Introduction to the Department of Chemical Engineering

The Department of Chemical Engineering of Nanchang University (the Department) was established in 1958 at Jiangxi College of Technology, the predecessor of Nanchang University. Initially, there were only two majors—Basic Inorganic Chemical Engineering and Basic Organic Chemical Engineering. Thanks to the great development of the discipline over the time, the Department has four majors now: Chemical Engineering and Technology, Environmental Engineering, Food Engineering, and Pharmaceutical Engineering.

Two National First-Class Undergraduate Majors of the Department—Chemical Engineering and Technology, and Pharmaceutical Engineering—have received the National Engineering Education Certification. “Chemical Engineering and Technology” of the Department is one of the high-level key disciplines in Jiangxi Province, with 1 First-level Discipline Doctoral Program and a postdoctoral mobile station. The Department also offers engineering master’s programs and non-academic postgraduate education in Materials and Chemical Engineering, and Biological and Pharmaceutical Engineering. Depending on the resources, ecology, and industrial advantages of the Province, the Department aims at supporting the economic development of Jiangxi. As a high-level talent training base for chemical engineering in Jiangxi Province, the Department has cultivated a large number of scientific researchers and technical personnel, such as Academician Qiu Dingfan and Academician Xie Mingyong, in the fields of chemical engineering & technology, biopharmaceuticals, new materials, new energy, resource development, and waste treatment.

There are 33 full-time faculty members in the Department, including 11 professors and 11 associate professors. 25 of them have doctoral degree and 8 of them have master’s degree. The Department has 3 national-level talents including experts of the Thousand Talents Program, and 8 provincial-level talents. There are three key laboratories in the Department including Jiangxi Provincial Key Laboratory of High-value Utilization of Medicinal and Food Homologous Plant Resources, Jiangxi Provincial Experimental Teaching Demonstration Center of Chemical Engineering Principles, and Nanchang Key Laboratory of Chemical Engineering and Technology. Courses of the Department such as Chemical Engineering Thermodynamics, Process Engineering Principles, Chemical Engineering Processes, Chemical Engineering Principles, and Green Chemical Industry are provincial first-class courses.

Over the past 10 years, the Department has undertaken and completed more than 30 national scientific research projects, more than 100 provincial and ministerial scientific research projects, and more than 500 enterprises projects, with a total funding of more than 50 million yuan. More than 20 and 300 students have been awarded doctoral and master's degree, respectively. The faculties have published more than 300 SCI-indexed papers, obtained more than 30 invention patents, and won more than 10 national, provincial, and ministerial science and technology awards.

In addition, the Department has established close industry-university-research cooperation with many Jiangxi’s enterprises in the development and utilization of rare earth resources, deep processing of silicones, development and utilization of lithium resources, new energy materials, fine chemicals, biopharmaceuticals, and environmental protection, etc. Furthermore, extensive international cooperation and exchange relationship with many foreign universities has been established. Now, the Department has a certain international academic influence, and will further provide technology, talents, and platform support for the innovation, upgrading, and development of related industries and enterprises in Jiangxi Province and even the whole country.