3 credits
Fall 2026 Lecture Upper Division
This course traces the historical development of the chemical and related process industries and describes the principal products that are made and the evolution of the raw materials, chemistries, and processes by which they have been made. The scope includes natural products, inorganics, fuels, and commodity and specialty organics. The course also covers topics of current interest including the impacts of modern catalysis, computation, and systems engineering on process technology, issues of sustainability, resource conservation, environmental responsibility, product stewardship, and carbon management, and the likely impacts of recently more abundant and less expensive shale gas and oil on the chemical industry.
Learning Outcomes1Have a basic understanding of the history and structure of the chemical and allied process industries and the major classes of products it produces including Natural Products (animal and vegetable products and wood derivatives), Inorganics (ceramics, metals, bases and acids, and industrial gasses), Fuels (coal, gas, oil, petroleum refining, synthetic and biofuels), and Organics (historical wood and coal derivatives, modern basic chemical building blocks, intermediates, polymers, specialty chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and biotechnology).
2Have an appreciation of Technical Impact Factors (catalysis, digital computation, and structured innovation) that have significantly altered the process industries in recent years, and Current Issues (environmental protection, health and safety, sustainability, carbon dioxide emissions, and shale gas and oil) that are likely to significantly impact process industry operations over the next few decades.
Restrictions
made by Purdue students.