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New frontiers of quantum computing in chemical engineering

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Abstract

Quantum computing (QC) has the potential to strongly impact various sectors like finance, healthcare, communication, and technology by driving innovation across optimization and machine learning. Applications of QC in chemical, pharmaceutical, and biomolecular industries are also predicted to grow rapidly in the near future. Advancements in quantum hardware and algorithms have helped accelerate the widespread adoption of QC. Yet, despite the progress, several research gaps and challenges need to be addressed before leveraging QC for chemical engineering applications. Quantum computers offer higher computational power due to the exploitation of their quantum mechanical properties. However, not all computationally intractable problems can benefit from QC’s computational abilities. Achieving speedups over classical computing with quantum algorithms implemented on current quantum devices is possible for a few specific tasks. It is imperative to identify chemical engineering problems of practical relevance that may benefit from novel quantum techniques either with current quantum computers or of the future. Here, we present an introduction to basic concepts of QC while identifying the limitations of current quantum computers. A review of quantum algorithms that may benefit optimization and machine learning in chemical engineering with current quantum computers is also provided. This work also sets expectations for quantum devices of the future by exploring similar applications that may benefit from quantum algorithms implemented on such devices.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, 14853, USA

    Akshay Ajagekar & Fengqi You

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  1. Akshay Ajagekar
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  2. Fengqi You
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Correspondence to Fengqi You.

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Professor Fengqi You is currently Roxanne E. and Michael J. Zak Professor in Cornell University, Ithaca, New Yok, USA. He also serves as Chair of PhD Studies in Cornell Systems Engineering, Associate Director of Cornell Energy Systems Institute, and Associate Director of Cornell Institute for Digital Agriculture. He has published more than 200 refereed articles in journals such as Science, Nature Sustainability, Nature Communications, and Science Advances, and has an h-index of 65. He is an award-winning scholar and teacher, and has received over 15 major awards over the past five years from from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), American Chemical Society (ACS), Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE), and American Automatic Control Council (AACC) to recognize his research and educational accomplishments, in addition to a number of best paper awards. He is currently an editor of Computers & Chemical Engineering, an associate editor of AAAS journal Science Advances and of IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology, a consulting editor of AIChE Journal, and an editorial board member of ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, IEEE Quantum Computing Newsletter, PRX Energy, etc.

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Ajagekar, A., You, F. New frontiers of quantum computing in chemical engineering. Korean J. Chem. Eng. 39, 811–820 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11814-021-1027-6

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