Chemical Engineering and Materials Science Honors Seminar
Instructor: Robert Powell, Department of Chemical Engineering & Materials Science, College of Engineering
Description: This is a new seminar that is offered to first year students in the new chemical engineering and biochemical engineering departmentally – based honors program. In Fall 2007, students will be addressing the issue of “Energy”. They will read The Prize by Daniel Yergin. This book addresses the history, economics and politics of the oil industry.
Format: Class will meet once/week for 1 hour, mostly to discuss readings. There will also be guest lectures on topics such as “Finding and Exploiting Oil as a Resource” (Milliken Chevron), “Biofuels” (McDonald, UCD), “The Future of Energy” (Ogden, UCD). Each week students will have specific reading assignments both from the book and also from topical handouts. Students will be given a series of questions after each class. They will be asked to address some of these questions in a 300 word essay / email. Typical topics will be:
“There is significant debate over the net energy benefits of ethanol produced from corn with some groups reporting that the energy required to grow, harvest and refine ethanol from corn are greater than the what the fuel can deliver to combustion engines (see for example Pimentel and Patzek, 2005 ) while other groups report that corn ethanol is energy efficient with an energy output/input ratio in the range of 1.34 to 1.67 (Shapouri et al, 2002, 2004). As a chemical or biochemical engineer you will find that you will spend a good deal of time identifying and keeping track of process inputs and outputs, so this case study is a good example of how different methodologies, approaches and assumptions can lead to different results.
Learn as much as you can about current methods for ethanol production from corn. Provide your perspectives and interpretation of the analyses and conclusions reached by Pimentel and Patzek and Shapouri et al (supplemented by any others you are able to find in the literature or on the web). How do the groups reach such different conclusions? Which analysis (if any) do you feel is more accurate and meaningful? Why? What are the factors that make this question so difficult to answer?
I am not looking for a "right or wrong" perspective but rather your evaluation of the arguments put forth and an discussion on how and why the groups arrive at different conclusions.”
“For this week, you are to provide your perspective on the claim by Bill Milliken that all or at least most of the exploration and new drilling for oil is taking place in developing countries. Choose one of the following countries: Venezuela, Kazakhstan or Iran and describe some aspect of the oil industry there. You could discuss questions like: when oil was discovered
what companies were involved in the discovery
what has happened to the oil industry in the country (nationalized, still in private hands, etc.)
what is the current political situation in the country
how has the oil affected poverty and the environment
The first of these questions can be addressed from descriptions in the book. For the other questions, you will need to do some web searches. You do not need to address all of these questions. You should have some mention of the current political situation.
Remember, I am not looking at this from a "right or wrong" perspective. I want you to take the time to reflect on these issues and develop arguments that are consistent with the facts as you find them. “ Grading: Students will be required to prepare an essay/email each week on a topic described above. The course grade will be based on the quality of their written (2/3) materials and on the frequency and quality of their participation in class discussion (1/3).
About the Instructor: Professor Powell is a Professor of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science and also a Professor of Food Science and Technology. His research interests include the fluid mechanics, rheology, food engineering. He is currently serving on the Oversight Committee for the Energy for the Future Initiative. He teaches courses on thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, introductory chemical engineering and chemical engineering laboratory.