About the Faculty of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering
The Faculty of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering at Sharif University of Technology was established in 1966 under the name of the Faculty of Chemical Engineering. In 2000, it was renamed the Faculty of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering to carry out scientific and research activities in the upstream sector of petroleum engineering.
History of the faculty
Throughout its more than 50 years of activity, the Faculty of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering at Sharif University of Technology has been able to achieve a prominent position both nationally and internationally. In the latest GRAS ranking (2022), the Chemical Engineering discipline of Sharif University of Technology is ranked in the 200-300 range globally, and in the latest QS ranking (2021), the Petroleum Engineering discipline of Sharif University of Technology is ranked first in Iran and seventeenth globally among 75 eligible universities.
The presence of elite and experienced human resources has been one of the most important reasons for the remarkable progress of this faculty over the years. The Faculty of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering recruits faculty members from among the top scientific elites every year. Students of the faculty are selected from among the top performers in the national entrance exam and student Olympiads and enter this field. Currently, the faculty accepts students at all levels of education, including bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees in Chemical and Petroleum Engineering
Chemical engineering is a branch of engineering concerned with the design and operation of industrial units related to the production of chemical materials. Chemical engineers utilize their knowledge in various basic sciences such as physics, chemistry, mathematics, biology, and economics to design and optimize units for chemical material production. Particularly, with their comprehensive knowledge in transport phenomena, thermodynamics, kinetics, and computational methods, chemical engineers engage in the optimal design of industrial units and oversee their operations. Chemical engineering is an interdisciplinary science, and graduates of this field, after graduation without specialization, can work in active industrial units in areas such as petrochemicals, chemical and mining industries, food industries, environment, polymers, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, electronics, aerospace, and automotive industries.
The oil industry is one of the most important industries in the world and our country, Iran. This industry is divided into upstream, midstream, and downstream sectors. Petroleum engineering encompasses all activities related to oil production and exploration as one of the upstream industries in the energy sector. Upstream oil industries face challenges in dealing with underground hydrocarbon reservoirs and optimizing their exploration and production. The foundation of petroleum engineering lies in various fields of knowledge such as earth sciences, reservoir characterization and evaluation, drilling, production, transport phenomena, thermodynamics, mathematical modeling, and computational methods for fluid flow in porous media. Graduates of this field from Sharif University of Technology, without specialization, will be able to work in reservoir engineering, exploration, drilling, processing, production, and operation sectors. This program provides graduates with the necessary technical and engineering skills for planning and implementing engineering techniques, considering economic and managerial perspectives in field development, enabling intelligent and optimal management and exploitation of the country's oil and gas resources. Graduates of this field will also have the ability to work in interdisciplinary fields and other applications of porous media.
Chemical engineering and petroleum engineering are unique among other engineering disciplines because chemical and petroleum engineers, in addition to physics and mathematics, require a precise understanding of chemistry. This fact has led to the separation of these branches of engineering from other disciplines. Furthermore, as chemical and petroleum industries become larger and more complex, the work of chemical and petroleum engineers requires a stronger and deeper scientific and empirical foundation.
Currently, research groups in petroleum engineering are engaged in areas such as reservoirs engineering, drilling engineering, production engineering, and research groups in chemical engineering are focused on biotechnology, polymer, thermokinetics and catalysis, environmental engineering, transport phenomena, separation processes, process design, control, and biomedical engineering. At present, the faculty has 6 instructional laboratories and 41 active research laboratories. Graduates of this faculty have the opportunity to continue their activities in various industrial and academic fields inside and outside the country after graduation. The aim of this faculty is to train specialized and experienced workforce to meet the scientific and industrial needs of the country and collaborate with knowledge-based companies to industrialize the results of university research.