3.0

Average Course Rating

This course is a group design project (i.e. not a lecture course) to use chemical process simulation tools to model a real-world, alternative-energy process of interest to Chemical and Biomolecular Engineers. The goal of the project will be to develop a process model that is sufficiently complete and robust that it can be used to understand the important factors in the process design and/or operation. This design project is focused on the role alternative energy will play in our country’s future. About a third of the course will be devoted to understanding the role of energy and alternative energy in the US and world economies. The remainder of the course will be devoted to a technical and economic analysis of an alternative energy technology. This course is organized to replicate group project work as it is practiced in industry. The class is divided into groups (typically 3 or 4 students) and each group will meet separately each week with the instructor. Hence, there is no regularly scheduled class times; student groups sign up for weekly meeting times using Starfish in Blackboard. These meetings typically will be 60 minutes long. The expectations and assignments for this course are quite different from most other courses. There are no weekly lectures by the instructor. Rather, each week each group will make a PowerPoint presentation on the week's topic or their progress on their project. Graduate level. Meets with EN.540.401