WHAT DOES A CHEMICAL ENGINEER DO?
Published: May 21, 2025 - The Chemical Engineer oversees the development and use of chemical products in the manufacturing of soy products, ensuring quality control and regulatory compliance throughout raw materials, production, and waste processes. This position involves evaluating and testing chemical process technology, equipment, and catalyst materials to meet production specifications and support product improvements. This role involves researching findings and preparing chemical development reports for management while maintaining accurate inventory and assisting small-scale prototype production in a controlled environment.
A Review of Professional Skills and Functions for Chemical Engineer
1. Chemical Engineer Duties
- Innovation Capability: Build capabilities to create innovative products that push the boundaries of the brand
- Supply Deployment: Deploy responsive supply chain solutions that improve speed and deliver meaningful commercial impact
- Resilience Management: Advance the resilience and sustainability of the supply chain through partner, performance, and risk management approaches
- Operational Improvement: Constantly improve the operational model to improve service, efficiency, cost, and quality
- Organizational Leadership: Live values and put people first to drive organizational effectiveness
- Process Documentation: Preparation and checking of process deliverables – PFDs, P&IDs, datasheets, specifications, process descriptions, philosophies, and narratives
- Design Support: Contribute to the design process of the R&D technology upgrades at all stages of design, procurement, and commissioning
- Documentation Management: Prepare and/or assist with the generation and update of various documentation
- Operational Support: Provide operational & maintenance support to the on-site engineering team
- Change Management: Initiate change control, plan and participate in the implementation of capital projects, plant modification, project commissioning, and tie-in
- Commissioning Support: Support commissioning activities for the safe start-up of the system
2. Chemical Engineer Details
- Design Evaluation: Evaluate and review the design of air and water quality control projects for the energy and industrial markets
- Technology Evaluation: Evaluate and review the design and economics of various carbon capture technologies in both the energy and industrial markets
- Utilization Evaluation: Evaluate and review the design of conventional and innovative carbon utilization technologies including enhanced oil recovery, sequestration, and others
- Engineering Studies: Prepare preliminary engineering studies for modifying and retrofitting air quality control projects on existing energy and industrial facilities
- Design Verification: Independently verify the design of vendor-supplied equipment
- Technical Analysis: Analyze technical issues, prepare accompanying system specification data, mass and heat balances, and present findings and proposals to clients and peers
- Regulatory Impact: Evaluate the impact of legislation and regulatory initiatives with respect to air and water quality controls for new and existing energy and industrial sources
- Compliance Preparation: Prepare complex environmental compliance evaluations and environmental permit applications, and interface with federal, state and local permitting agencies
- Work Prioritization: Establishing work priorities on a daily basis for multiple projects and responding to requests from project managers
- Knowledge Maintenance: Maintaining and enhancing knowledge and understanding of industry standards and specifications, control system design, and new technology developments
- Career Development: Developing career via peer-learning and knowledge sharing with other engineers and participating in S&L’s System of Processes and associated “Communities of Practice”
- Industry Participation: Participating in industry code committees and conferences
3. Chemical Engineer Responsibilities
- Engineering Delivery: Deliver all material engineering requirements to support the launch of prioritized IMG Region Cycle Plan projects (chemical products)
- Specification Development: Develop specifications that meet market requirements and coordinate product verification to ensure the product can achieve a level of Quality/Performance expected of Ford Motor Company
- Supplier Evaluation: Evaluate & identify potential chemical suppliers
- Supplier Understanding: Establish a detailed understanding of Asia Pacific supplier products, engineering capabilities
- Product Launch Support: Support service chemical product launches
- Sign-off Coordination: Coordinate & execute chemical products sign-offs
- Performance Testing: Ensure all material performance testing is completed in time & successfully
- Engineering Sign-off: Deliver engineering sign-off & achieve engineering complete status
- Toxicology Compliance: Conduct the toxicology approval process for service chemicals and ensure chemical label content is compliant with market regulations, GHS, etc.
- Part Number Release: Release all new chemical part numbers into WERS
- Cross-functional Partnership: Partner with Marketing, Purchasing, Quality and Upstream organizations to deliver projects
- SREA Completion: Complete chemical product SREA requests within 30 days
- Activity Coordination: Coordinate & communicate engineering activities for all service chemicals between markets and the central team
4. Chemical Engineer Job Summary
- Stabilization Strategy: Lead determination of enzyme stabilization strategy
- System Optimization: Optimize and scale the CO2-to-cellulose bioproduction system
- Cross-disciplinary Collaboration: Collaborate across disciplines with a Lead BioEngineer
- Partner Collaboration: Collaborate with 3rd party partner facilities to establish a pilot reactor
- Technical Roadmapping: Implement ideas, distill key insights, make recommendations on the technical roadmap, and troubleshoot laboratory processes and protocols
- Technical Expertise: Utilize key skills such as bioreactor design & LCMS/NMR
- Team Leadership: Build and manage an R&D team in partnership with the CTO
- Innovation Leadership: Revolutionize the fields of carbon utilization and manufacturing
- Process Improvement: Identify areas of improvement to plant facilities, processes, methods of operations as well as troubleshooting the processes and equipment problems to ensure greater operating efficiency
- Documentation Preparation: Prepare documents relating to systems, such as Local Operating Instructions (LOI), Local Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) and training manual
- Training Delivery: Provide training for operators on new systems or changes implemented
- Project Coordination: Support cross-functional coordination for the execution of changes/projects
5. Chemical Engineer Functions
- Product Oversight: Oversee the use and development of chemical products in the manufacturing process of various soy products
- Process Evaluation: Evaluate chemical process technology and equipment to suit production specifications
- Quality Control: Establish quality control procedures and conduct operations to ensure consistency and meet regulations
- Specification Compliance: Ensure quality control specifications are met for raw materials, production, and waste
- Process Research: Conduct research into development and improvement of chemical engineering processes
- Technology Evaluation: Evaluate chemical process technology and equipment and determine production specifications
- Material Testing: Evaluate and test chemical processing materials and methods used in soy production
- Report Preparation: Prepare reports on chemical developments to the owner
- Inventory Management: Maintain stock and inventory of chemicals
- Catalyst Development: Develop and test catalyst materials and processes
- Data Analysis: Gather and summarize all pertinent catalyst characterization and activity test data for analysis and presentation to senior research staff
- Production Assistance: Assist with small-scale production for products and prototypes in a well-documented environment
6. Chemical Engineer Job Description
- Process Design: Responsible for designing, installing and commissioning new processing methods, monitoring process development, chemical processing equipment modifications/upgrades and troubleshooting existing processes
- Modeling Simulation: Uses computer modeling and simulations to design and evaluate processes and operating systems for the manufacture of products
- Report Preparation: Prepares reports, flow diagrams and charts
- Project Management: Manages the costs and time constraints of chemical and process engineering projects
- Scale-up Support: Supports the conversion of small-scale processes into commercially viable large-scale operations
- Risk Assessment: Assumes responsibility for risk assessment, necessitating hazard and operability studies, for health and safety of staff
- Process Monitoring: Monitors and improves the efficiency, output, statistical process capability and safety of a chemical operation or system
- Data Collection: Makes observations and takes measurements directly, as well as collects and interprets data from the other technical and operating staff involved
- Cross-disciplinary Collaboration: Works closely with other specialists including chemists and material scientists, responsible for the selection and processing of raw materials, intermediates and finished products
- Reliability Management: Monitors process equipment to identify potential reliability or production issues and develops systems solutions to eliminate the recurrence of those issues
- Process Innovation: Continually researches to find new and less expensive methods to be used in processing to reduce lead time and increase product value
- Control Systems: Designs measurement and control systems for chemical plants based on data collected in laboratory experiments and in pilot plant operations
7. Chemical Engineer Overview
- Client Interface: Interface with clients on an initial and conceptual level to extract project specifications
- PFD Development: Develop PFD’s, mass and energy balances and detailed P&ID’s
- Material Specification: Specify materials of construction and equipment
- Valve Specification: Specify valves and specialty devices
- Safety Specification: Specify process and equipment safety devices
- Instrument Assistance: Assist in the development of instrument specifications
- Process Description: Develop a process description/sequence of operations
- Control Strategies: Develop conceptual control strategies
- Design Review: Present and execute design reviews with the client
- Layout Development: Develop conceptual layouts and cost studies
- Task Management: Determine the most effective and efficient approach to solving engineering tasks, as well as develop and manage project schedules
- Constructability Analysis: Perform constructability analysis of the project in support of proper staffing assignments, cash flow and work flow
- Cost Estimation: Accurately estimate design, equipment, instrument and other direct and sub-contract costs
- Relationship Management: Manage client and supplier relationships
8. Chemical Engineer Tasks
- Operations Arrangement: Determines the most effective arrangement of operations, such as mixing, crushing, heat transfer, distillation, and drying
- Production Testing: Performs tests throughout stages of production to determine the degree of control over variables, including temperature, pH, specific gravity and pressure
- Safety Procedures: Develops safety procedures to be employed by workers operating equipment or working in close proximity to ongoing chemical operations
- Team Supervision: Directs activities of workers who operate or are engaged in constructing and improving process equipment
- Resource Estimation: Estimates sizes, distances and quantities or determines time, costs, resources or materials needed to perform a work activity
- Product Development: Research and development of polymer products for naval use
- Polymer Analysis: Identify means of quantifying polymer aging effects to extend expiration dates
- Adhesive Study: Study adhesive performance for developmental polymer formulation
- Equipment Management: Manage laboratory equipment and qualify new mixing equipment
- Mold Design: Design and manufacture molds to produce a prototype
- Documentation Production: Produce technical documents and reports
9. Chemical Engineer Roles
- Troubleshooting Leadership: Take a lead role in the day-to-day troubleshooting shooting spray drying productions
- Process Optimization: Take a lead role in the optimisation and evolution of processes
- Customer Leadership: Take the lead role of customer for manufacturing in larger projects and a project engineer in smaller manufacturing technical support managed projects
- Technical SME: Act as process engineer and SME for the technical team, with technical development focused on continuous manufacturing
- Safety Leadership: Lead/participate in safety investigations, safety reports and safety/environmental compliance activities
- Continuous Improvement: Seeks to challenge operational standards and looks for continuous improvement
- Compliance Maintenance: Maintain required compliance documents by developing HSE, GMP and GAMP knowledge and understanding
- Audit Assistance: Assists in both external and internal compliance audits for Environmental, Health, Safety and Quality
- Deviation Management: Lead and support the evaluation of manufacturing deviations and investigations using tools such as RCA/FMEA
- Lean Support: Supports Managing for Daily Improvement (MDI) and Lean initiatives
10. Chemical Engineer Additional Details
- Pilot Planning: Lead the planning and construction of a mini-pilot plant
- Scale-up Leadership: Lead the scale-up manufacturing processes from Lab manufacturing to mini-pilot scale
- Process Facilitation: Lead and facilitate new processes
- Process Operation: Set up, troubleshoot and operate processes and equipment
- Safety Procedures: Develop operating disciplines and safe operating procedures for mini-pilot plant trials and repetitive manufacturing
- Interface Management: Manage interfaces- R&D, Purchasing department, outsourced suppliers etc.
- Asset Optimization: Identify and evaluate improvement opportunities and optimize mini-pilot plant assets and equipment
- Regulatory Collaboration: Managing the collaboration with the regulatory authorities- environmental, fire department, health, work office etc.
- Operational Metrics: Work with hourly and staff on surface and underground to understand key metrics of mine operations and processes
- Data Analysis: Data entry, analysis and reporting
- Planning Familiarization: Familiarization with planning and schedules
- KPI Monitoring: Working closely with the operations group to ensure site targets are being achieved by monitoring daily KPI's and providing variance reports
11. Chemical Engineer Essential Functions
- Quality Assurance: Assures quality consistency of products through the stages of production
- Engineering Oversight: Provide engineering oversight of internal and external resources for scope development
- Drawing Review: Review multidisciplinary technical engineering drawings/studies/calculations by contractors
- Calculation Expertise: Complete calculations using Aspen HYSYS or PipeFlow
- Project Support: Assist interdisciplinary teams in developing and progressing short- and long-term projects
- Data Analysis: Collect and analyze plant data, formulate alternative solutions to problems/opportunities
- Cost Recommendations: Make cost-effective recommendations consistent with the overall project and plant objectives
- Malfunction Investigation: Investigate equipment and process malfunctions
- Design Improvements: Conduct design work for safety or efficiency improvements
- Field Studies: Conduct field studies to determine the accuracy of existing records
12. Chemical Engineer Role Purpose
- Reputation Building: Building reputation through the application of science and engineering principles and theories and developing technical approaches to solve complex problems and challenges
- Network Building: Building networks at a local and capability level
- Team Collaboration: Effectively teaming to share resources and optimize research at the group and division level
- Mentoring Staff: Mentoring junior staff and students
- Project Leadership: Principal investigator or co-PI on projects or tasks, while integrating the capabilities of work team members
- Project Support: Supports scoping, scheduling, and budgeting at a project or major task level
- Proposal Development: Generate new ideas for proposals and business development opportunities while leading development of technical sections of small to medium proposals
- Funding Acquisition: Demonstrates ability to acquire funding for self with programmatic impact at the sector and division level
- Quality Communication: Embracing expectations for quality, safety, and security and communicating the importance within the work team
- Applied Chemistry: Applied chemistry, organic chemistry or chemical engineering with experience in biomass or waste processing
- Research Design: Design of Experiments, Research Design, and Statistical Sampling
- Operational Understanding: Understanding of the operational needs for conducting applied chemical and engineering scale research activities
- Technology Experience: Understanding and experience of hydrothermal liquefaction, operating a fractionalization column and other separations technologies, biomass to fuels and products
- Systems Expertise: Track record of working with complex systems
13. Chemical Engineer General Responsibilities
- Engineering Oversight: Provide engineering oversight of internal and external resources for scope development
- Drawing Review: Review of multidisciplinary technical engineering drawings/studies/calculations provided by an engineering contractor
- Parameter Definition: Define Operating parameters such as operating envelopes, Heat and Mass Balance, hydraulic analysis, PFD’s, Initial control philosophies etc.
- Calculation Expertise: Complete chemical engineering calculations using Aspen HYSYS or PipeFlow, perform technical documents searches, collect field data to assist interdisciplinary technical teams in developing and progressing short and long-term projects
- Systems Utilization: Learn and utilize engineering systems (i.e. PI Data, PI ProcessBook, TDocS, Intools) to collect process, instrumentation and utility data in order to address operability, reliability, availability and maintainability issues
- Data Analysis: Collect and analyze plant data, formulate alternative solutions to problems/opportunities and make cost-effective recommendations consistent with overall project and plant objectives
- Team Collaboration: Work with a broad team of professionals and field specialists (engineers, maintenance personnel, instrument technicians, network analysts, and plant operators) to resolve process safety and plant reliability issues
- Malfunction Investigation: Help investigate equipment and process malfunctions, work as part of a team to carry out design work for safety or efficiency improvements and conduct field studies to determine the accuracy of existing records
- Site Verification: Travel to the site to verify collected data and field check equipment and technical information with the assistance of the plant technical team and operators to ensure accuracy of the design basis
- Quality Control: Checks the proper dimensions of the product and the temperature of the production room
- Area Maintenance: Ensures orderliness and cleanliness of the production area, as well as staff hygiene
14. Chemical Engineer Roles and Details
- Reactor Design: Optimal functional design of new reactors for the implementation of bioprocesses
- Equipment Design: Optimal functional design of equipment that runs the optimally designed reactors
- Process Design: Optimal design of the end user’s process to qualify and quantify the value of the new bio-manufacturing technology
- Technical Documentation: Provide Process Designs, Process Flow Diagrams, P&ID’s, Mass and Energy Balances, Flow dynamics Simulations and Conceptual Designs at the base of Manufacturing Technologies. Univercells is willing to develop
- Rule Translation: Translate well-established chemical engineering rules from the chemical/food industry to the bioprocessing needs at the base of Univercells’ mission
- Characterization Studies: Perform the characterization of the new reactors and equipment that will be designed and developed
- Process Verification: Perform the appropriate studies to establish and demonstrate that the process meets its pre-determined process specifications
- Cross-functional Collaboration: Establish a very close collaboration with the team of biologists, mechanical engineers and automation engineers, in order to deliver technical solutions that integrate all end-users’ needs
- Technology Awareness: Maintaining an awareness of new technologies being developed in related industrial fields that could inspire us
- Competitive Awareness: Maintaining an awareness of new technologies developed by competitors
- Project Ownership: Take ownership of the process-related aspects of projects in a collaborative manner and provide technical support to the project team
- Work Scheduling: Schedule and coordinate work to tight deadlines and within budgets
- Safety Assessment: Assess safety and environmental issues, ensuring safe working conditions and compliance with health and safety legislation
15. Chemical Engineer Responsibilities and Key Tasks
- Solution Validation: Validation of technical solutions for chemical recycling
- Process Development: Development and improvement of plastic waste thermal and catalytic conversion processes
- Project Leadership: Heading engineering projects for pilot plants
- Technical Support: Provide technical assistance and support to Sales and Marketing in support of application testing, development work, commercialization and other cross-functional activities
- IP Management: Develop and protect intellectual property associated with product or processes
- Process Innovation: Development of new processes within chemical recycling, including product upgrading
- Testing Methods: Development of advanced methods for feedstock and product testing
- Document Preparation: Preparation of documents, technical specifications, equipment selection, performing tender work, sending RFQ, clarification and communicating with vendors
- Feasibility Review: Review and validate the feasibility of project proposals
- Quality Monitoring: Monitor certain raw materials and flavoring consistency and expiry
- Lab Testing: Perform laboratory work, other testing, and issue certificates of analysis
- Report Preparation: Report preparation and data collection
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