You and the article are both right. Chemical engineering does rely on that knowledge, but plenty of it is done via experimentation. Process controls are largely developed through a lot of experimentation and data collection to understand how a process responds to various inputs.
There was a great comment elsewhere about how engineering is about dealing with the unknowns and noise of the real world, which is why engineering requires empirical evidence to further refine or create those models. Engineers may use models to calculate estimates but it all needs to be backed up by data.
There was a great comment elsewhere about how engineering is about dealing with the unknowns and noise of the real world, which is why engineering requires empirical evidence to further refine or create those models. Engineers may use models to calculate estimates but it all needs to be backed up by data.