Chemistry vs. Chemical Engineering: 5 Significant Differences

Both chemistry and chemical engineering are significant scientific disciplines that perform a variety of tasks in industries as diverse as manufacturing, environmental production, healthcare, and food production.

A person can find a rewarding career in either field depending on their preferences. Understanding what both chemistry and chemical engineering include will help you make an informed choice about your future if you're interested in working with chemicals.  

This blog defines chemical engineering and chemistry and looks at some of their main distinctions.

What is chemical engineering?

Chemical engineering is a professional field dedicated to designing products and systems through chemical processing. It involves manipulating and mixing raw materials to create a wide variety of synthetic items, including engine fuel, medicine and food commodities.

Chemical engineers use mathematics, biology and engineering concepts to accomplish their tasks. Various industries employ chemical engineers to improve construction processes and enhance the quality of their products.

What is chemistry?

Chemistry is a branch of science that studies the atomic structures of liquids, gasses and objects. It involves learning the laws that determine how one piece of matter can become another. For example, chemistry can explain why liquid water becomes ice or why the sky appears blue at some points during the day.

Chemists study these concepts to discover new properties, alter them artificially or create synthetic elements. They also induce chemical reactions and study the results, which can help them understand how particles in an atom function.

Chemical engineering vs. chemistry

Though chemical engineering and chemistry both involve the study and application of chemicals, there are several fundamental points of distinction between them. Consider these key differences between the disciplines:

1. Applications

Chemists tend to focus more on research projects, while chemical engineers apply chemistry concepts to the creation of different materials. Chemists often work in theoretical analysis, which aims to discover new knowledge that advances an academic field. They can also work in an applied research field, which involves devising chemical compounds in a laboratory. In contrast, chemical engineers apply chemical research to industrial endeavors.

You can also compare the applications of each in terms of their uses in other professional areas. Chemistry, for example, plays a major role in numerous other scientific disciplines, including:

• Environmental science: An environmental scientist uses chemistry concepts to study the natural world and create solutions for preserving it. They can also improve the public by studying the properties of materials that people interact with every day, such as air and water.
• Forensic science: A forensic scientist uses chemistry by analyzing evidence gathered from crime scenes and presenting chemical evidence during trials.  
• Clinical research: A clinical research specialist studies medical treatments and applies their knowledge of chemistry to experimental procedures. This may involve conducting long-term research experiments to determine whether a chemical process can help heal an ailment or injury.

In contrast, chemical engineering has more of an impact in technical fields such as:

• Energy management: Energy managers use chemical engineering to examine how machines, buildings and other materials use power sources such as electricity. This field involves overseeing energy efficiency projects, like improving existing buildings to optimize how their electricity functions.
• Chemical manufacturing: Chemical manufacturers mass-produce substances and raw materials for other products, such as sulfur for fireworks or synthetic rubber for tires. They often operate specialized equipment and mix different elemental compounds to produce specific chemicals.
• Mining: It's not uncommon for chemical engineers to work in the mining industry to help study the properties of minerals. The results of these studies can help to identify optimal mining locations.

2. Education

Chemistry and chemical engineering programs begin with similar coursework but tend to diverge in later semesters. In their freshman and sophomore years, students in both majors take general chemistry, physics and calculus to gain a foundational knowledge of important scientific concepts. Afterward, a chemistry major may focus more on academic concepts like the study of molecular structures and experimental research, while a chemical engineering major may focus on topics such as energy production and how to apply chemistry concepts to a particular industry.

Additionally, aspiring chemists are more likely to pursue postgraduate education. Those enrolled in doctoral programs have the option to conduct their own research, and postdoctoral chemists can apply to work at universities or research institutions.

As for chemical engineers, they can usually progress to a position in their chosen field with just a bachelor's degree. An advanced degree may help them advance to a leadership role, but so can a specialized certification.

3. Work environment

There's some overlap in the work environments of chemists and chemical engineers. Both commonly work in laboratories, offices and industrial settings, such as plants, refineries and manufacturing facilities. That being said, chemical engineers tend to have a larger representation in those industrial settings, while chemists are more likely to operate within labs. Academia is another common work environment for chemists, which is normally not the case for chemical engineers.

4. Scale

Chemistry tends to be a smaller-scale operation in that chemists usually work with small volumes of chemicals. If a chemist wants to test the reaction between chemicals, they'd likely do so within individual pieces of laboratory glassware, atop a well-confined area. In contrast, chemical engineering takes place on an industrial scale. In chemical manufacturing, for example, engineers oversee the combinations of tremendous volumes of chemicals to create particular products. Specialized machinery is usually necessary to handle such volume.

5. Average salary

In general, chemical engineers earn more than chemists. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the median salary for chemists is $79,430 per year, which is considerably higher than the $45,760 median for all occupations. For chemical engineers, the median salary is $105,550 per year or around 33% more than a chemist's salary.

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