ScienceAsia 33 Supplement 1 (2007): 051-055 |doi: 10.2306/scienceasia1513-1874.2007.33(s1).051

From Chemical Engineering through Powder Technology to Nanoparticle Technology: Our Personal Experiences

Wiwut Tanthapanichakoon^a* and Tawatchai Charinpanitkul^b

 
ABSTRACT: Chemical Engineering (ChE) was born out of the necessity to serve the chemical process industries. A convergence of two fundamental disciplines, chemistry and mechanical engineering, ChE has contributed tremendously to the rapid global growth of the chemical, petroleum and petrochemical process industries. Recently ChE has diversified into newly emerging fields such as Nanotechnology (NT) and Biomedical Engineering. Similarly, powder/particle technology (PT) offers very useful multi-disciplinary expertise, which has made distinctive contributions to the high-tech industries, thereby providing effective production of particulate materials, that are essential building blocks of countless products used in downstream industries and in our daily life. A logical extension of PT, nanoparticles and to a certain extent Nanotechnology have successfully aroused researchers in diverse fields to collaborate and share their advanced knowledge, experiences and facilities with the ultimate goal of bettering the living standards of our people and the prosperity of mankind. The present article summarizes the personal experiences of the authors in the development of ChE, PT and NT in Thailand, including some of their academic and technical contributions, as well as words of advice.

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^a National Nanotechnology Center (NANOTEC), National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA), Thailand Science Park, Pathumtani 12120, Thailand.
^b Center of Excellence in Particle Technology (CEPT), Faculty of Engineering, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330, Thailand.

* Corresponding author, E-mail: wiwut@nanotec.or.th