I am a 16 year old boy who starts college this fall, majoring in chemical engineering. IDC if it's hard but if it pay good(how much per month) please lemme know please.

What are differences between bsc/msc chemistry graduates and a chemical engineer in their work.what work chemist do and what type of work chemical engineer does in the industry

Hey folks, we’re setting up a small pilot chemical processing project and I’m looking for advice on materials for the reactors and vessels. The process has three main steps: neutralizing inorganic acids with alkali (pH 8.3–9.0) to get solid precipitates, reacting the filtrate with mineral additives at room temperature with stirring to recover secondary solids, and then evaporating and crystallizing the liquid phase to get the final salts. Since every step involves acids, corrosion resistance is a big concern. Has anyone done something similar? Would stainless steel work, or should we go glass-lined, titanium, or something else? Appreciate any thoughts!

For context, I’m a chemical engineering student currently taking organic chemistry, and my group recently performed a distillation of an alcoholic beverage (wine, ~15 mL sample). We used a small distilling flask, a vertical column, a thermometer at the head, and a condenser connected through an adaptor (the connector between the column and condenser, which I’ll call #2). Cooling water was run at a moderate rate (bottom-in, top-out), we added boiling chips, and greased all joints to prevent vapor leaks. At the start, we observed a short forerun of 2–3 drops, during which adaptor #2 became hot and the thermometer climbed to about ~70 °C. But after that, the adaptor suddenly cooled down drastically, the thermometer reading dropped, and no further ethanol distillate came over, even though the column itself stayed hot. This confused us because we expected that if the column was hot, vapors should have continued into the adaptor and condenser (with ethanol boiling around 78 °C). Could this cooling be due to premature condensation inside the column before the vapor reached the head, or does this suggest an issue with the adaptor itself? I’d appreciate any insights on why this happened and what adjustments (heat input, condenser water rate, etc.) we should try to maintain a steady ethanol distillation. (Attached is our set up)

Funny question for the redditors in this sub: does anyone ever pronounce BASF as “Bas-ef” rather than “B-a-s-f”?

Today i was thinking, "when i cook or bake and i wanna make more of something i can typically just scale it up linearly, but what are some elements to consider that prevent you from doing that on large scale operations?". i put what i came up with below, let me know if there's something i didn't know or maybe overlooked

My thoughts (spoilers lol):

Heat Transfer, as you scale up the systems ability to lose/gain heat cant keep up (like baking a thick cake the center takes much longer to bake)

Phase changes, in smaller systems they can be contained or controlled safely and much easier

These are what i came up with but i have a pretty elementary understanding so please tell me what you think or if I'm wrong!

I'm on a mission to better understand the complexities of commercializing biofuel. In particular, biogasoline and biokerosene, which is a goal that hasn't had as much investment. Essentially, the triglycerides that algae use for storing energy can be converted to hydrocarbons. However, they are very long. Usable for diesel but not for shorter-length fuels.

I've pondered genetically modifying algae to produce shorter-length chains, but I've heard word that such a change would be toxic. It could degrade the cell wall and cause the algae to die.

Is this true? Could you help me understand why that would be the case, chemically?

Thanks!

WANNA START A 2Y GRIND I'm 17 [Europe] looking for a study partner as determined as me for healthy competitive studying or even working together for any project if we both interested in the same things.

texting though any chat app would be fine or even voice message or call once we get to know each other and our goals.

I WILL to focus mainly on advanced Chemistry, Biology and math. BUT I also will be studying German.

i speak English, Catalan, and almost conversational level German. DM or Message mee

i'm interested in going towards chemical engineering also that's why this subreddit.

[also i am not requiring anything from you and you won't have to teach me, it's just like we would motivate each other and talk about studying and other stuff]

Basically, I want to calculate the concentration distribution within a plug flow reactor (PFR). I know there’s a simplified formula on Wikipedia, but I tried to develop my own approach and am curious if it would work.

A PFR can essentially be imagined as an extremely long cascade of continuous stirred-tank reactors (CSTRs) with infinitesimally small volumes, right? Each "plug" would have a constant concentration.

For a first-order reaction in a CSTR, the concentration of the reactant is given by: C(t) = C(0) · exp(-k · t), where t is the average residence time in the reactor, defined as the ratio of volume to volumetric flow rate.

My approach would be to calculate the average residence time for a very small length (e.g., 1 millimeter), plug it into the formula, and—since the constant concentration at the outlet of one CSTR becomes the inlet concentration for the next—describe the reactant concentration at any given length as: C(t) = C(0) · exp(-k · n · t) with n being the given length . This assumes a constant volumetric flow rate and isothermal conditions.

Question: If I plot this, would I get a reasonably accurate result?

Trying to develop a new lamp oil where there is no smoke while burning, have tried white oil/ distilled fatty acid/ edible oil. Can someone suggest some product which can help reduce the smoke and isnt too expensive too. Some type of oleochemicals etc?

Hello everyone,

I am currently thinking of starting a Bachelor's in chemistry and then switching to ChemE for my Master's and I have a few questions about this and maybe you guys can help me here. (Living in Germany btw, this post might be primarily for Germans and people from the Nordic countries, if there are any here)

First off, I will probably start my Bachlor's degree in Chemistry this fall in a Uni close to my hometown; I am really interested in chemistry and was pretty good in chemistry and physics in school so I think this is not a bad thing. I am also kind of interested in ChemE, but the universities close to me don't offer a ChemE program and I currently don't want to move (long story but I really don't want to move right now). Since the job opportunities and the industry in general are better in ChemE I am thinking about doing a Master's in ChemE after, and according to the internet (I did some research) this should be possible; apparently a lot of people switch to ChemE after a bachelor's in chemistry, although this is not the norm. The chemistry program that I am going to take has a lot of physics (of course) like thermodynamics etc, maths and stuff that goes in the engineering direction such as reaction engineering. I am not super good in maths, although I think I can pass everything fairly well, that's also part of the reason why I am unsure of doing a B.Sc. in ChemE. So this is basically the backstory here, I am just going to throw a few questions at you, feel free to answer as many as you can/want, I would greatly appreciate it!

Do you guys think it is possible / even likely that I can switch to ChemE after a B.Sc. in chemistry? Especially with a lot of coursework in relevant areas? (As far as I know my uni has more of these engineering-like courses than others) I am generally interested in studying in Germany or the Nordic countries (N, S, Fi, DK), are there places where it is explicitly possible to switch? Maybe specific universities? Does anyone have personal experience with this or knows someone who switched? Of course a decent gpa will probably raise my chances but maybe also industry internships etc might be useful?

As you may realize, I am really unsure about this and, again, I would greatly appreciate any help and advice I can get.

I don't understand the swimming pool maintenance concept of "Total Alaklinity"

From my High School Chemistry: If I mix Calicum Hydroxide and HydroChloric acid together in a swimming pool then I would expect any excess Hydroxide ions to combine with any available H+ ions to form water. The end result should be CaCl + H2O

I would expect the reaction to happen almost immediately, yet Pool maintenance talks about Total Alaklinity acting as a ph buffer to reduce swings in the water ph over time. To my thinking, the ph of the pool water will be determined by the residual ions either OH- or H+. there's no magical "ph Buffer" that stores this "Alaklinity" without itself changing the ph.

What don't I understand about this reaction?

Edit: Background a recent change in the Pool maintenance company has seen my chemical use more than double (before just HCL) now HCL plus "Alaklinity buffer". Result, I use almost 3 times as much acid as I used to.

Edit2: if anyone else is struggling this is the most useful site I found

https://blog.orendatech.com/total-alkalinity-role-water-chemistry

As others commented it's all about the Carbonic Acid > Bicarbonate + H+ reaction

Components of resin in photo above

Looking for plastic for a functional design that is resistant to uncured resin (monomers, oligomers, etc)

looking at Acrylonitrile styrene acrylate (ASA), Polyethylene Terephthalate Glycol (PETG), and Polycarbonate (PC)

I'm currently preparing to simulate a steam boiler process that produces around 2 to 4 tons of steam per hour.
As I include an air preheater and a feedwater preheating heat exchanger in the simulation, I keep encountering a circulation error.
Has anyone here ever simulated a steam boiler process before?

Let me know if you'd like a more formal or technical tone depending on the audience (e.g., engineering forum vs. casual group chat).

##Below is error message

Infinite loop detected while obtaining flowsheet object calculation order. Please insert recycle blocks where needed.

System.Exception: Infinite loop detected while obtaining flowsheet object calculation order. Please insert recycle blocks where needed.

at DWSIM.FlowsheetSolver.FlowsheetSolver.GetSolvingList(Object fobj, Boolean frompgrid) in C:\Users\danie\source\repos\DanWBR\dwsim\DWSIM.FlowsheetSolver\FlowsheetSolver.vb:line 1085

at DWSIM.FlowsheetSolver.FlowsheetSolver.SolveFlowsheet(Object fobj, Int32 mode, CancellationTokenSource ts, Boolean frompgrid, Boolean Adjusting, Action FinishSuccess, Action FinishWithErrors, Action FinishAny, Boolean ChangeCalcOrder) in C:\Users\danie\source\repos\DanWBR\dwsim\DWSIM.FlowsheetSolver\FlowsheetSolver.vb:line 1206

I took chemistry one twice because I failed the first time, I love chemistry I’m so interested in it. However it seems like I have forgotten everything I took, I don’t know why, from ionic compounds names, to formulas, concepts, It really breaks my heart because I don’t want this to happen, I want to learn and be able to fully comprehend what I’m learning about. Maybe it was because of my studying methods, I was more focused on memorising things rather than actually understanding the concepts, I don’t know.

My car was sprayed by a construction site and it does not come off with any regular wash. Tried ethanol, isopropyl alcohol and white spirit on glass surfaces. White spirit helps a little, but still need a scraper and a lot of effort to remove maybe 90%.

Found the product they were using, weberdry SPF 45, which is a two-component polyurethane foam. The SDS for the two parts are: https://www.middleeast.weber/files/sodamco/2022-06/SDS_weberdry_SPF_45_Part_A.pdf https://www.middleeast.weber/files/sodamco/2022-06/SDS_weberdry_SPF_45_Part_B.pdf

Can you guys recommend some solvent or method of removal I could try?

There’s a hole in the railing but I don’t understand how this happened. There’s no engineers here right now so I had to ask y’all. Please explain, it’s driving me crazy

Hey, can anyone recommend a chemical engineering consulting firm in Montreal, I need a feasibility study for an idea to create electrical energy using chemical reactions and gravity.

Thanks

Hi,

I am a second year chemical engineering student taking the dreadful MEB. Our lecturer completely messed us in the head when explaining what the definition of excess in a material balance, he kept making mistakes throughout the lecture and confused us all.

I want to clarify this simply scenario.

Suppose a reaction occurred where A + 2B -> C

There is initially 100 moles of A and 300 Moles of B.

Lets say only 50 moles of A reacted, which means the conversion is 50%, that would mean 100 moles of B would have been consumed in the process.

This means there are 200 moles of B left over. Is the % excess of B 200/200, as 200 moles of B were required to completely consume the initial 100 moles of A. Or is % excess of B 200/100, as only 50 moles of A reacted, therefore 100 moles of B were consumed.

Thanks for clearing up this confusion. I understood it throughout high school and first year chemistry...

Came across this research paper, that talks about using electrolysis of water to cool down a room. I am not worried about whether or not it is a good way to achieve cooling, but is it even theoritically possible to cool down a room in this way? Wouldn't an electrolysis process always generate heat, even if it is endothermic? https://www.researchpublish.com/upload/book/Electrolysis%20Air%20Cooler-3057.pdf

I know, it is stupid, but I touched.

1. Aluminium sulfate
2. Copper sulfate
3. Iron sulfate
4. Magnesium sulfate

Did I post to the wrong sub and am I gonna get cancer

Hi! So I make face wash tablets. And I use the tdp5. I have pretty good hardness and I am using a test tube to pack the tablets. I'm doing this at home. Trying to figure out how I can stop the breakage. Initially these were made in a manufacturing facility but that's not possible anymore. How do I increase the hardness more? I was reading somewhere you can dehydatre it in an air fryer? Or a low heat oven? Not sure how to change the packaging to single sachets that is sustainable. I think they are breaking in the test tube because they are rubbing against eachother - and shipping I can't really stop movement. If I increase the diameter and the tablet is thinner will this help with hardness/compression? I can't change the dwell time or the level of compression, I think its at the highest point.

Super appreciate any help!!! Thank you!!!