This course offers you the chance to learn and practice the fundamentals of chemical engineering with the flexibility to tailor the degree to your interests through specialist pathways in digital manufacturing and processes, energy engineering, materials engineering and nuclear engineering.
Embedded within your chemical engineering programme are opportunities to develop your professional skills such as teamwork, communication, presenting, report writing, project management, self-learning and ethics. In addition to technical competency, these skills are highly desired in industry.
During your degree, you’ll have lots of opportunities to develop laboratory skills. Chemical engineering labs go from the basic skills training in year 1, to you running several unit operations yourself in year 2. Then, it’s onto a challenging discovery lab in year 3, where you’ll design the experiment to test a hypothesis, collect and analyse data before iterating your approach to get to the solution.
Ethics plays an integral role in the engineering practices of today, which is why you’ll study engineering ethics as part of your course. You’ll be taught by academics from the Inter-Disciplinary Ethics Applied Centre, as well as your lecturers, covering a wide range of topics such as professionalism and codes of conduct, corporate social responsibility, engineering and responsibility, ethics in innovation and research ethics.
The ethics training will advance your critical thinking, communication and creative problem-solving skills which are crucial to employers, while also helping you to identify and respond effectively to ethical dilemmas that you may encounter in your professional life in the engineering industry.
Each academic year, you’ll take a total of 120 credits.
The course structure shown below represents typical modules/components studied and may change from time to time. Read more in our terms and conditions.
Years 1 and 2
The first two years of our chemical engineering degree provide you with the fundamental training to become a practising chemical engineer. You’ll develop your mathematics and science abilities, learning how to apply those skills to solve chemical engineering problems.
You’ll cover core chemical engineering topics including material and energy balances, fluid mechanics, chemical thermodynamics, heat and mass transfer, reaction engineering, process optimisation and control, process modelling, separation processes and process safety.
To embed the learning, you’ll routinely apply your training so you become competent in chemical engineering practice and design.
Year 1 compulsory modules
Introductory Science – 10 credits
Depending on your entry qualifications, you’ll attend one of the following four modules: Foundation Mathematics, Foundation Physics, Foundation Chemistry or Topics in Nanotechnology.
Professional Engineering Skills – 20 credits
Develop the skills of a professional engineer by undertaking a range of activities that focus on teamwork, communication, data analysis, engineering ethics and project management.
Engineering Mathematics – 10 credits
This module will provide you with the fundamental mathematical methods to solve engineering problems.
Process, Biochemical and Reaction Engineering Fundamentals – 20 credits
You’ll be introduced to the core chemical and process engineering concepts that underpin the design and operations of chemical processes. Your learning will be supported through site visits and a range of tools, including a virtual reality plant environment.
Mass and Energy Balances Fundamentals – 20 credits
This module introduces you to the principles of mass and energy balances and their application to unit operations and processes. You’ll undertake your first design project where you’ll apply your knowledge of the chemical engineering concepts studied.
Thermodynamics and Transport Phenomena Fundamentals – 20 credits
You’ll explore the physical laws that underpin engineering processes and how these can be used to solve chemical engineering problems.
Materials Science and Engineering – 20 credits
Learn about the classes and properties of materials and their selection and processing for a range of applications.
Year 2 compulsory modules
Advanced Engineering Mathematics and Numerical Methods – 20 credits
You’ll learn mathematical techniques required for modelling engineering phenomena and use numerical methods to solve complex problems.
Chemical Engineering Practice and Process Simulation – 20 credits
Develop your practical skills as a chemical engineer by working on bench and pilot-scale equipment, using industry-standard software for process simulation and undertaking a group design project.
Applied Thermodynamics and Transport Phenomena – 20 credits
You’ll build on the competence you acquired in year 1 to explore more complex applications in thermodynamics, fluid mechanics and heat transfer.
Process Safety and Environmental Engineering – 20 credits
Learn about the broader responsibilities of practicing chemical engineers by developing further the core competencies of safety, engineering ethics and sustainability.
Chemical Reaction Engineering – 20 credits
In this module, you’ll study different types of chemical reactors and understand the concepts of their operation to achieve desired process requirements.
Separation Process Principles – 20 credits
You’ll cover the theory and performance of different types of separation process units. You’ll apply your theoretical knowledge to design mass transfer equipment to meet process specification.
Year 3
In year 3, you’ll learn more about sustainable chemical engineering and engineering management. You’ll have the opportunity to select a pathway in either digital manufacturing, energy, materials or nuclear, broadening your education and preparing you for the next steps in your chosen career.
All your training will culminate in you delivering a major chemical plant design project where you’ll become a practising chemical engineer working collaboratively as part of a team to design a full chemical plant.
Compulsory modules
Process Plant Design Project – 40 credits
You’ll undertake a comprehensive, open-ended process plant design with elements of individual and group work. This capstone project is an opportunity for you to apply your chemical engineering knowledge and skills to design a plant considering a range of factors including process feasibility, economic viability and environmental sustainability.
Engineering Management and Discovery Labs – 20 credits
This module will broaden your professional engineering skills with an emphasis on project and supply chain management. You’ll also complete your discovery lab practical which requires you to use your critical thinking and problem-solving abilities to find a solution to an engineering problem.
Process Optimisation and Control – 20 credits
Learn about process instrumentation, control systems and strategies to optimise the performance of unit operations and processes. You’ll be introduced to the new advances in digitalisation that are driving Industry 4.0 in the chemical sector.
Multi-phase Separations and Solids Processing – 20 credits
Developing your knowledge of separation processes from year 2, you’ll learn about multi-component separations, unit operations for heterogeneous mixtures and the handling and processing of solids and particulates in bio and chemical processes.
Pathways
During year 3, you’ll have the opportunity to study a specialisation pathway in one of four areas:
Digital Manufacturing and Processes
Sustainability in Process Engineering – 20 credits
Energy Engineering
Energy Technologies – 20 credits
Materials Engineering
Materials Synthesis and Characterisation – 20 credits
Nuclear Engineering
Nuclear Operations – 20 credits
Project work
Every year of your course gives you hands-on experience of project work. Occasionally you’ll work independently on a project, but more frequently you’ll work in project teams on open-ended problems. These projects give you the opportunity to explore the subject further whilst supporting your technical and professional skills development in an environment that more closely reflects the activities of a chemical engineer in industry.
One-year optional work placement or study abroad
During your course, you’ll be given the opportunity to advance your skill set and experience. You can apply to either undertake a one-year industrial work placement or study abroad for a year, choosing from a selection of universities we’re in partnership with worldwide.
Learning and teaching
You’ll benefit from our integrated approach to learning and teaching. Engineering labs, process simulations, virtual environments, project work and industrial visits allow you to gain first-hand experience investigating and applying material from your lectures and tutorials to real-life work situations. Together they will equip you with in-depth knowledge and key practical skills that will put you in an excellent position to start your career in chemical engineering. Our close links with industry also mean that you have direct contact with industry and potential employers from an early stage in your course.
When you join the School of Chemical and Process Engineering you will be assigned an academic personal tutor. You will meet regularly with your personal tutor and tutor group during the first two years of your programme and twice per semester in the following years, when the chemical engineering tutorial programme is also supported by your design project and research project supervisors. In addition, our excellent student support team is based close to where you’ll work and study to help with anything from academic advice to timetabling and project submission enquiries.
On this course you’ll be taught by our expert academics, from lecturers through to professors. You may also be taught by industry professionals with years of experience, as well as trained postgraduate researchers, connecting you to some of the brightest minds on campus.
Assessment
Most modules are assessed by more than one component. These components can include written and online examinations, in-class and online tests, assignments, individual and group projects, laboratory reports and presentations.
