What is Chemical Engineering?

Abstract

As was noted in the editorial of the second issue of Zede, the chemical engineering
field has already experienced lack of people in the profession. There is only one Ethiopian
chemical engineer in the major established chemical process industries: sugar
and cement mills and petroleum refinery. A paper mill which is to be integrated with
a pulp mill at a later stage is under construction. Expansions or vertical and hori=ontal
integration of these or similar industries and the establishment of new ones may be
expected in the not too distant future. If something concrete is not done now the dependency
of the country on expatriate chemical engineers will be more and more
acute. The objective of this article is, therefore, mainly to inform students at high
school and college levels what chen1ical engineering is and what it has in store for
them and the country.