♪
(man)
A chemical engineer
takes a small process
and makes it into
a bigger process.
A chemist
would figure out a way
to make a small amount
of something,
a few grams of a product.
A chemical engineer figures out
a way to scale that process up
and make 100,000 pounds,
a million pounds
of that same material.
Chemical engineers work
with those same processes,
once they've been developed,
to improve them,
troubleshoot them,
and keep them running the way
they're supposed to be running.
[line ringing]
Hello, this is Tommy.
Tommy, it's Charlie.
How's it going?
Good.
How's our analyzer looking?
That's what I'm checking.
(LeBlanc)
My main responsibilities
at the refinery
are as the leader of operations
for a quarter of the refinery.
We process the raw crude oil
straight from the oil fields.
It comes into our tank farm
and into our crude units.
Our job is to process those
and make the initial separation
of that crude oil
into products which turn into
diesel, jet fuel, and gasoline.
We also produce a number
of specialty chemicals,
but our job is to take
that raw material
and feed the remaining
process units in the refinery.
It's important for us
to do that well
because an issue
with the crude unit,
causes an issue
through the entire plant.
DM points are 640 to 650.
(LeBlanc)
I attend meetings,
try to coordinate efforts
across the refinery.
I spend time on the computer
working on projects
or initiatives
that we're trying
to move forward
to improve the refinery.
We spend time in the field
making sure that jobs are being
completed the way they should.
Doing things like safety audits
and environmental audits
to make sure we're complying
with all regulations
to be a good neighbor
and to run our business
the way we need to run it.
For a student who's thinking
of becoming a chemical engineer
or an engineer of any type,
some key things to study
would be math and science.
We use those all the time.
Another big part of our job
is communication
and passing our ideas
and our knowledge
and things we want
to accomplish,
getting other people
onboard with those ideas,
so a really important and
overlooked aspect of our job
is the writing piece
and the communication piece.
It's very, very important.
You could have the best idea,
but if you can't communicate
that it's worth pursuing,
then it won't go anywhere.
Chemical engineers are found
throughout
the manufacturing industry--
refining, obviously,
but then there are all kinds
of chemical producers,
pharmaceutical companies that
would hire chemical engineers
to help optimize
those processes
like they do at the refineries.
Outside of manufacturing,
the government hires
chemical engineers
to work in some
of their agencies.
Most of the industrial
concerns out there
will have some amount
of chemical engineering.
I have a bachelor of science
in chemical engineering.
A degree from a university,
in chemical engineering,
would be enough
to get you into the field.
A lot of the universities
out there
have very beneficial programs
called co-op programs,
where a student will get some
work experience during school
as they progress through
their college education.
They can partner
with an employer
and spend three
or four semesters
alternating between
working for that employer
and taking classes at school.
And the benefit of this
is enormous.
Colleges that have
co-op programs
do their students
a very great service
because as they graduate,
they've got a full year
of experience in industry
and get a leg up
going into the job market.
I have the best job
in the world.
An oil refinery is a playground
for a chemical engineer.
Everything you need
to be a chemical engineer--
how to design,
we have those things
at a refinery.
We have 'em in spades.
This is not a field where
we look back at our education
and say, "I never use that."
We use it every day.
Funding to purchase and make
this educational production
accessible was provided by the
U.S. Department of Education:
PH: 1-800-USA-LEARN (V)
or WEB: www.ed.gov.
♪
