化学化工专业英语试题_化学工程与工艺专业英语阅读教程_化学工程与工艺考教师(17)

Unit3TypicalActivitiesofChemicalEngineers

化学工程师的例行工作

Theclassicalroleofthechemicalengineeristotakethediscoveriesmadebythechemistinthelaboratoryanddevelopthemintomoney--making,commercial-scalechemicalprocesses.ThechemistworksintesttubesandParrbombswithverysmallquantitiesofreactantsandproducts(e.g.,100ml),usuallyrunning“batch”,constant-temperatureexperiments.Reactantsareplacedinasmallcontainerinaconstanttemperaturebath.Acatalystisaddedandthereactionsproceedwithtime.Samplesaretakenatappropriateintervalstofollowtheconsumptionofthereactantsandtheproductionofproductsastimeprogresses.

化学工程师经典的角色是把化学家在实验室里的发现拿来并发展成为能赚钱的、商业规模的化学过程。化学家用少量的反应物在试管和派式氧弹中反应相应得到少量的生成物，所进行的通常是间歇性的恒温下的实验，反应物放在很小的置于恒温水槽的容器中，加点催化剂，反应继续进行，随时间推移，反应物被消耗，并有生成物产生，产物在合适的间歇时间获得。

Bycontrast,thechemicalengineertypicallyworkswithmuchlargerquantitiesofmaterialandwithverylarge(andexpensive)equipment.Reactorscanhold1,000gallonsto10,000gallonsormore.Distillationcolumnscanbeover100feethighand10to30feetindiameter.Thecapitalinvestmentforoneprocessunitinachemicalplantmayexceed$100million!

与之相比，化学工程师通常面对的是数量多得多的物质和庞大的（昂贵的）设备。反应器可以容纳1000到10,000加仑甚至更多。蒸馏塔有100英尺多高，直径10到30英尺。化工厂一个单元流程的投资可能超过1亿美元。Thechemicalengineerisofteninvolvedin“scalingup”achemist-developedsmall-scalereactorandseparationsystemtoaverylargecommercialplant.Thechemicalengineermustworkcloselywiththechemistinordertounderstandthoroughlythechemistryinvolvedintheprocessandtomakesurethatthechemistgetsthereactionkineticdataandthephysicalpropertydataneededtodesign,operate,andoptimizetheprocess.Thisiswhythechemicalengineeringcurriculumcontainssomanychemistrycourses.