ROLE OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING TO COMBAT COVID-19 PANDEMIC

ROLE OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING TO COMBAT COVID-19 PANDEMIC

As COVID-19 is a very big issue all over the World and it's our responsibility to combat this pandemic by various approaches given by the Engineers, Scientists, Chemists, Doctors etc. Every citizen must follow the instructions given by them.

                 Apart from Doctors, Scientists and Chemists, Chemical Engineers also plays a vital role to control and prevent the COVID-19 Pandemic. There are various responsibilities of Chemical Engineers for the effective control over this and these are as follows:

1. PRODUCTION OF HAND SANITIZER:

Hand Sanitizers are commercially produced by the Chemical Engineers in Alcohol industry/Distilleries. The process for its production is totally chemical which involves various Chemical Engineering equipment’s such as Distillation column, Heat exchangers, Fermenters and various others. These equipment’s are generally designed and run by Chemical Engineers.

 Like in this situation of COVID-19 Pandemic, everyone is making use of sanitizers and its production increases rapidly with the proper coordination of Chemical Engineers

2. Chemical Engineers support Bio-Technology:

The molecular level study and testing of corona virus comes under bio-physics. Bio-Molecular reactors are designed by the Chemical Engineers with the support of Bio-Technology. As the study of corona virus, Nano-Technology is required. Nano technology is a special branch of Chemical Engineering. As the corona virus size is very small such as in micrometres or nanometre’s, so its proper study, testing and study requires a Chemical Engineer.

Chemical engineers and bioengineers work in the manufacturing of all types of chemical disinfectants like alcohol, hydrogen peroxide and bleach. They are also involved in the scale up and operation of bio-reactors and other systems for vaccine and anti-viral medicine production.

3. Manufacturing of PPE's( Personal Protective Equipment’s):

Now almost all of us are wearing masks for protection against COVID-19 Pandemic. These masks are generally made up of non woven fabric created using a melt blowing process, which is a polymeric material and Polymer is a very wide branch of Chemical Engineering. All the polymers are produced by the Chemical Engineers as well as Polymer Engineers. Polymer manufacturing reactors are generally designed by the Chemical Engineer.

The goggles, safety shoes, apron, suits etc. which are wearied by the doctors, nurses and patients, are all made from polymer industries. The raw materials for the manufacturing of all these, comes from Petrochemical Industry.

So, we can say that for the control and protection against COVID-19 Pandemic, Polymer, Petrochemical, and Petroleum Industry plays a very important role. Almost all these industries comes under chemical industries only.

4. Production of Oxygen in Oxygen Cylinders:

People who are suffering from corona virus requires Oxygen cylinders for inhaling oxygen as it is difficult for the patient of COVID-19 to take proper breath. This pure oxygen is produced by the gas separation processes. This gas separation process is a part of Chemical Engineering. There are commonly two processes for oxygen production i.e. Linde & Claude process. These processes are studied by Chemical Engineers in Chemical Process Industries.

5. API (Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient) :

Palmist will define gradients and chemical engineers will set up process as well as guidelines for safety process, proceed to make useful products for corona. Chemical Engineers work in a wide range of industries, including consumer products and pharmaceuticals.

6. Production of HOCL(Hypochlorous Acid) :

Cleaning is an essential part of disinfection. Organic matter can inactivate many disinfectants. Removal of germs such as the viruses that causes COVID-19 requires thorough cleaning followed by disinfection. Chemical engineers are required for the production of HOCL Disinfectant. HOCL is a weak acid that forms when chlorine dissolves in water, and itself partially dissociates, forming hypochlorite. In general, coronaviruses are unlikely to survive for long once droplets produced by cough or sneezing dry out, so HOCL is the most effective disinfectant in the chlorine family available in dilute solution.

                    So it can be said that the chemical engineering is very helpful for the prevention and control against corona virus by considering, all these contributions by them.