That is incorrect.
Look at the programme of study for a chemical engineering undergraduate degree [1]. It doesn't cover anywhere near the same content as an undergraduate chemistry degree [2].
[1]: http://www.imperial.ac.uk/study/ug/courses/chemical-engineer...
[2]: https://www.imperial.ac.uk/study/ug/courses/chemistry-depart...
This turned it into a de facto 5-year degree even though they stripped most of the non-related coursework to a bare minimum; you still had two years of coursework for the engineering program after the chemistry. People that lost their appetite for chemical engineering after compressing all their chemistry into three years could switch to chemistry, which meant they spent their last year taking the filler non-technical courses that the engineers were allowed to avoid.
My classmates from Chem.E had more classes in common with us mechanical engineers than any other branch.
Thermo, fluid dynamics, CFD and heat transfer is where it is at.
The big problem with engineering isn't the specialisms, it's the name. Outsiders still think engineers are people who wear oil-covered overalls and are essentially mechanics.
Not one person in fifty understands that the job is mostly mathematical modelling of complex systems.