Different between Industrial chemist and Theoretical chemist

Many have been wondering the place for chemical engineers and industrial chemists in developing countries. Recently I read an article about somebody who did not understand the place for chemical engineers in developing countries; this catapulted me to shade some light on this. In my preamble I will put my focus on chemical engineers and their relationship with industrial chemist, but the rest of this post is about differences between industrial chemist and theoretical chemist.

 In developing countries we have new industries coming up or existing ones, and these need the skills of industrial chemists and chemical engineers. Then, who is the chemical engineer? Chemical engineers deal with the process of changing raw materials into useful, marketable products. Next question is what is the relationship between chemical engineer and industrial chemist? First, industrial chemistry is a part of long chain in the design and manufacturing process while industrial chemist deals with testing, design and prototyping of new industrial products. The relationship is that industrial chemist precedes (come before) chemical engineer in bringing a product into the market. Industrial chemist is the one who knows the source of the product. That’s he/she knows chemical composition of the product and so on. He/she uses skills of chemical reactions and reaction rate and others in the chain of bringing the product in the market. As explored in this post industrial chemist ought to be differentiated from non-industrial chemist/theoretical chemist or classical chemist. The differences between these two chemists are as outlined: 

Knowledge

Non-industrial chemist acquires knowledge, for instance college/university studies while an industrial chemist apply the existing knowledge to get useful products.

Driving force

For theoretical chemist, the main driving force is the search of new knowledge through research, seminars and conferences in contrast with industrial chemist which the propelling force is to make money at a profit.

Amount of reagents employed

Theoretical chemist uses small amounts of reagents usually in g/cm³ as opposed to industrial chemist who uses large amounts of reagents habitually in litters and tonnes.

Purity of reagents used                                                    

Non-industrial chemist uses pure reagents while industrial chemist employs the use of industrial grade reagents(less pure).

Processes

Processes for reactions which Classical chemist engage in can be defined in well known chemical equations, for example 3H₂ (g) + N2 = 2 NH₃ (g) + Heat. In contrast, industrial chemist uses processes in which most cases reactions are not known but the interest is the product.

Yields

Classical chemist does not concerned to much about the yield but industrial the main aim is the yield of the product.

Quality control

Quality control to the theoretical chemist is not important as opposed to industrial chemist which it is critical.

Conditions in which reactions are carried out

Theoretical chemist uses mild conditions (uses of Bunsen burner) to carried his/her reactions while industrial chemist uses special conditions to ensure the yield of the products are improved.

Waste disposal

This is not critical for classical chemist which is in contrast with industrial chemist.

Safety precautions

Safety precautions are not important to non-industrial chemist but very critical to industrial chemist.

Separation

Classical chemist usually uses filter paper (manual), Buchner funnel, centrifuge (small) and distillation while industrial chemist uses electrical sieves, electrical screens, electrical centrifuge and electrical distillation.

Mixing

Mixing is done manually by non-industrial chemist but industrial chemist uses mechanical methods like agitators, electrical motors and turbulence.

Heat transfer

Heat is not critical to classical chemist while it is very important to industrial chemist because heat produced at one stage can be recycled, for example uses of evaporators, heat exchangers or economizers.

Storage

Theoretical chemist uses small stores and reagents/chemicals are carried by hands to their specific destinations while industrial chemist uses warehouses/yards and materials are conveyed by conveyor belts to their target destinations.

These are the differences between industrial chemist and theoretical chemist.The relationship between industrial chemist and chemical engineers is also brought to light in this article. Anybody who still doubt the place of chemical engineers in developing countries should do  a research before discussing what he/she can't substantially support.