The main role of a chemical engineer is to gather materials, design process so that few properties

are altered to offer them another purpose.

There are ample industries that entrust chemical engineers to produce new materials. Hence,
their role in any industry leads to many opportunities.

Large scale processes are designed by chemical engineers where they convert raw materials,
living cells, microorganisms, chemicals and energy into beneficial products.

Chemical Engineer Interview Questions and Answers

1. What is flow control?

Flow control is also mentioned as optimized production technology where the effectual flow
of material is concentrated by means of the production process. Bottlenecks are the main
aspect which the flow control philosophy focuses on.

A simple example can be that owner who makes use of flow control process would never
intend to purchase machines which have the capacity of 1000 units per hour and supply just
500 units.

The systems are to be analyzed and the lowest flow must be identified. The identified point
must be addressed and assured that its works to its full capability. When maximum
productivity is required, flow control plays its role.

2. Mention the difference between unit operation and unit process?

When a unit operation is considered changes take place in mass and concentration where
energy is provided from an external source without any chemical change. Few examples
would be evaporation, distillation, and mixing.

In the same manner, when a unit process is considered, the reactant is processed in the feed
which means that reactants present in the feed are transformed to products by means of
chemical reaction and with the assistance of energy being supplied to the system.

3. What is a solvent?

A solvent can be defined as a liquid which has the capability to suspend, dissolve or to take
out other chemicals where they do not perform any chemical change to the material or
solvent. The main process of solvents is to clean, apply, process or to separate materials.

4. What is material requirement planning?

When the quantity of finished goods is provided it requires an appropriate quantity of raw
materials and related components to make them.
Computerized tools that are used to handle at times materials are to be ordered to provide
supply at a later date is called, material requirement planning system.

When output quantities are known, then MRP is effective. There are a number of small
business owners these days that have their own MRP system.

By this way, they store the information required and supply production. Few MRP activities
are forecasting demand and computer tracking inventory.

5. What are PCB’s?

The abbreviation for PCB is “Poly Chlorinated Biphenyls” and is mainly utilized for disposal
issues usually in the chemical industry.
6. What are the design considerations for a piping system in order to transfer slurries?

The points to be considered in order to design a pipe to transfer slurries are mentioned. The
pipe should have the capability to self-drain, in the case where self-drain isn’t possible
manual draining facility should be installed.

The other points to be mentioned is that when plugging opportunities are high, blow-out or
rod-out connections must be provided in order to clear the lines.

Clean-out connections must be installed on both the sides of the values for proper flushing.
Access flanges must make use of T-connections. Flanged connections must be provided to all
manifolds for easy usage.

7. Explain the third law of thermodynamics?

The third law of thermodynamics states that “when a system reaches absolute zero, a
minimum value is reached by the entropy of the system”.

8. What is just in time?

The production management philosophy which is developed across continuous reduction of

waste is called lean manufacturing or just in time. They are mainly used in businesses where
production efficiency plays the main role. Any aspect that hinders productivity is considered
as waste and enemy in JIT systems. Wasted many hours, reduction of inbound inventory by a
formulation of supplier delivery schedules and minimization of outbound stock and more are
few techniques that assist JIT. By this way, cash flow is enhanced, and sales margin is
maximized.

9. What is quicklime and what are its uses?

Quicklime is calcium oxide which is in dehydrated stage and an effective scavenger. When a
comparison is made with other scavenger’s as silica, oxazolidines, it is cheap. These are
usually found in water sensitive paint formulations.

10. What is angle of repose importance in the chemical industry?

The property of particulate solids is mentioned as an angle of repose. When a bulk solid is
poured into a flat surface, a conical pile is developed. The angle that is developed between
the pile edge and a flat surface is called angle of repose. The angle of repose depends on
certain factors which include surface area, density of the material, coefficient of friction

11. What are the three classes of organic solvent?

Organic solvents are usually classified as hydrocarbon, oxygenated, and halogenated

solvents. They also take into account ketones, alcohol, esters, glucometers, and glycol ether
esters. When hydrocarbon solvents are considered they include aromatics and aliphatics.
Ones which are chlorinated usually fall under halogenated solvents.

12. What do you understand by wet bulb globe temperature?

Measuring the sultriness of the environment is achieved with the help of wet bulb globe
temperature. The calculation of sultriness is made on the basis of air speed, humidity affects,
the heating factor of sun’s radiant, temperature and air speed. It is a known fact that it could
be fatal with sultriness and hence must concentrate about it.

It was in 1950’s that the wet bulb globe temperature was developed and now agreed as an
international standard. Their temperature readings are taken into considerations which
include ordinary dry bulb temperature, wet bulb temperature, and black bulb globe
temperature.
13. What is Gibbs free energy?

It is mentioned as the maximum amount of mechanical work or available energy which is

done by the system under stable temperature and pressure.

14. What happens when the paint dries?

In the manufacturing process of paints, solvents are being added to them so that paint thinner
is made. This solvent is used in order to apply to different surfaces. After the application of
the paint, the solvents are evaporated, and the pigments and resins make the paint form a
solid and thin coating on the surface.

15. Can you mention something about additives?

Additives are mentioned as something that is mixed with any process. This is also mentioned
as the primary staple. They are identified in very small quantities and are not associated by
any means to the terminal output. They are mainly used as an enhancer in order to avoid
some unwanted reaction. Simple examples can be an addition of reactors, evaporators and
more.

To avoid foaming, styrene systems are added with inhibitors to avoid polymerization. A
famed additive is the detergent mixed with gasoline and motor oils so that the engine is kept
clean.

16. How is particle size distribution determined for given bulk solid?

Making use of sieve stack is the simplest method that can be utilized in order to find out the
particle size distribution. By making use of varied mesh sizes, stacks are developed at every
stack level. The structure is formulated in a manner that the largest mesh size resides on the
top and smallest at the bottom. With the pattern, the weight, before beginning and other
values are made note of.

With all these setups, the topmost cylinder is where solid is placed. Now without disturbing
the setup is exposed to vertical and horizontal movements. The process here is that the solid
is made to pass through varied mesh sizes where particles are separated according to their
sizes. In order to determine the size of the particle and distribution, advanced methodologies
such as laser diffraction, video imaging can be utilized.

17. What is an isochoric process?

An isochoric process is defined as a thermodynamic process at a constant value. This is also

mentioned as an isovolumetric process.

18. Explain the functioning of three-way catalytic converter?

The main functions of three-way catalytic converter are nitrogen oxide reduction, carbon
monoxide oxidation, and uncombusted hydrocarbon oxidation.

19. What are the disadvantages and advantages of PFR?

The advantages of PFR are high conversion rate, continuous operation, and operating at less
cost. The disadvantages of PFR are high maintenance costs and temperature gradients.

20. What are the characteristics that affect the flow of bulk solids and how?

Few characteristics that affect the flow of bulk solids are moisture content where enhanced
moisture content in solids makes bulk solids sticky. Absorption of the moisture sometimes by
the atmosphere by some solids happens. The other characteristic is a temperature where it
affects bulk solids at times when they are exposed to a specific temperature. Time at rest is a
way which affects the solids when they are kept still or rest. The more rest they take, the
more slowly the flow of bulk solids takes place. Particle size is one characteristic where it is
easy to handle round particles than the odd and asymmetric ones.
21. What is a CSTR and what are its basic assumptions?

The abbreviation for CSTR is continuous stirred tank reactor. Here assumptions are steady
state, constant temperature, constant density and one irreversible first order reaction.

22. What is meant by global warming in engineer’s perspective and common man?

When a common man perspective is considered, he thinks that global warming is the rise in
world temperature. The average temperature enhancement at the surface of the earth is
mentioned as global warming by an engineer’s view. This is because of the enhanced effect
of the greenhouse gasses. The greenhouse gasses are ones that capture heat which is emitted
by the globe into the atmosphere which leads to temperature rise.

23. List the greenhouse gasses found in the earth’s atmosphere?

Few greenhouse gases in the atmosphere of the earth are water vapor, methane, carbon
dioxide, nitrous oxide, and CFC.

24. What is carbon sequestration?

Carbon sequestration is a methodology for seizing carbon dioxide for the long term so that its
effect on global warming is reduced.

25. Define octane number?

An octane number is defined as a resistance to an explosion of fuel specifically in spark

engine ignition when made a comparison with the isooctane-n-heptane mixture.

26. What is the critical radius of insulation?

When the convection resistance is not affected due to the depth of insulation, then it is
mentioned as critical radius of insulation.

27. What is a black body?

A black body is considered as an ideal object that absorbs all the electromagnetic radiation.

28. What is the maximum recommended velocity for a steam plant?

For a high-pressured steam it should be limited to 150 ft/s while for low-pressured steam it
should be limited to 100 ft/s.

29. What is the maximum recommended pipe velocity for dry and gases?

For dry gases, limited to 100 ft/s while for wet gases, limited to 60 ft/s.

30. What are some characteristics of bulk solid that can affect their ability to flow
properly?

Four (4) main factors that affect the flow:

o Moisture content
o Temperature
o Particle size and shape
o Time at rest