The Institute of Process Engineering (IPE), Chinese Academy of Sciences, formerly the Institute of Chemical Metallurgy, was founded in 1958 with the approval of the State Council, to implement the original proposition of the late Director Chupei Yap(1902-1971), a CAS Member, of the intensification of metallurgical processes by applying the principles of chemical engineering. This became the direction of the institute throughout the 1950's and 1960's.

    In the 1970's, under the guidance of CAS members, Mooson Kwauk and Jiayong Chen, the institute began to extend its R&D into the areas of resource engineering, environmental protection, energy supplies, biochemical technology, materials technology, and computer applications. Most of research activities were carried out in the early 1990's under the designation of engineering chemistry. All these gradually led to the present R&D structure of process engineering.

    Through the unremitting efforts of several generations, the institute has established its own unique features of studying the physical/chemical processes involving motion transport and reactions of materials with one another. Multi-phase reaction engineering and separation science and technology soon became its fundamentals, but most of the activities at IPE were highly interdisciplinary with respect to science and technology. Due to this broadened horizon for the input of problems and the output of R&D results, the original ICM was renamed the Institute of Process Engineering, which was officially approved on April 7, 2001, by both the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese government.

    The institute of Process Engineering comprises the State Key Laboratory of Biochemical Engineering, the Multi-Phase Reaction Engineering Laboratory of CAS, Laboratory of Separation Science and Engineering, the National Engineering Research Center for Biotechnology (Beijing) and the Process Engineering Technology Company.

    In the past some 40 years, the Institute has accumulated more than 500 R&D achievements, and have received more than 140 scientific research awards at the international, national and CAS levels, including 3 international prizes, 2 first-grade and 3 second-grade prizes of National Scientific and Technological Progress, and 3 second-grade prizes of National Scientific and Technological Progress, and 3 second-grade prizes of National Natural Science. IPE is one of the earliest institutions approved by the State Council to grant the doctor/master degrees. In 2000, its doctoral program was upgraded by the State Council to the first-class specialty of Chemical Engineering and Technology. The renewed program includes chemical engineering, chemical process, biochemical engineering, applied chemistry, and industrial catalysis.

    At present, the institute has 290 researchers, including 3 CAS Members, 1 CAE Member, 34 doctor supervisors and 36 master supervisors. In addition, 230 postgraduates are enrolled at the Institute. Many leading scientists of the institute hold academic positions in domestic and international institutions. The institute sponsors three journals: The Chinese Journal of Process Engineering, Computers and Applied Chemistry, and The Chinese Journal of Spectroscopy Laboratory. The Chinese Society of Particuology is located in the institute.

    Process engineering is a common discipline serving all process industries. It mainly investigates motion, transfer, and reaction of substances in physical chemical and biological conversion processes. Its main tasks involve the establishment of high-efficiency and clean technologies, processes and equipment, for solving key problems in the transition of experimental results to industrialization. Aimed at the fields of biochemical industry, resources, environment, energy and materials etc., the institute will intensify its capability of technology innovation, process design and engineering application so as to create research complex of process engineering and product engineering.

    Particularly, the institute is devoted to understanding of various complex systems at different scales from molecular engineering to product and process engineering by emphasizing transdisciplinarity and following the strategy from the particular to the general, targeting general methodologies and high technologies.

    We warmly and sincerely welcome cooperation, both domestic and abroad, in order to establish a new era of science-intensified process engineering.

Director Emeritus: Musun Guo (Mooson Kwauk), Professor, CAS Member
Director: Huizhou Liu, Professor