The Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE) is seeking evidence from industry, practising engineers, universities and policymakers about how chemical engineering should respond to changes in technology, resources and manufacturing. Its presidential inquiry opened on 29 September 2026, and the deadline for written contributions is 27 November. The continuing call for evidence, rather than a new inquiry launch, is the immediate opportunity for the profession to participate.
Engineering Tomorrow: The Five Forces Shaping Chemical Engineering was launched by IChemE president Dr Ollie Folayan at the Chemeca 2026 conference in Melbourne. The institution expects to publish its findings and recommendations in May 2027, following consultation, interviews, workshops and international case studies. Participants can provide examples of working engineering systems as well as evidence about projects that have struggled to move beyond initial development.
The five forces identified in the official inquiry are artificial intelligence and machine learning; decarbonisation, climate adaptation and resilience; the materials revolution and circular economy; bio-integration; and modular manufacturing. Although each describes a distinct field of change, the inquiry is concerned with the decisions required when several forces act on the same industrial process.
Industrial AI offers one example. Process operators already use sensors, distributed control systems and mathematical models to manage temperature, pressure, flow and product quality. Machine learning may help identify developing equipment problems or relationships that are difficult to capture through conventional models, but its usefulness depends on the quality of plant data and how recommendations are evaluated against operating limits.
A model trained on historical operating conditions may respond poorly when a factory changes feedstock, equipment configuration or production rate. Decisions affecting process safety must consequently remain within suitable engineering controls, and the behaviour of an AI application needs to be tested under conditions relevant to the process in which it will operate. Software performance alone does not establish that a physical installation is safe.
Energy availability is another constraint on industrial change. Electrifying an established thermal process can reduce direct combustion at the factory, provided an appropriate electrically powered technology can deliver the required temperature and heat transfer. Its economics depend on the price and availability of electricity, the pattern of production, capital costs and whether the plant can accommodate interruptions or changes in energy supply.
Manufacturers also need to assess the resilience of their processes as water availability, ambient temperatures and extreme weather conditions change. Cooling systems, waste treatment, materials handling and site utilities may have been specified against historical environmental conditions that no longer represent the full range of future operating circumstances.
Decarbonisation and climate adaptation therefore cannot be assessed solely through the carbon intensity of the energy supply. Equipment modifications may change water demand, electricity requirements or the handling of process by-products, creating interactions that must be tested at the level of the complete site.
Materials recovery presents comparable trade-offs. A recycling technology may demonstrate that valuable constituents can be separated from discarded products, yet commercial operation requires a reliable incoming material stream and a saleable product meeting defined specifications. Contamination, separation efficiency, energy use and the treatment of unrecovered material all influence the viability of the process.
Process engineers can use mass and energy balances to establish where resources enter and leave a production system. Those balances provide a means of comparing alternatives, but useful industrial assessments also require information on material variability, equipment reliability and how the plant performs outside ideal conditions.
The inquiry’s bio-integration theme addresses the growing convergence between chemical engineering, biotechnology and engineering biology. Biological production systems can offer different routes to chemicals, materials or other products, while introducing requirements for contamination control, feedstock consistency and careful management of biological activity.
In a fermentation process, performance at laboratory scale does not necessarily carry over to a production vessel with different mixing, heat transfer and oxygen delivery. Scaling up may alter the environment experienced by the organisms, changing yield or product quality unless the equipment and control strategy are adapted accordingly.
Modular manufacturing, the fifth force, similarly connects engineering design with practical deployment. Standardised process packages may reduce repeated design work and shift fabrication towards controlled factory environments, but every installation still requires appropriate connections to utilities, control equipment and protective systems.
Standard modules also have to accommodate differences in raw materials, production duties and local regulatory requirements. A repeatable equipment design can shorten part of an implementation programme without eliminating the technical work needed to prove that the integrated process meets its operating specification.
These developments place additional demands on professional skills. Digital methods are becoming more important, but they depend on the underlying disciplines of thermodynamics, reaction engineering, fluid mechanics, materials behaviour and process safety. Employers and educational institutions must decide how to teach new methods without weakening the competence needed to understand the physical consequences of engineering decisions.
IChemE is asking contributors to identify barriers to adoption, including the difficulty of moving from research into industrial use. Capital investment, access to specialist personnel, uncertain customer demand and the work required for qualification can all affect whether a promising technology reaches routine production.
The inquiry also seeks views on the profession’s role in communicating engineering decisions and maintaining public trust. Industrial changes involving energy, water, materials or biological systems may have consequences beyond a single factory, and technical evidence needs to be explained without treating assumptions or future targets as established results.
Dr Folayan has described the present environment as an age of tension between increasing technical capability and constraints on the resources required to use it. That framing is reflected in the inquiry’s intention to examine the relationship between the five forces rather than prepare isolated predictions for each technology.
The current investigation follows an earlier IChemE presidential inquiry into chemical engineering research, chaired by Professor Raffaella Ocone. Whereas that work considered the research base, the new exercise examines how the profession should develop and apply its capabilities in future industrial and societal conditions.
The ten questions in the open call cover changes already occurring, future developments, barriers, skills, climate resilience, implementation and the profession’s priorities. IChemE invites contributions from employers, engineers, students, entrepreneurs, researchers and policymakers, including examples that challenge assumptions about the likely direction of technology.
Written evidence can be submitted through the institution’s inquiry information page. The closing time is 23:59 on Friday 27 November 2026; IChemE then plans further evidence gathering between January and March 2027 before publication of the final report in early May.
