Chemical Engineering Technician

Have you ever wondered who tests the medicines, fuels and plastics we use every day before they reach the shelf? Cambrian College’s Chemical Engineering Technician programme is a four-semester Ontario College Diploma, completed in two years at the Barrydowne campus in Sudbury, Canada’s mining capital. You learn to help develop and test chemical products using the same tools and equipment found in working labs and chemical plants.

Semester one starts with Chemistry I and Chemistry I Lab, Introduction to Sampling Techniques, Occupational Health and Safety, Quality Assurance and Quality Control, Algebra I and College Communications. In semester two you add Physical Chemistry and Chemistry II with their labs, QA QC Data Analysis, Algebra II and Technical Communication. The second year moves into analysis and industry: Analytical Chemistry I and Instrumental Analysis I, each with a lab, sit beside Water Treatment 1 and Mineral Processing 1 in semester three, and semester four brings Organic Chemistry, Analytical Chemistry II, Instrumental Analysis II and Pyrochemistry, again paired with lab courses.

Cambrian describes this as the only programme in Ontario that offers hands-on training in mineral processing, pyrometallurgy and water and wastewater treatment, skills in demand in the environmental and mining industries around Sudbury. Quality control practices are built into every part of the Chemical Engineering Technician curriculum, so the lab work in each chemistry course follows the checks that commercial labs expect. Graduates can apply to enter semester five of Cambrian’s Chemical Engineering Technology (CHLP) advanced diploma and finish it in one more year, although entry is competitive.

Graduates work as laboratory technicians, quality control technicians, assay technicians, environmental sampling technicians and water treatment lab assistants in mining, pharmaceuticals, environmental science and manufacturing. The diploma suits students who enjoyed Grade 12 chemistry and maths and want practical lab work in Sudbury’s resource sector, with the option of stepping up to the technologist diploma later.