Health & Wellness Chemical

Engineering is Fun Chemical

Chemical engineers in the Because: Engineering
pharmaceutical industry work in the
toward the advancement of • There are opportunities to experiment
in the Lab and in the Pilot Plant (Pilot Pharmaceutical
wellness, disease prevention, plants are used for larger scale

treatment and cures

testing.) Industry
• You work with large scale equipment

What ChemEs Do: • You play a key role in bringing crucial

products to market like water, fuels,
electricity, polymers and medicines
Some traditional roles:
• You work with many technologies

• Scale-up from R&D • You work with people from many

trades and specialties
• Pilot plant ops and clinical supplies
• Management of validation assurance • You are always learning
FDA regulations and GMP compliance
• Packaging and labeling (tablets, Learn More at:
capsules, liquids, etc.)

www.aiche-metrony.org
Less common roles for www.aiche.org/Students/
ChemEs: www.che.com
www.cheresources.com
www.engineeryourlife.org
• Chemical production management www.worldwidelearn.com/online-
• Process simulation and troubleshooting education-guide/engineering/chemical-
engineering-major.htm
• Project support Prepared by: Greg Hounsell
AICHE, NY Metro Section
• Process safety support
 What it Does Uses these Engineering
Principles
1 1
These are the basic reactors, filters,
pumps and piping used to make the raw
or bulk pharmaceutical drugs before they 1
are transformed into the tablets and Engineers need an understanding
capsules that consumers are familiar with. of reactions and kinetics, heat transfer,
This can sometimes be very dangerous fluid flow, distillation, extraction,
and environmentally sensitive, so a crystallization, and filtration. They need
knowledge of safety and environmental an understanding of process
controls is important. instrumentation to design the control
systems.
2 This is a packaging line where
2
pharmaceutical tablets, capsules and
liquids and syrups are prepared for 2
Engineers need familiarity with
market in presentations that consumers
material flow, scheduling, and time and
are familiar with. Various forms, like
motion science.
blister packs, vials, bottles, foil packs, etc.
are produced here. The packages are of
high value for their size, so handling
security, and labeling accuracy are 3 Chemical engineers need to
important. understand operations like vacuum
drying, spray drying, freeze drying,
3 This is an area where bulk
tabletting, and tablet coating. The
3 pharmaceuticals are converted to tablets science of sterility, cleaning and
and capsules for consumer use. humidity control are also critical here.
Prevention of contamination and overall Even personnel and material movement
quality control are naturally important must be controlled in a precise way.
here. Sometimes it is necessary to
conduct these operations under sterile
conditions.