Complex systems with multi-scale structures are widely encountered in chemical engineering. As a critical link between elemental interactions and system behavior，meso-scale structures are important for the quantification and optimization of the relevant processes. Meso-scale structures also present a common feature in different research areas such as chemistry，material，biology，physics and system science，which calls for an interdisciplinary research effort. This paper tries to elucidate the significance，challenges and methods of meso-scale simulation for chemical engineering in the background of multi-scale research.