Editing Chemical engineering (section)

==History==
{{main|History of chemical engineering}}
===New concepts and innovations===
[[File:Fuel cell NASA p48600ac.jpg|thumb|Demonstration model of a direct-methanol [[fuel cell]]. The actual fuel cell stack is the layered cube shape in the center of the image.]]

In the 1940s, it became clear that unit operations alone were insufficient in developing [[chemical reactor]]s. While the predominance of unit operations in chemical engineering courses in Britain and the United States continued until the 1960s, [[Transport phenomena (engineering & physics)|transport phenomena]] started to receive greater focus.{{sfn|Cohen|1996|p=185}} Along with other novel concepts, such as [[process systems engineering]] (PSE), a "second paradigm" was defined.{{sfn|Ogawa|2007|p=2}}{{sfn|Perkins|2003|p=29}} Transport phenomena gave an [[systems analysis|analytical]] approach to chemical engineering{{sfn|Perkins|2003|p=30}} while PSE focused on its synthetic elements, such as those of a [[control system]] and [[Process design (chemical engineering)|process design]].{{sfn|Perkins|2003|p=31}} Developments in chemical engineering before and after World War II were mainly incited by the [[petrochemical industry]];{{sfn|Reynolds|2001|p=177}} however, advances in other fields were made as well. Advancements in [[biochemical engineering]] in the 1940s, for example, found application in the [[pharmaceutical industry]], and allowed for the [[mass production]] of various [[antibiotic]]s, including [[penicillin]] and [[streptomycin]].{{sfn|Perkins|2003|pp=32–33}} Meanwhile, progress in [[polymer science]] in the 1950s paved way for the "age of plastics".{{sfn|Kim|2002|p=7S}}

===Safety and hazard developments===
Concerns regarding large-scale chemical manufacturing facilities' safety and environmental impact were also raised during this period. ''[[Silent Spring]]'', published in 1962, alerted its readers to the harmful effects of [[DDT]], a potent [[insecticide]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Dunn |first=Rob |date=May 31, 2012 |title=In retrospect: Silent Spring |journal=Nature |language=en |volume=485 |issue=7400 |pages=578–579 |doi=10.1038/485578a |bibcode=2012Natur.485..578D |s2cid=4429741 |issn=0028-0836|doi-access=free }}</ref> The 1974 [[Flixborough disaster]] in the United Kingdom resulted in 28 deaths, as well as damage to a [[chemical plant]] and three nearby villages.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Bennet |first=Simon |date=September 1, 1999 |title=Disasters as Heuristics? A Case Study |url=https://ajem.infoservices.com.au/ |journal=Australian Journal of Emergency Management |volume=14 |issue=3 |pages=32}}</ref> 1984 [[Bhopal disaster]] in India resulted in almost 4,000 deaths.{{Citation needed|date=December 2011}} These incidents, along with [[List of industrial disasters|other incidents]], affected the reputation of the trade as [[industrial safety]] and [[environmental protection]] were given more focus.{{sfn|Kim|2002|p=8S}} In response, the IChemE required safety to be part of every degree course that it accredited after 1982. By the 1970s, legislation and monitoring agencies were instituted in various countries, such as France, Germany, and the United States.{{sfn|Perkins|2003|p=35}} In time, the systematic application of safety principles to chemical and other [[Process manufacturing|process plants]] began to be considered a specific discipline, known as [[process safety]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=CCPS |title=Introduction to Process Safety for Undergraduates and Engineers |publisher=[[John Wiley & Sons]] |year=2016 |isbn=978-1-118-94950-4 |location=Hoboken, N.J.}}</ref>

===Recent progress===
Advancements in [[computer science]] found applications for designing and managing plants, simplifying calculations and drawings that previously had to be done manually. The completion of the [[Human Genome Project]] is also seen as a major development, not only advancing chemical engineering but [[genetic engineering]] and [[genomics]] as well.{{sfn|Kim|2002|p=9S}} Chemical engineering principles were used to produce [[DNA sequences]] in large quantities.{{sfn|American Institute of Chemical Engineers|2003a}}