der ‘Technischen 2 Halle /Salle Chemie 1807 | J.A. Chaptal Chimie Appliquée aux Arts 4 Paris 1828-46 | J.B.A. Dumas Traité de Chimie Appliquée aux | 9 Paris Arts (including an Atlas) 1835 | EL. Schubarth | Elemente der Technischen 2 Berlin Chemie 1847 | F. Knapp Lehrbuch der Chemischen 2 Braunschweig Technologie 1854 |S. Muspratt Theoretical and Analytical 2 Glasgow Chemistry as Applied and Relating to. the Arts and Manufactures 1858 | R, Wagner Lehrbuch der Chemischen 1 Leipzig Technologie™ 1857-62 | R. Wagner Praxis der Gewerbe oder Hand- 4 Leipzig und Lehrbuch der Technologic 1362-70 | AP. Bolleyed. | Handbuch der Chemischen 7 Braunschweig Technologie 1895.98 | 0, Dammer Handbuch der Chemischen Stuttgart Technologie 1901 | FM. Thorp Outlines of Industrial Chemistry 1 New York 1912 | A. Rogers Industrial Chemistry. A Manual 1 New York for Students and Manufacturers 1923 | P. Baud Chimie industrielle 1 Paris 1928 | ER. Riegel Industrial Chemistry 1 New York 1933 | WT. Read Industrial Chemistry 1 New York 1936 | FA. Henglein Grundriss der Chemischen 1 Weinheim Technik 1945 | RN. Shreve ‘The Chemical Process Industries 1 ¥ Johann Peiedrich Gmelin (1748-1804) is Leopold Gmelin’s (1788-1853) father; the latter was the author of Handbuch der Anorganischen Chemi which now bears his name, the famous ~ This book was translated in Russian by Mendeleev in 1864. 461Reference volumes on chemical technology in the form of an encyclopedia appeared in France in 1868 by A. Wurtz and nearly simultaneously in England by H. Watts. The North ‘American counterpart by RE. Kirk and D.F. Othmer first appeared in 1947, In Germany, Ullmann’s Enzyklopadie started in 1914 in twelve volumes - the largest encyclopedia of its type at that time (Table 4). While the French and British did not continue up-dating their encyclopedias, the German and the American encyclopedias are continuously being expanded and revised as can be seen from Table 5. It is worth mentioning that due to decreased German readership as compared to the English language it is becoming more and more costly to publish in the German language. As a result the editors of Ullmann decided to publish the Fifth Edition in English, Table 3 Chemische Technologie by Winnacker and Weingirtner Edition Date Volume _ Editors 1 1952-54 5 K. Winnacker and E. Weingirtner 2 1958-61 5 K. Winnacker and L. Kichler 3 1970-73 7 K. Winnacker and L. Kichler 4 1982-86 7 H. Harnisch, R. Steiner, K. Winnacker, H. Autenrieth, et al. Table 4 Encyclopedias of chemical technology (first editions) Date _Editor Title Volumes 1868-78 A. Wurtz Dictionnaire de Chimie Pure et 4 Paris Appliquée (with a Supplement) 1869-72 H. Watts Dictionary _of Chemistry (with a 6 London Supplement) 1390-93 E. Thorpe A Dictionary of Applied Chemistry 3 London 1914-22 F, Ullmann Enzyklopiidie der Technischen Chemie 12, -—- Weinheim 1947-56 RE. Kirk Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology 15. New York DF. Othmer 1977-92 JJ.McKetta Encyclopedia of Chemical Processing 40 New York and Design 462CHEMICAL ENGINEERING Chemical engineering was conceived first in England around 1887 by George E. Davis who was teaching at the Manchester Technical School. Manchester at that time was the center of chemical industry in Britain. Davis conceived that the problems of the chemical industry were often engineering problems, and the scientific principles underlying widely diverse manufacturing operations were fundamentally the same and could be studied and analyzed coherently. His lectures thus presented the essential idea to be known thirty years later as "unit operations’, a unifying concept in the design of curricula. Davis published in 1901 the first book in chemical engineering which he called Handbook of Chemical Engineering. The British were slow to follow up on Davis’ initiative and in the New World it was easier to innovate, In the 1850's the University of Pennsylvania was already experimenting with courses in industrial chemistry -Philadelphia was the center of chemical industry at that . As US manufacturing deversified, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts and the University of Pennsylvania began to offer courses and degrees under the title "Chemical Engineering’. In 1887, the MIT appointed a committee to "consider instruction in engineering as related especially to applied chemistry’. In 1915, the MIT began its School of Chemical Engineering Practice in which students worked in industry under faculty supervision to relate theory to applications. It was soon realized that the purely physical operations of chemical processing, whether carried out to produce small quantities of an expensive fine chemical or tonnage amounts of a heavy chemical, depend on common principles of physics. Thus, fluid motion and fluid mechanics had to be understood wherever fluids are moved through equipment in continuous processes; heat flow in one or another of its forms governs the size of heat exchangers, condensers, and boilers whether they are big or small; and mass transfer principles underlie the bahavior of both distilling columns and gas absorbers whether they are used to purify fish oil or to scrub the gases flowing from power plants. Table 5 Comparison between Ullmann and Kirk-Othmer ULLMANN KIRK-OTHMER Edition Date Volumes Date Volumes. 1 1914-22 12 1947-56 15 2 1928-32, ee 1963-72 2 3 1951-70 2 1978-84 25 4 1972-84 25 1991-(98) 27 5 1984- 36" * The first four editions are in German while the fifth is in English 463The “unit actions" mentioned by Little became known as Unit Operations. The Department of Applied Chemistry founded by W.H. Walker was turned in a Department of Chemical Engineering. Books on chemical engineering unit operations were soon published by MIT professors in which these ideas were elaborated. The first of these was entitled Principles of Chemical Engineering, by W.H. Walker, W.K. Lewis, and W.H. McAdams appeared in 1923, followed by a less advanced text Elements of Chemical Engineering by W.L. Badger and W.L. McCabe in 1926. A few years later, in 1934 the monumental work edited by John H. Perry entitled Chemical Engineers’ Handbook (Table 6) displaced D.M. Liddell’s Chemical Engineering Handbook published in 1922 that was a mixture of chemistry and engineering and not true chemical engineering. It is worth mentioning in this connection that Liddell also edited in 1926 a Handbook of Nonferrous Metallurgy and Merallurgist’s and Chemists’ Handbook. 1t is interesting to mention that Principles of Chemical Engineering by Walker, Lewis, and McAdams appeared in French translation in 1933 under the misleading title Principes de Chimie Industrielle. Unit processes With the rapid developments in organic chemistry and the organic industries following the discovery of plastics and the shifting of technology from coal tar to petrochemicals, the concept of Unit Processes was introduced. In 1935 the first book based on this new concept was edited by P.H. Groggins and was entitled Unit Processes in Organic Synthesis. In this book the principles of organic chemical processes common to many industries were defined and examples given. Typical of these were: sulfonation, nitration, halogenation, acylation, diazotization and coupiing, oxidation, reduction, polymerization, etc. ENGINEERING VERSUS TECHNOLOGY It is true that chemical engineering presents particular methods of attacking problems for which an extensive factual background is not essential. It places a greater emphasis on student’s power of reasoning and logical analysis, and less on memory. This fits well with the objectives during the study of chemical engineering which is the operation of industrial processes. While Europe has an Table 6 Perry's Chemical Engineer's Handbook Edition Date Pages Size,em_Price,$ Editors 1 1934 2569 12x15 9.00 John H. Perry 2 1941 2957 12x 15 10.00 John H. Perry 3 19501884 12x 15 15.00 John H. Perry 4 1963 1876 20X26 19.50 Robert H. Perry C-H. Chilton, S.D. Kirkpatrick 1973 1891 20x26 35.00 CH. Chilton, RH. Perry’ 1984 2336 «20 x 26 = 109.50 R.H. Perry’, D. Green Robert H. Perry 1s John H. Perry's only son: 464elaborate and old coal tar industry the United States did not. Instead the US embarked on the newly discovered petroleum. Coal tar distillation products by far are a more complicated material than petroleum distillation products. In the case of coal tar, chemistry plays the predominant role; in petroleum, engineering is more important than chemistry. In Europe, chemical engineering emerged as a discipline equal to, but not displacing chemical technology. The following selection of schools shows that chemical engineering is taught side by side with other branches of chemical technology. England In England, Davis helped found the Society of Chemical Industy in 1882 which established in 1918 a Chemical Engineering Group that became in 1920 the Institution of Chemical Engineers. Teaching chemical engineering started as a graduate course in the 1920's at Imperial College and University College, and in 1928 at King's College, all in the University of London. Undergraduates courses started in 1937 at Imperial College. Czechoslovakia In a small European country like Czechoslovakia (population 15.5 million) there are three large institutes of chemical technology offering undergraduate and graduate research to doctorate level in chemical technology. These institutes are located in Prague, Pardubicé (100 km east of Prague), and Bratislava, ‘The Prague Institute of Chemical Technology is composed of the following faculties: © Chemical Technology © Biotechnology and Food Technology © Chemical Engineering © Water Treatment and Fuels The Faculty of Chemical Technology is composed of the following departments: © Inorganic Chemistry © Chemical Metallurgy & Corrosion © Inorganic Technology © Materials © Organic Chemistry © Silicates © Organic Technology The Bratislava Institute of Chemical Technology is composed of the following departmen Mathematics Biochemical Technology Analytical Chemistry Microbiology and Biochemistry Inorganic Chemistry Plastics Organic Chemistry Silicates Textiles, Cellulose, and Paper Chemical Economies Automation of Chemical Processes Central Chemical Technology Laboratory Physical Chemistry Inorganic Technology Organic Technology Nuclear Technology eee cccce we occccce 465Austria ‘The Technische Hochschule in Vienna was founded in 1815 and its Faculty of Natural Sciences is presently composed of the following institutes: ‘Analytical Chemistry General and Inorganic Chemistry Organic Chemistry Physical Chemistry Inorganic Chemical Technology Organic Chemical Technology Technical Electrochemistry Applied Mineralogy and Petrography Biochemical Technology and Microbiology Botany, Technical Microscopy and Organic Raw Materials Experimental Physics Applied Physics Theoretical Physics Chemical Engineering and Fuel Technology Japan Many Japanese Instiutes of Technology have departments for applied chemistry. For example, the Kyushu Institute of Technology in Kitakyushu City has a Department of ‘Applied Chemistry, and Materials Science and Engineering, with 46 faculty members and 1045 students as of 1989. Material Processing and Chemical Engineering is one of the four divisions composing the Department. Canada The teaching of chemical engineering in Canada dates from 1904, the year in which a course in that subject was given at the University of Toronto. The first Chemical Engineering Department in Canada was also founded in Toronto in 1916. The name was changed later to the Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry. Today this Department ranks as one of the largest in the world, while the University of Toronto is the largest in Canada, CONCLUSIONS The development of chemical engineering (applied physical chemistry) in North America is well justified due to the expanding chemical industry. However, this should not displace chemical technology (applied chemistry) as an academic discipline. At present, chemical engineering is favored by extensive academic research while chemical technology research is suffering greatly. Chemical technology seems to be taught mainly in junior colleges graduating chemical technicians (also referred to as technologists) with no research facilities. This may be the reason why the industry is expanding but not innovating. A balance between the two disciplines should be considered by North American educators as in Europe and Japan. 466ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ‘The author acknowledges with thanks comments offered by Prof. G.T. Kipouros (Technical University of Nova Scotia), Prof. R.S. Ramalho (Université Laval), Prof. V. Papangelakis and his colleagues (University of Toronto) and Prof. Emeritus L.W. Shemilt (McMaster University). REFERENCES IR. Fair, "History of a Handbook", Chem. Eng. 129-132 (1974), February 18. WE. Furter, editor, A History of Chemical Engineering, American Chemical Society, ‘Washington, D.C. 1980. WF. Furter, editor, A Century of Chemical Engineering, Plenum, New York 1982. W. Hayes, American Chemical Industry, 6 volumes, Van Nostrand, New York 1954. S.D. Kirkpatrick, "Development of Chemical Engineering Education’, Trans. Am. Inst. Chem. Engrs. 34 (3a) 6 (1938). WD. Miles, editor, American Chemists and Chemical Engineers, American Chemical Society, Washington D.C. 1976. RP. Multhauf, The History of Chemical Technolog: An Annotated Bibliography, Garland Publishing, New York 1984. T.S. Reynolds, 75 Years of Progress. A History of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, American Institute of Chemical Engineers, New York 1983. LS. Schemilt, editor, Chemical Engineering Education in Canada. An Historical Perspective, Canadian Society for Chemical Engineers, Otawa 1991. CJ.Warrington, R.V.V. Nicholls, A History of Chemistry in Canada, Pitman 1949, CJ. Warrington, B.T. Newbold, Chemical Canada. Past and Present, Chemical Institute of Canada, Ottawa 1970. TL. Williams, The Chemical Industry: Past and Present, Milton Keynes, 1972. 467