How much do chemical engineers earn UK?

 chemical engineer salary

According to a recent salary survey by the Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE), new graduates earn a median salary of around £28,600. The median salary for chemical engineers under 25 in the early stage of their careers is about £30,000, rising to a median salary of £54,000 for more experienced engineers.

As a chemical engineer, you'll be involved in the design and development of a diverse range of products. Your work will focus on changing the chemical, biochemical and physical state of a substance to turn it into something else, such as making plastic from oil.

You'll need to understand how to alter raw materials into required products, while taking into consideration health and safety and cost issues.

You can work in a variety of industries including:

• energy
• food and drink
• oil and gas
• pharmaceuticals
• plastics
• toiletries
• water treatment.

Modern chemical engineering is also concerned with pioneering valuable new materials and techniques, such as nanotechnology, fuel cells and biomedical engineering.

Responsibilities

Your daily activities will be extremely diverse and largely depend on the role and the sector in which you work. However, you'll generally need to:

• work closely with process chemists and control engineers to ensure the process plant is set up to provide maximum output levels and efficient running of the production facility
• design plant and equipment configuration so that they can be readily adapted to suit the product range and the process technologies involved, taking environmental and economic aspects into account
• set up scale-up and scale-down processes, including making appropriate changes, to equipment design and configuration
• assess options for plant expansion or reconfiguration by developing and testing process simulation models
• design, install and commission new production plants, including monitoring developments and troubleshooting
• optimise production by analysing processes and compiling debottleneck studies
• apply new technologies
• research new products from trial through to commercialisation and improve product lines
• ensure that potential safety issues related to the project operator, the environment, the process and the product are considered at all stages.

Examples of work activities in specific sectors include:

• undertaking small and intermediate-scale manufacturing and packaging activities in pharmaceutical product development for clinical trial purposes
• developing new methods of safe nuclear energy production, including projects such as conceptual design, simulation and construction of test rigs, and detailed design and operations support.

Salary

• According to a recent salary survey by the Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE), new graduates earn a median salary of around £28,600.
• The median salary for chemical engineers under 25 in the early stage of their careers is about £30,000, rising to a median salary of £54,000 for more experienced engineers.
• Salaries for chartered chemical engineers can be significantly higher. For example, the median salary for chartered engineers with a bachelor's degree is around £78,500. Work in certain industries, for example the finance, insurance and risk sector, or oil and contracting, can attract higher salaries.

Salaries vary according to a range of factors, such as your location - salaries for those working in London and the South East are typically higher than elsewhere. Other factors influencing salary levels include the sector you work in, the size and the nature of the industry, and whether you have chartered status.