National Resources Planning Board, Industrial Research 



307 



paratively new profession. It may be said to have had 

 its origin in the unit-operation concept first presented 

 by the late Dr. Arthur D. Little in December 1915, in a 

 report to the Corporation of the Massachu-setts Institute 

 of Technology, which ultimately led to the foundation 

 of the School of Chemical Engineering Practice at that 

 institution. Dr. Little then defined chemical engineer- 

 ing in these terms : ^ 



Any chemical process, on whatever scale conducted, may be 

 resolved into a coordinated series of what may be termed "unit 

 actions" as pulverizing, mixing, heating, roasting, absorbing, 

 condensing, lixivating, precipitating, crystallizing, filtering, dis- 

 solving, electrolyzing and so on. The number of these basic unit 

 operations is not very large and relatively few of them are 

 involved in any particular process . . . 



As this concept of chemical engineering gradually 

 displaced the older methods of teaching industrial 

 chemistry in our educational institutions, its practi- 

 tioners in industry began to apply quantitative study 

 to the fundamental principles and theories underlying 

 these unit operations and processes. Thus developed 

 what is truly chemical engineering research as dis- 

 tinguished from purely chemical research. Dr. Little ' 

 well stated its objectives in the following words: 



Chemical engineering research ... is directed toward the 

 improvement, control and better coordination of these unit oper- 

 ations and the selection or development of the equipment in 

 which they are carried out. It is obviously concerned with the 

 testing and the provision of materials of construction which shall 

 function safely, resist corrosion, and withstand the indicated con- 

 ditions of temperature and pressure. Its ultimate objective is 

 so to provide and organize the means for conducting a chemical 

 process that the plant shall operate safely, efficiently, and 

 profitably. 



Fields of Application 



The introduction of the dollar sign into the chemical 

 equation proved a potent stimulant for industrial re- 

 search. As new products and processes began to 

 emerge from the laboratories in ever increasing number, 

 more and more companies came to realize that their 

 future dividends depended upon scientific development. 

 Dirringthe 1920's, therefore, there was a steady growth 

 in research activities and a corresponding increase in 

 the requirements for technically trained personnel. 

 The number of chemical engineers entering research 

 and development work followed the general trend, but 

 it is interesting to note that in some industries there 

 was much greater demand than in others. In other 

 words, there was a relatively deeper penetration or ac- 

 ceptance of chemical engineering in those industries 

 that could make most effective use of men with this 

 training. 



• Little, Arthur D. Twenty-five years of chemical engineering progress; silver 

 anniversary volume. (American Institute of Chemical Engineers.) New York, 

 D. Van Nostrand Co., Inc., 1933, p. 7. 



' Twenty-five years of chemical engineering progress, pp. 7-8. See footnote 2. 



321835 — 11 21 



Among the first to utilize the services of the chemical 

 engineer were the more strictly chemical industries — 

 i. e., the producers of heavy, inorganic chemicals, elec- 

 trochemical products, coal-tar dyes and synthetic 

 organic chemicals, explosives, artificial resins, fibers, 

 and plastics. The basic chemistry of most of these 

 processes was relatively well known, but there was 

 urgent need for better engineering in its application. 

 Even by 1925 it had been estimated that the chemical- 

 engineering penetration in this field was practically 

 complete as regards the acceptance of chemical engi- 

 neers in development work and the supervision of 

 plant operation. Today these strictly chemical indus- 

 tries employ appro .ximately 4,000 chemical engineers, 

 of whom 750 to 1,000 are engaged in research and 

 development work. 



Somewhat slower to accept chemical engineering in 

 the beginning, but now among its most ardent sup- 

 porters, are certam of the so-called process industries 

 such as petroleum refining, coal processing, and pulp 

 and paper manufacture. These industries all depend 

 upon such fundamental unit operations as heat trans- 

 fer, distillation, evaporation, and fluid flow, for which 

 there was abundant opportunity to apply improved 

 processes and equipment, with resultant savings in 

 capital and operating costs. It is not surprising, 

 therefore, to find that even ten years ago the petroleum- 

 refining industry was the largest single employer of 

 chemical engineers, accoimting for 12.30 percent of the 

 graduates of the classes of 1920-29, according to a 

 survey made by the American Institute of Chemical 

 Engineers.* 



Pulp and paper and coal processing at that time 

 employed only 4 and 4.30 percent respectively of the 

 chemical engineering graduates of the 1920-29 classes. 

 But it should be remarked that the great recent growth 

 of the paper industry, particularly in the Southern 

 States, is rapidly changing this relationship. So, too, 

 is the allied development of cellulose products for 

 resins, lacquers, and rayon. Perhaps there should also 

 be included m this second group the manufacturers of 

 rubber goods, fertilizers, sugar, and certain food prod- 

 ucts in which it has been estimated that there has been 

 a chemical-engineering penetration of at least 50 

 percent.* 



This leaves still a third classification of industries in 

 which chemical engineering has made relatively slower 

 progress — with 50 percent or less penetration. Among 

 these are leather and textile processing, which are 

 typical of those iiidustries that are higlily developed as 

 arts but not as chemical-engineering operations. To a 

 lesser degree the same situation applies in the manu- 



' White, Alfred H. Occupations and earnings of chemical engineering graduates. 

 American Institute of Chemical Engineers, Transactions, ST, 221-50 (1931). 



' Industry's common bond In chemical engineering. Chemical and Metallurgical 

 Engineering, SB, 5 (January 1928). 



