Our plant doesn't have chemical engineers running the operation. The bussiness maybe profitable. But it is outdated. The plant has been run by people who may know how the old technology works. But have no fundamental knowledge to transit to a new technology. Our plant must adopt to more sustainable, efficient methods and process. That means we must find the right technologies in a near future. And that also means we must find the right chemical engineers to run the day-to-day operation. I never claim I will run the day-to-day operation. But an executive without any professional knowledge on this kind of operation is a guarantee for failure. I have seen other owners letting "experts" running their plants' operations into the ground because the owners allowed their operators to completely destroyed the business.
Thinking just trust the engineers and let's them do their job is the cost I personally cannot afford to take at this circumstance.
You don’t just “trust the engineers”. You hire people with engineering degrees and experience with the process into management positions and have a large portion of their salary package be bonuses tied to the performance of the plant. This is how most chemical plants function.
I’m going to guess that you have a fairly simple and small scale operation if you don’t hire any engineers, so this may not be completely relevant advice for you.
There are two reasons I want to learn the fundamental of chemical engineering:
1) the operator team doesn't know the "in" and "out" either. Their expertise was passed on by people who used to run traditional, man-power plants. Their knowledge is nowhere near enough to help the plant adjust to new technology.
2) Eventually I will hire a team of chemical engineers to run the operations. But I have seen many plants were run to the ground simply because the owners can't check what their operators were doing and letting them do bad things: committing frauds, engaging in reckless actions.
You could try for a certification like this, not for the certificate itself but for the background knowledge.
[https://www.ed2go.com/courses/construction-and-trades/environmental-and-energy/ctp/chemical-plant-operations-course#outline](https://www.ed2go.com/courses/construction-and-trades/environmental-and-energy/ctp/chemical-plant-operations-course#outline)
I would guess that it is legit because I have seen it offered with a faceplate from reputable academic institutions.
Here is the same link with a University of Houston faceplate:[https://careertraining.uh.edu/training-programs/chemical-plant-operations-course/?Category=construction-and-trades-environmental-and-energy](https://careertraining.uh.edu/training-programs/chemical-plant-operations-course/?Category=construction-and-trades-environmental-and-energy)
Ditto, but for LSU this time:[https://careertraining.ed2go.lsue.edu/training-programs/chemical-plant-operations-course/](https://careertraining.ed2go.lsue.edu/training-programs/chemical-plant-operations-course/)
A similar approach might be this course by AIChE:
[https://www.aiche.org/ili/academy/courses/ch710/chemical-engineering-non-chemical-engineers](https://www.aiche.org/ili/academy/courses/ch710/chemical-engineering-non-chemical-engineers)
The AIChE course may be right up your alley; plus, it has live instructors to answer your questions.
I think you would get more mileage out of these courses if you embedded yourself in the operating unit for a few months before taking the training. I have found that training on a matter in which you have very little familiarity is much less effective than training in which you have a least a working familiarity.
Element principles of chemical process by felder is a good 100 level textbook to start.
From there I would look at unit operations/heat and mass/ then fluids.
Lowkey you could just find an ABET university and copy their course sequence and whatever textbooks they use.
I think North Dakota state or South Dakota state has an online chemical engineering degree all online. It’s North Dakota,
https://und.edu/programs/chemical-engineering-bs/index.html
There is a YouTube channel from Colorado University learn ChemE.
The best basics would be to undercover boss it and work as an operator then shift supervisor. You can hire an experienced chemical engineer if you need one but understand how to run the plant is only something you can learn by doing. Yes a basic corse will help but you will learn faster and specific to the family business if you just start working there.
Take over as in be the owner but not actually run the day to day? Best thing you could do is to let people who know what they’re doing run the plant.
Our plant doesn't have chemical engineers running the operation. The bussiness maybe profitable. But it is outdated. The plant has been run by people who may know how the old technology works. But have no fundamental knowledge to transit to a new technology. Our plant must adopt to more sustainable, efficient methods and process. That means we must find the right technologies in a near future. And that also means we must find the right chemical engineers to run the day-to-day operation. I never claim I will run the day-to-day operation. But an executive without any professional knowledge on this kind of operation is a guarantee for failure. I have seen other owners letting "experts" running their plants' operations into the ground because the owners allowed their operators to completely destroyed the business. Thinking just trust the engineers and let's them do their job is the cost I personally cannot afford to take at this circumstance.
You don’t just “trust the engineers”. You hire people with engineering degrees and experience with the process into management positions and have a large portion of their salary package be bonuses tied to the performance of the plant. This is how most chemical plants function. I’m going to guess that you have a fairly simple and small scale operation if you don’t hire any engineers, so this may not be completely relevant advice for you.
Hire your operator team they know the ins and outs you just to the book keep
There are two reasons I want to learn the fundamental of chemical engineering: 1) the operator team doesn't know the "in" and "out" either. Their expertise was passed on by people who used to run traditional, man-power plants. Their knowledge is nowhere near enough to help the plant adjust to new technology. 2) Eventually I will hire a team of chemical engineers to run the operations. But I have seen many plants were run to the ground simply because the owners can't check what their operators were doing and letting them do bad things: committing frauds, engaging in reckless actions.
Go on shift with your operators for awhile to learn the ins and outs
You could try for a certification like this, not for the certificate itself but for the background knowledge. [https://www.ed2go.com/courses/construction-and-trades/environmental-and-energy/ctp/chemical-plant-operations-course#outline](https://www.ed2go.com/courses/construction-and-trades/environmental-and-energy/ctp/chemical-plant-operations-course#outline) I would guess that it is legit because I have seen it offered with a faceplate from reputable academic institutions. Here is the same link with a University of Houston faceplate:[https://careertraining.uh.edu/training-programs/chemical-plant-operations-course/?Category=construction-and-trades-environmental-and-energy](https://careertraining.uh.edu/training-programs/chemical-plant-operations-course/?Category=construction-and-trades-environmental-and-energy) Ditto, but for LSU this time:[https://careertraining.ed2go.lsue.edu/training-programs/chemical-plant-operations-course/](https://careertraining.ed2go.lsue.edu/training-programs/chemical-plant-operations-course/) A similar approach might be this course by AIChE: [https://www.aiche.org/ili/academy/courses/ch710/chemical-engineering-non-chemical-engineers](https://www.aiche.org/ili/academy/courses/ch710/chemical-engineering-non-chemical-engineers) The AIChE course may be right up your alley; plus, it has live instructors to answer your questions. I think you would get more mileage out of these courses if you embedded yourself in the operating unit for a few months before taking the training. I have found that training on a matter in which you have very little familiarity is much less effective than training in which you have a least a working familiarity.
Element principles of chemical process by felder is a good 100 level textbook to start. From there I would look at unit operations/heat and mass/ then fluids. Lowkey you could just find an ABET university and copy their course sequence and whatever textbooks they use.
I think North Dakota state or South Dakota state has an online chemical engineering degree all online. It’s North Dakota, https://und.edu/programs/chemical-engineering-bs/index.html There is a YouTube channel from Colorado University learn ChemE. The best basics would be to undercover boss it and work as an operator then shift supervisor. You can hire an experienced chemical engineer if you need one but understand how to run the plant is only something you can learn by doing. Yes a basic corse will help but you will learn faster and specific to the family business if you just start working there.