In this blog post, we will look back at the oil-based products that are deeply embedded in our daily lives and examine whether it is possible to live as we do now without oil from a chemical engineering perspective.
The price of oil has risen significantly. If we look at the reasons for this, we would probably all agree that the civil war in Libya is the main factor. Why is a civil war in a country in central North Africa causing such a global uproar? There may be other political and cultural reasons, but oil is likely to play a major role. Libya has the eighth largest oil reserves in the world and exports 72% of its daily oil production to other countries, so when civil war broke out, oil production and exports were inevitably disrupted, causing oil prices to skyrocket and greatly affecting many countries.
Oil is not only valuable as an energy source, but also as a strategic resource that has a significant impact on the global economy and politics. For example, when oil prices rise sharply, logistics costs increase, which leads to higher commodity prices, causing inflation and adversely affecting the global economy. For this reason, civil wars in oil-producing countries such as Libya go beyond simple conflicts between countries and become global issues.
So why does the introduction to the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering suddenly mention the civil war in Libya and the global impact of oil? It is because the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering and oil are inextricably linked.
Petroleum, or crude oil, as we commonly know it, is not only used to make gasoline for cars. Through various processes, petroleum is used in many aspects of our daily lives. Let’s imagine that there are students from the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering attending a lecture at a university. To find out how much of our lives is made up of things produced from petroleum, let’s take everything made from petroleum out of the classroom one by one.
First, let’s check the items that the professor has prepared for the students. The professor has brought a laptop, projector, and microphone to make the lecture easier to understand for the students. Unfortunately, the plastic covering the laptop and microphone and the projector screen installed for the students’ convenience are all made from petroleum. Even the glasses that help the professor, who has studied for a long time and has poor eyesight, see clearly are made from petroleum. The leather shoes the professor is wearing are no exception. Artificial leather is also a synthetic product made from petroleum.
Now that we have looked at the professor’s belongings, let’s take a look at the students’ belongings. We should take out the sturdy bags made for poor engineering students who carry heavy textbooks, as well as the colorful ballpoint pens and pencil cases they bought with great determination for the new semester. It goes without saying that students, like professors, must be barefoot. Of course, not all students wear shoes. Unfortunately, however, the rubber in sneakers also comes from petroleum. The chairs and desks the students sit on are also made from petroleum. The plastic that makes up the chairs and the paint covering the rough wooden surface of the desks, which look like wood, also come from petroleum.
Is that all? We have left out the most important thing: clothing. Synthetic fibers are one of the most representative products made from petroleum. Materials derived from petroleum are deeply embedded in almost all aspects of modern life. Not only the clothing industry, but also medical equipment, electronic devices, and even the daily necessities we use are products of petroleum. Without plastic, we would not be able to imagine our convenient lives today.
Now, let’s imagine this. A professor is giving a lecture. Of course, there is no microphone, so he has to speak in a loud voice. The students are concentrating on taking notes so that they don’t miss a single word the professor says, as there is no projector. However, they cannot hear him well because he is lecturing with the book right in front of his face, as he does not have glasses. Come to think of it, both the professor and the students are naked. Of course, some of the students are wearing natural leather clothes and cotton underwear to cover themselves.
In such a small classroom, there is little left after removing everything that comes from oil. In addition, oil is used in many areas of our lives, such as gasoline that powers cars, electricity that runs factories, and greenhouse cultivation that allows us to eat fruit even in the cold winter.
Given this reality, the research conducted by the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering is not limited to the academic realm. In fact, research in the fields of chemical engineering and applied chemistry focuses on finding answers to how the products we use in our daily lives are made and how they can be improved to be more efficient and environmentally friendly. For example, recent research is expanding into the development of eco-friendly materials that can replace petroleum-based products. This is an essential effort for a sustainable future.
The Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering is where we study the technologies that make petroleum so widely used in our daily lives. So, how is research conducted in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering? The Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering can be divided into two main areas. It is divided into chemical engineering, which is responsible for process design and planning, and applied chemistry, which develops products by researching chemistry that can be applied to everyday life.
Returning to the example of petroleum, when it is extracted from the ground, it is nothing more than black water. However, chemical engineering studies the most efficient methods of separating this black water through various processes, while applied chemistry synthesizes and studies the separated substances. Of course, the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering does not only conduct research on petroleum. It is a department that studies how to chemically synthesize or separate various substances that exist on earth, not only from petroleum, and apply them to everyday life. In addition, driven by recent research and achievements in the field of biotechnology, the department is expanding its scope beyond chemistry to include biology and the environment.
The Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering plays a practical and important role for us living in the so-called “age of petroleum.” The research conducted in this department allows us to understand the complex scientific processes hidden behind the conveniences of life that we take for granted. In addition, the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering will continue to play an important role in solving the numerous challenges and problems that our society will face in the future.
I am truly grateful to have the opportunity to introduce such a meaningful department, and I hope you will watch the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering as it changes and develops in line with the coming era.
