Important System Upgrade Notice
We're upgrading the AIChE eLearning system to deliver an improved user experience. Please complete any in-progress courses by 5PM US Eastern Time Friday December 12, 2025. Courses not completed by then may need to be restarted after Monday December 22, 2025. Repurchasing will not be required.
This online course is designed for technicians in the chemical industry and non-chemical engineers who work with or supervise chemical engineers as well as legal and other professionals who must interact with or manage chemical engineering work. It will overview the basics of chemical engineering calculations and design. Chemical unit operations covered include:
- The chemical engineering profession and what it covers
- Safety and reactive chemical concepts, reaction stoichiometry
- Chemical stoichiometry and unit conversions
- Momentum, mass and energy balances
- Fluid flow and pumping equipment
- Heat transfer and heat exchangers, cooling towers
- Mass transfer concepts, distillation, absorption, stripping/desorption, chromatography, ion exchange, and extraction
- Evaporation, crystallization, filtration, and drying
- Solids handling, characterization, transfer, and storage
- Process control
- Polymers and plastics
- Tanks and process vessels
Industrial examples are used throughout the course to demonstrate how the fundamentals of chemical engineering are applied in the real world.
This course may be taken as part of the AIChE Credential for Sustainability Professionals (ACSP). More info
Also available as an instructor-led course: Chemical Engineering for Non-Chemical Engineers
Learning Outcomes:
- Discuss the basic concepts of chemical engineering including mass and energy balances and the concept of unit operations.
- Describe basic safety regulations and procedures and the basics of kinetics and reactive chemical analysis.
- Explain the basics of fluid flow and pumps, the use of cooling towers, and the basics of tank and vessel design parameters.
- Explain the basics of distillation, absorption, stripping, chromatography and drying processes and equipment choices for these unit operations.
- Calculate basic stoichiometry and unit conversions.
- Describe the basics of solids handling, characterization, transfer and storage.
Who Should Attend:
Unit One : Chemical Engineering Overview and Basic Principles
- Lecture One: Basics of chemical engineering
- Lecture Two: Safety, fire and explosions, HAZOP
- Lecture Three: Environmental issues
- Lecture Four: Economic analysis
- Lecture Five: Unit operations
Unit Two: Stoichiometry and Reactions
- Lecture One: Stoichiometry
- Lecture Two: Mass and energy balances
- Lecture Three: Gas laws
- Lecture Four: Reaction kinetics and engineering
- Lecture Five: Reactive chemicals issues
Unit Three: Fluid Flow and Heat Transfer
- Lecture One: Fluid flow fundamentals, momentum balances
- Lecture Two: Friction, pressure drop
- Lecture Three: Pumps and piping
- Lecture Four: Heat transfer basics, heat exchangers, radiative heat transfer
- Lecture Five: Evaporators
Unit Four: Mass Transfer Fundamentals and Unit Operations
- Lecture One: Distillation and vapor pressure basics
- Lecture Two: Absorption, stripping, and extraction
- Lecture Three: Tower internals
- Lecture Four: Ion exchange and chromatography
- Lecture Five: Cooling towers
Unit Five: Liquid-Solids Handling
- Lecture One: Crystallization
- Lecture Two: Filtration and centrifuges
- Lecture Three: Membranes
- Lecture Four: Drying fundamentals and drying equipment
- Lecture Five: Solids characterization, hoppers, cyclones, and size reduction equipment
Unit Six: Polymer Processing, Process Control, and Vessels
- Lecture One: Polymer basics
- Lecture Two: Polymerization processes
- Lecture Three: Process control
- Lecture Four: Valve types and choices
- Lecture Five: Tanks and vessel basics
Final Exam: 30 Questions
Find answers to questions about registration and refunds, tuition and fees, travel and lodging (for location-based courses), how eLearning courses work, how credits work, and more.
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