MSc Chemical Engineering

The Master of Science programme in Chemical Engineering at Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) provides students with the knowledge, insights and skills they need to become independent and responsible researchers or engineers in this field. The programme operates hand in hand with the university’s Chemical Engineering research groups and for decades has been delivering graduates who are in high demand by the chemical industry and academia. 

The programme places a strong emphasis on innovative thinking and stresses multidisciplinary problem-solving using a systematic approach, incorporating considerations of sustainability, economics and social welfare into the analytical process.  The MSc Chemical Engineering addresses a wide range of subjects at all levels: molecular science, including the emerging field of nanochemical engineering, the design and analysis of chemical reactors and the application of chemical engineering in manufacturing processes.

The fundamental goal of the programme is to provide students with both a breadth and a depth of knowledge to prepare them for careers in research or to work in industry at either the design or the operational level.

The Master of Science programme in Chemical Engineering at Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) provides students with the knowledge, insights and skills they need to become independent and responsible researchers or engineers in this field.

With a degree of MSc Chemical Engineering in Delft you can be classified as a general Chemical Engineer. However with the different Science & Engineering Orientations (Health, Nuclear, Energy and Circularity) you can give more focus to your study.

The advantages of a Master of Chemical Engineering are:

• Multidisciplinary teaching methods; The programme stresses a systematic approach to solving multidisciplinary problems, in which sustainability, economics and social welfare are important aspects.
• More than 125 years of excellent research and education;
• A high demand for CE alumni by companies and the field of academia;
• Conducting independent and responsible research;
• Broaden your network with Chemical Engineering Alumni and fellow students from all over the world;
• The Masters Chemical Engineering programme is structured such that students are free to select any combination of elective units (subject to scheduling limitations). Currently we offer 4 Science & Engineering Orientations which are aligned with the research within the department.

The four Science & Engineering Orientations are:

• Circularity:  Circular chemistry is the future vision of what we do as chemical engineers. Circular processes of chemical products and materials entailing their entire life cycle instead of linear “take-make-use-dispose” will solve problems such as resource scarcity and waste production. The desire to move towards circular processes requires the design of new reactions and catalysts. New, energy efficient separation processes need to be developed to recover and valorise valuable resources from what are currently waste streams. Also, materials design needs to be such that at the end of their economic life it allows for easy decomposition into valuable resources that can re-enter circular production streams.
   
• Energy: Efficient conversion of energy requires fundamental developments in materials science to achieve more efficient solar cells. Intermittent energy sources require the development of new energy storage options. New catalysts and ion exchange membranes are needed for photo- and electrocatalysis. The fossil-free production of fuel and chemical feedstock at the GW scale implies a complete redesign of the process industry involving the concerted effort of all the core chemical engineering disciplines, in close collaboration with the development of new materials, separation processes, and conversion processes.
   
• Health: The Health orientation focuses on the application of chemical engineering principles and methods to a wide set of products and processes associated with human health. One of the most important current societal challenges is high-quality affordable healthcare. Chemical engineering can play a key role in several of these developments. Examples of this include diagnosing heart diseases with insights gained via patient blood flow analysis; designing new production methods for new therapeutic materials to effectively treat life-threatening diseases (e.g. antibiotics or nanomedicines). Other areas are the development of devices for medical diagnostics and therapy, for instance in the form of a ‘lab-on-a-chip’ or 'organ-on-a chip'. Within this orientation, you will receive the basic knowledge and training needed to direct the first steps of your career into the health sector, being it in any of the major industrial players such as pharmaceuticals, consumer-products, food-processing or in consulting companies, academia or challenging startups. 
   
• Nuclear: The Nuclear Science and Technology orientation within Chemical Engineering focuses on the use of nuclear technology in the fields of energy, health and materials science. Nuclear energy can play a key role in the need to use the Earth resources in a sustainable manner. Next to this, nuclear technologies are also highly beneficial to the field of health, more specifically through the development of innovative production routes for medically relevant radionuclides, chemical separation and radiolabelling, nuclear spectroscopy, preparation of radiopharmaceuticals for imaging and therapy etc. Finally, neutron and positron beams generated from nuclear research reactors are also used worldwide for the investigation of inorganic, soft matter and hybrid materials for a variety of applications ranging from batteries to luminescent materials, magnetic materials, nuclear materials etc. Chemical engineers play an essential role in the fields of nuclear reactor technologies, nuclear medicine and radiation measurements and instrumentation. Specific examples include solving materials chemistry issues of the nuclear fuel for the next generation of nuclear reactors (Generation IV systems) that should replace by 2030’s the current fleet of Light Water Reactors at the end of their operating license, and should provide innovative, safer, more reliable and sustainable designs; the development of medical radioisotopes production routes for cancer treatment; the development and characterisation of a variety of materials for numerous applications using radiation measurements.