Chemical Engineering World

Last December, my wife participated in a Scientific Publishing Research Workshop in Shanghai China from 20-22 December 2011 to present her technical paper about Progressive Freeze Concentration (PFC). The research is directly related to her own Ph.D and her present core research. I accompanied her to Shanghai and at the conference I joined as a participant.

The workshop is not specifically tailored to chemical engineering only. It combines chemistry, biochemistry, maths and several other disciplines. I can say it is a highly multi-disciplinary workshop. The participants came from all over the world including United States, German, Japan, India, China, Greece, Korea, Malaysia and others.

Some of you might have not heard about Scientific Research Publisher (SciRP) while some probably have heard about it. SciRP is an academic publisher of open access journals. It also publishes academic books and conference proceedings. SCIRP currently has more than 150 open access journals in the areas of science, technology, and medicine.

SciRP actually provides an alternative means of scientific research publication. The difference is only it is practices an open access system where anybody can read the journal free of charge. The other traditional journal from publishers like Elsevier require us to pay before we can read them. However, as students, most of us can have access to it because our university library have purchase the subscription from the publisher. Hence, we are open to write and submit to SciRP. The process is almost the same. The draft paper will be evaluated by editors and undergo strict requirement to ensure top notch quality of the article.

As for us Chemical Engineers, the most related journal is Advances of Chemical Engineering & Science. The journal is relatively new but is good enough for us to submit articles to them. Once thing to know about open access journal like this is that some fee will be charge to the publisher.

That's me in front of the hotel lobby where the workshop takes place. Check out the red banner on the top of the hotel lobby building. This is proof that this is the first SciRP workshop.

Overall, it was a very interesting experiences attending the 1st Scientific Research Publishing Workshop. I was really honoured to meet the founder and president of SciRP as well other professors, academicians and researchers from other parts of the globe. Besides expanding our knowledge we get the chance to meet new people and increase our networking (which is important in the real world).

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The purpose of this interview is to assess my training and experience whether I am fit to be a member of IChemE and chartered engineer. Before this, under IChemE, I am an Associate Member (which I can use the AMIChemE designation after my name). If my interview yesterday is successful, I will be upgraded to Member and Chartered engineer. With that after my name, I can use the designation of MIChemE and CEng.


The interview was scheduled at 9.30 am but it actually started at 9.50am. The interview was relatively tougher compared to my IEM previous interview (which took about 50 minutes). Among the points that the interviewers were seeking for are some proof of chemical engineering application that I practiced in my previous jobs. They also look for some elements on creativity, innovation, leadership and contribution to society. The interview hoovers around discussing the information that I had provided earlier in Form C - Competence and Commitment Report.


The interview ended after about 2 hours. It was really a mental challenge to answer all the questions threw by the lead interview who is a very experienced lady chemical engineer. Nevertheless I'm glad that the interview went smooth and I believed I managed to answer all the questions. For now, I just hope to receive a favourable result. From the information that I have, the result is very fast which is about roughly 10 days.

After the interview, we immediately travel south back to Johor Bahru. Yes, we purposely drove to KL for my interview. It was very tiring but at the same time, I'm glad that I managed to complete both IEM and IChemE interviews this year.

What about you? If you are not yet a member of IChemE, you can begin now. Seek for more information on how and why to get chartered from IChemE website.

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As some of you know, I am currently a Ph.D student in my final year and at this moment I can say I am working very hard running my experiments. Why do I say so? Well, part of the reason is because I'm the earliest person to reach the lab and the last person to leave the lab for any single day (accept if I have something urgent going on). I run 1 to 3 experiments per day depending on the situation that day. Why I say this, you'll know when I list down some of the problems I face when I run my experiments.

The experiments that I or other Ph.D students run are no ordinary experiments. The experiments are not at all similar to those that the undergraduates carry out in the lab. We are running our own individual experiments for research and discovery purpose. We are seeking for new information, new knowledge, new theory, new discovery. We want to find out about something. We want to see whether this and this works or not. We want to see what will happen when we do this and this and so on. Of course, this will be based on our literature review and hypothesis. Our experimental set-up is in most case unique and not similar to others. If it is similar though, there will be perhaps 2, 3 or 4 almost similar experimental set-up. I'm referring to the experimental set-up that we create ourselves.

OK, the main thing I want to share here is the list of problems, challenges, hurdles that interrupt the process of me running my experiment. Some of the problems are as stated below.

Please be informed that I'm not listing all these problems to discourage or demotivate some of you who may consider to pursue your Ph.D with experimental work. What I'm trying to highlight here is that if you are running experiments for your research work, you will face with tonnes of challenges. You need to stay strong and motivated. You need to focus at the end result. Of course there will be some obstacles, problems, delays and many other things that will result to you feeling down. I will be lying if I say I'm always motivated. I faced numerous expected and unexpected challenges. It's really up to me to react on the problem and overcome those challenges.

In addition, during this critical time, we need to always be positive and pray to God for assistance. On top of that, when ever we have experimental problems or delays, we need to have plan A, B, C and so on which means we can do other things such as drafting technical papers, search for latest literature review, learn related softwares etc.

If any of you have some good experience to share, feel free to contact me. I would love to hear from you as well. Cheers...

OK, that's enough for now. I'll share later updates with you soon. For my fellow Muslim chemical engineers (student or practicing), I wish you Happy Ramadhan and hope all of us can be fasting with peace.

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Well, there are many benefits if we look at it. I will provide my version of the benefits.

A PE will be respected for its ethics, skills and professionalism. Many will look up to them for solutions etc. Some will prefer those having PE status to assist them or work together. They are trusted engineers to handle/manage projects/contracts because a PE is well known for his/her credibility. A PE have the respect from its peers and community.

In my country, if we are a PE, we have some level of advantage compared to the others who are not a PE. A PE can have the authority to certify/approve drawings etc. While this is true for mechanical, civil and electrical engineers, it is scarcely heard that a chemical engineer PE have such similar authority. This is because for example, a vessel's drawing will be designed/certified normally by a mechanical engineer PE. An electrical circuit drawing or wiring in a plant or building will be designed/certified by an electrical engineer PE. A road/bridge construction drawing will be designed/certified by a civil engineer PE. A chemical engineer PE will design/draw/approve certain chemical process. This is very much related to the rules and regulation in a country.

Being a PE, we can also associate with other PE and engineers, thus increasing our networking and connections. On top of that, most engineering organizations have their own publication and this is an area which we can contribute it either as editor or contributor. Well, of course this apply if you love to write. We can also get involved in the activities, courses, trainings, talks etc that are organized for our own continues learning process. This will enable us to get properly informed of any new technologies, knowledge or policy updates. There are also subject group that we can involve in such as available in IChemE. You can choose to participate in any subject group(s) related to your expertise/field.

The benefit and importance of being a PE can be seen from the statement of Craig Durham, CEng MIMMM. He is a Senior Completion Engineer working in the UK upstream oil industry. What he had highlighted (UK context) is interesting...

Unlike most doctors, solicitors, civil and mining engineers, petroleum engineers are not required to be Chartered, in the UK at least. Historically, competence has been checked by reliance on a CV, interview and annual appraisal, although it is increasingly common to have company-specific competency assessment schemes in place. While these are welcome developments, only CEng status indicates that your competence has been assessed by other engineering professionals and is comparable with internationally recognised standards.

So why bother, particularly as, like me, I am sure that you work with many good engineers who are not Chartered, and being Chartered is not a guarantee of competence or ability? Perhaps the best reason is that it demonstrates a desire to take responsibility for your professional development, of taking pride in your professional achievements, of going the extra mile. Faced with a choice between similar candidates, one Chartered, one not, which one would you choose? (source)

What Craig Durham attempted to highlight in the last sentence is very clear. If you are a PE, chances of you getting hired are more compared to those without PE status. The market value for a PE is also higher and very much in demand.

Well, those are some points that can be highlighted. For academician, with PE status, it is a huge plus point to his/her career development. An academician with a PE status can normally cruise the career ladder faster than those who aren't. This is a scenario that I observed in universities in my country. On top of that, an engineering faculty requires a fix number of PE in order to be accredited by engineering accreditation council.

Well, those are some advantages that I can think of for now. If you have anything to add, feel free to mentioned it in the comment section. I'll add up some more when something struck my mind.

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I have wanted to write and publish about this since few weeks ago. Unfortunately I was hooked up with my Ph.D study. I'm presently running my experiments in the lab.

Well here how the story goes on my quest to be a professional engineer under the Institution of Engineers, Malaysia (IEM).

2007

I registered with IEM as a graduate member. After officially becoming a graduate member, I searched for a mentor to help and guide me to be a professional engineer. Unfortunately, I could not find any professional chemical engineer that is available to be my mentor in Johor (the state that I live and work in). So, I decided to search for any mentor in Klang Valley area. Take note that I got the list of chemical engineering mentor from IEM. To cut the story short I found a mentor which I'm attracted to and contacted him. He is Hj. Ir. Tunai Shamsidi Ahmad, a very experienced chemical engineering consultant. He agreed to mentor me and I started recording my training and experience report. My training reports were all about my activities in the plant plus several projects that I was involved in. That time I was a process engineer working in a physical refinery plant. According to my mentor, my working experiences keep repeating month after month. That, according to him is not good enough for me. I need to get involved with more projects and tasks.

2008

I resigned as a process engineer in early 3rd quarter this year and began my career as a lecturer. As a lecturer, I strongly believe I have better control of my career direction. I'm not only involved in lecturing but also research, consultancy, writing, publication and many more. It's quite an interesting experience.

My mentor was very delighted after he knew that I become a lecturer. He said by becoming a lecturer, I will have more diversified projects that I can be involved in. As a result, my training reports became more interesting. Earlier on, my training reports dwell on activities in the plant/factory. But now, I have totally new experiences that I can record in my training report.

2010

After 3 years recording my engineering training report and completed attending all mandatory trainings required by the Board of Engineers Malaysia (BEM), finally I'm qualified for the professional interview (PI) which is to be conducted by IEM. I then filled up the required forms, paid the fees and standby for the PI. While waiting for the PI, I have to prepare 2 more detail reports which are (1) Project Technical Report and (2) Training and Experience Report.

Earlier on, I had a headache thinking of what project I should write for my Project Technical Report. However, after a while I considered the Plate Heat Exchanger Installation in my plant. The project really fits all requirement and elements for the report such as design, engineering, economic, planning, project management etc.

2011

I was informed by IEM secretarial in January that my interview will take place in IEM head quarters in Petaling Jaya. Later in April, I received a call and email informing about my Professional Interview. I prepared for the interview like mad. The interview will consists of (1) oral session and (2) Essay questions which is related to our own technical project and engineering ethics.

Finally, in late June, I received a notification email from IEM confirming that I have passed my Professional Interview. Hence, my membership is upgraded to corporate member which will then be awarded the title IR (Ingeniur) by BEM (after I completed necessary paper works). Thank God I passed this Professional Interview. All the hard work has finally paid off. It was very tough to prepare the project technical report. It was like doing the final year design project alone (not in a group). But now, the project must be a real project that I have handled before. I must also thank many people for assisting me on creating my project technical report.

What about IChemE (Institution of Chemical Engineer) membership?

At the same time of preparing my project technical report, I also prepared myself to be a chartered engineer under IChemE. At this moment, IChemE representative has already emailed me and ask me to standby for the interview which will take place anytime from now. Deep inside I hope I can also make it for the interview. Wish me luck... :)

My 2 cents:- If you are not yet a professional engineer, don't wait!!! Register yourself with the engineering professional body in your country, follow the training program and record your engineering training experiences. I'm saying this because I wish somebody have advise me earlier to be a professional engineer while I'm still younger (I mean just after graduating). So, if you are in Malaysia, register with IEM. If you are in UK, register with IChemE. If you are in USA, register with AIChE. The same goes to the other countries... Good luck :)


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On a sweet Thursday afternoon (today) when I just started my experiment, a sudden power failure occurred without warning. I was actually in the toilet when the power cut off took place. My wife called and asked, "Do you have electricity there in the lab?". I answered, "We have power here in the lab and I just started my experiment". Then 2 lab assistants walk out from the polymer lab (which is next to the reaction engineering lab) and informed me that the power failure just happened. I was surprised.

Immediately I ran into the lab and discovered that the lab black out. Oh my God!!! This is not good. It's not really about my experiment. It's the Gas Chromatography (GC) which I'm more worried about. The GC is such an important equipment for me and the rest of the students as we use it to identify and quantify our products from the reactor. The GC is very sensitive and frequent power cut-off can jeopardize the equipment and interrupt our research activities. Repairing the GC cost huge amount of money and with limited research budget, we need to do everything to avoid the GC from malfunctioning.

After about 15 to 20 minutes the electrical power resumed. Thank God. I switched it on. I then checked the GC and its PC hoping that nothing will go wrong. When the power failure occurred just now, the oven temperature (of the GC) was 250oC. The standard operating procedure to switch off the GC is when the oven temperature is below 40oC. Sudden GC shut down is not recommended at all. It is strictly a big NO. Luckily the GC works well and nothing seems to be wrong. I restarted my experiment and completed it 3 hours later.

Power Failure in the Plant

The incident reminded me on the power failure that once in a while also occurred in the physical refinery plant I worked in several years ago. Such unavoidable power cut-off from the Electricity Company will firstly trigger chaos within the control room and the entire plant. The supervisor, shift leader and plant operators have to act fast to close all main valves manually from various sections. The flow, temperature and pressure from numerous unit operation equipment such as Niagara filter (filter leaves), deodoriser, packed column, heat exchanger need to be controlled until power resumed. The huge 3000 tonnes per day plant can only be minimally controlled via the PLC which was temporarily powered with UPS (uninterupted power supply) - which provided a few minutes power back up.

Secondly, the power cut off will result in substantial lost and I have to assess and make report about it. Even a milisecond power failure will result in vacuum drop in the plant in result to oil rejection (due to quality off-spec). That also will cost massive lost to the company.

What can we do?

As for my case, in the lab... nothing much can be done. I rest my faith to the God. It's good to install UPS for the GC. If UPS is the answer, then we must have 4 UPS unit in the lab as there are all together 3 GC's and 1 GCMS. However, having UPS alone will not entirely protect this expansive machines. For me, the power company (electricity supplier) must be responsible in providing smooth and reliable power for us (the customers). They should pay all the damage and losses that hit us. Maybe this does not sound like an engineer's solution...

Other option?

A more interesting option is to create and manage our own power system...but can we do it with our resources? I'm referring to solar, wind and frequency (Tesla) energy. I would love to develop one of this power sources AFTER I complete my study. I'll try and do it at my home first... :)


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I'm now in my 4th semester of my Ph.D studies. I will be lying if I say that doing Ph.D is easy. It's not as easy as that. I told my wife few months ago that preparing the project report for my Institution Engineers Malaysia (IEM) interview (to be a professional engineer) was tougher than doing my Ph.D. I'm wrong!!! Maybe that time, I was not really focus on my Ph.D. But now, as I'm more focus with my studies, I am well aware that completing this study is not as easy as it seems to be. It is so tough. Ask anybody who successfully completed their Ph.D... Nobody says it is easy.

Suddenly I felt time is very limited. I'm beginning to feel the pressure. I have more or less one year to complete my studies. I need to start working on my experiments. My experimental rig is fine and I believe it will be ok as I already tested it several times. The only concern for me is the quartz reactor that is brittle in nature. I need to keep sufficient stock of it. In addition, I also need to ensure my other equipments and consumables have spare as well. When talking about the experimentation work, the Gas Chromatography (GC) should also be in perfect condition for me and my Iranian colleague (Maryam) to analyze our products. The GC is the basically the heart of the study besides the rig reactor and process. I'm going to start my experimental work tomorrow officially and I hope everything will be fine... (Need to pray a lot!!!) OK ...enough about the experimental work.

Journal Paper... This is another thing hunting my back and consuming a huge chunk of my time. I have a draft prepared and submitted to 2 reputed publishers only to see on both occasions it got rejected for funny reasons (the first one) and out of scope reason (the second one). I admit that I felt miserable being rejected just like that. Well... I need to bounce back and fight to improve my draft paper and then send it again to other journal.

Thermodynamic modeling... Yeah...not only experimental work, I also need to work on the thermodynamic modeling of my catalytic reaction. This is quite interesting but at the same time it is my weakest part. I'm slowly working on this section and I hope I can complete this study in the next 2 months... (also, I need to pray to God a lot on this). I'm receiving some help from Maryam on this. She has been helping me when I got confuse and lost.

There are certainly a lot more to share about my research journey as a Ph.D student. I think I should reserve the rest for future sharing. For the time being, I just need to focus on my study for a while. Wish me luck... :)

Before ending... I would like to thank my other half of her undivided support for me. It is good to have a partner who is also in the same chemical engineering field. She understood what I'm doing and at the same time provided me precious input and ideas.

Also, my other colleague in the lab... All of you are great...haha...especially Emm2020...who has been next door to me in the lab...Let's finish this together!!!

p/s: Sorry if this post is not of any benefit to you guys. I just need to vent off some tense in me.



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Usually engineers meet very specific questions, which need exact answers from an expert in the area. Actually, with the advancement of internet, we have many solutions for people to find an expert and a get an answer but those are broad in scope and costly. Many solutions need your credit card, while some free options are wider in scope. It's hard to get attention on your question by an engineer as most of users of such website are young internet surfers seeks and support tech questions.

Engineers are professionals, who usually surf internet to explore new knowledge and developments on their existing knowledge. With my experience on internet for more than 4 years, I distinguish most of them even willing for contribution to expand the existing knowledge base around their expertise. I decided to take these trends as advantages to build a questions and answers community around engineers. (www.engineers.name). With leading web technologies available on SAAS (Software As a Service) it was possible to build a comprehensive question and answer platform with many attractive features for answer seekers and experts contributing to the community.

Answer seekers are able to browse for existing questions and answers base to avoid repeating already asked questions which will help them to save time, even when they typing their question the similarities will just list down under the input box. They can even browse for experts on many categories who already being ranked. They can just ask questions from community or select an expert to ask questions personally from them.

Engineers who willing to contributing as experts by answering questions will able to be ranked in their specific area and stand out the community as an expert.

Actually, this is totally free expert questions and answers solution, which is totally powered by sponsored advertisements. According to success stories of Wikipedia and many other free solutions, the platform stand with a hope to contribute to engineering world with a vision to give proper answers for engineering questions.

This article was contributed by my good chemical engineering online friend from Sri Lanka, Dilantha Thushara Subasinghe who is the Editor for Engineering Questions and Answers.

My comment: This is a good effort made by Thushara. He took the initiative to create a platform (www.engineers.name) where questions and answers related to engineering can be viewed. Anybody can participate by asking or providing answers. It's like a forum but it is not. It is more simple. Looks like a wiki-type of site. For us who are from chemical engineering field, we can read several questions related to basic questions by choosing "Chemical Engineering tab" on the side bar.


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Have you downloaded my free "Choosing Alternative Fuel" Ebook? If not, then please download it here. It's Free and on top of getting the free ebook, you'll get eCourse on Alternative Fuel. It's a good and easy way to add more valuable information to yourself.

I have asked many people and searched vigorously in the internet about this year's Symposium of Chemical Engineers Malaysia (SOCHE 2011). Unfortunately no information is available until a colleague forwarded an email in our staff mailing list just now. Finally, the information was revealed, question was answered. SOMCHE 2011 will be organized by University Malaysia Pahang (UMP). This time they will be organizing and combining SOMCHE alongside with the International Conference of Chemical Engineering and Industrial Biotechnology (ICCEIB). Hence, the two will combine and become ICCEIB-SOMChe 2011.