Chemical Engineering

Chemical Engineering is a highly adaptable and versatile area of engineering. It applies the principles of chemistry, physics, mathematics, biology, and economics to transform energy and materials into useful and affordable products. It covers the research, design and operation of new and existing processes to minimise environmental impacts, ensure compliance with legal and ethical standards and maximise profits and benefits to society.

Research suggests an expected shortfall in skilled chemical engineers to support the UK’s green recovery and net-zero target. This means chemical engineers will be highly sought after for the specialist work required.

Chemical engineers take leading roles in many different sectors. These range from energy and water, food, healthcare and pharmaceuticals, consumer products, and even finance. They use their technical know-how and ingenuity to develop solutions to many of the world’s most pressing challenges. For example, climate change and the large-scale production of new vaccines.

We conduct world-leading research to drive the sustainable revolution in areas such as low-carbon technologies, next-generation healthcare and advanced manufacturing. Our new National Centre for the Circular Chemical Economy seeks to transform the UK chemical sector to eliminate waste and reliance on fossil technologies. Our research directly informs our teaching and project work, ensuring our students are fully equipped to meet 21st-century challenges.

Our Chemical Engineering degrees will teach you how to apply scientific and engineering principles to the design and analysis of chemical process equipment and flow sheets. Our bench and pilot-scale laboratories, VR simulation, computer classes and project work will help you to understand and apply taught principles to engineering problems, whilst also developing your key laboratory, teamwork and IT skills.

We offer a number of options for this degree. These include language options in years one and two (at different levels) in either French, German, Spanish or Mandarin, as an alternative to Materials Processing and Food Engineering. You can then choose up to three optional modules in their final year including management, environmental, IT, bioprocessing and healthcare topics. During the final design project, you will work both in teams and individually to conceptualise and design an industrial plant to address a specified design challenge. This challenge is usually aligned with your module choices and the research strengths of the department. The project brings together all aspects of the degree. This includes initial technology selection and flowsheet development, detailed design of individual unit operation, process optimisation, safety and operability analysis and finally full economic and environmental evaluation.

What is the difference between MEng and BEng?

The three years of the BEng degree and the first three years of the MEng degree are identical, with a good mix of theory, application and practical content from day one. The additional year of the MEng programme allows students to study a wider range of technical subjects with additional depth, as well as undertaking the Professional Development Project (PDP), which can be undertaken in industry, abroad or at Loughborough. Whilst both the MEng and BEng are accredited by the Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE), only the MEng degree fully meets all educational requirements for Chartered Engineer status. Students studying on the BEng course may have opportunity to change to the MEng course if their performance in the first and second year is sufficiently strong.