Chemical Engineering Technology

Could you run the analyses that keep a mine, a water plant or a pharmaceutical line within specification? Cambrian College’s Chemical Engineering Technology programme is a three-year Ontario College Advanced Diploma, delivered over seven semesters with two paid co-op terms, at the Barrydowne campus in Sudbury. It trains chemical technologists who conduct advanced chemical analysis and quality assurance, run environmental monitoring programmes and calibrate laboratory and pilot-scale equipment.

The first two years are shared with Cambrian’s technician diploma. You study Chemistry I and II, Physical Chemistry, Introduction to Sampling Techniques, Quality Assurance and Quality Control and QA QC Data Analysis, then Analytical Chemistry I and II, Instrumental Analysis I and II, Organic Chemistry, Mineral Processing 1, Water Treatment 1 and Pyrochemistry, most with a matching lab course. After the first co-op term, semester six adds Inorganic Chemistry 1, Unit Operations and Calculations, Industrial Organic Chemistry and its lab, Lab and Process Automation, Applied Calculus and a Capstone Project.

Teaching happens in Cambrian’s chemistry labs, covering organic and analytical chemistry, mineral processing, water treatment and environmental sampling, with quality control and assurance woven through every year. Semester five is Co-op Work Placement and Report and semester seven is Co-op Work Placement and Report II, so you complete two paid work terms before graduating. Graduates are eligible for OACETT membership, opening the door to professional certification, and articulation agreements support university degree completion.

Graduates work as lab technologists, water and wastewater analysts or operators, researchers and chemical process control operators in mining, environmental science, forensics, pharmaceuticals, food and beverage, oil and gas and nuclear technology. The programme suits science-minded students who want technologist-level lab depth plus two terms of paid industry experience.