Chemical Engineering

Chemical engineering is the discipline that applies scientific, engineering, and business principles to the design and operation of processes that convert raw materials into useful products. It is central to the pharmaceutical, petrochemical, food processing, materials, and renewable energy industries, and chemical engineers are among the most analytically capable and commercially valuable of all engineering graduates. You will apply scientific, engineering, and business principles to a variety of complex practical issues, analysing a range of engineering problems that require you to think across scales from molecular chemistry to industrial plant design.

At Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, this four-year full-time programme is one of the most rigorous chemical engineering degrees in the UK. You will study thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, heat and mass transfer, reaction engineering, process control, and materials science alongside the business and economic dimensions of large-scale process industries. The programme develops your ability to model, analyse, and optimise complex processes, preparing you for the most technically demanding roles in the chemical and process engineering sectors.

Entry typically requires around 200 UCAS tariff points.

Chemical engineering graduates from Imperial work in the pharmaceutical, oil and gas, chemical, food, water treatment, and renewable energy industries, as well as in management consultancy, finance, and research. The rigorous analytical and engineering skills the programme develops are valued across a very wide range of high-value professional roles. Many graduates pursue Chartered Engineer status through the Institution of Chemical Engineers, and others continue to postgraduate research at the frontier of process engineering, catalysis, or sustainability science.