Chemistry & Process
The chemical and processing industries (CPI) provide the building blocks for many products. By using large amounts of heat and energy to physically or chemically transform materials, these industries help meet the world's most fundamental needs for food, shelter and health, as well as products that are vital to such advanced technologies as computing, telecommunications and biotechnology.
These industries face major challenges to meet the needs of the present without compromising the needs of the future generations in the face of increasing industrial competitiveness. This translates into the need to make processes much more energy efficient, safer and more flexible, and to reduce emissions to meet the many competitive challenges within a global economy.
The chemical and processing industries refer to processes where materials undergo chemical conversion during their production into finished products, as well as - or instead of - the physical conversions common to industry in general.
In the chemical process industry the products differ chemically from the raw materials as a result of undergoing one or more chemical reactions during the manufacturing process.
The chemical process industries broadly include the traditional chemical industries, both organic and inorganic; the petroleum industry; the petrochemical industry, which produces the majority of plastics, synthetic fibers, and synthetic rubber from petroleum and natural-gas raw materials; and a series of allied industries in which chemical processing plays a substantial part.
While the chemical process industries are primarily the realm of the chemical engineer and the chemist, they also involve a wide range of other scientific, engineering, and economic specialists.