We are interested in module proposals that apply new energy technology such as in the following example areas:
Material and Energy Balances – A module will be developed that performs basic material and energy balances on the multiple unit operations involved in an integrated gasification combined cycle coal facility. Solution methods will include a paper-based solution, matrix methods using POLYMATH and/or MATLAB, and process simulation software.
Fluid Mechanics – A module will be developed that investigates the flow of wind over a blade on a wind turbine and demonstrates calculations of the forces that would turn the blade and produce electricity. At a more advanced level, this module may illustrate calculations of simple correlations to calculate energy that can be extracted from the wind.
Kinetics and Reaction Engineering – A module will be developed that performs a kinetic analysis on biofuel production via an enzymatic route. The resulting kinetics will be used to design a bioreactor to be used in a distributed fuel network.
Process Control – A module will be developed to perform an analysis of a microgrid for massive electric storage. The inputs are distributed sources such as wind turbines or solar panels, which are integrated with a battery network. The microgrid will supply energy at a variable electricity demand from a small chemical plant.
Heat Transfer – A module will be developed to use finite element modeling software to design a solar thermal heating unit. The unit will be coupled to a thermal load used for home heating.
Thermodynamics – A module will be developed to perform an analysis on high temperature water splitting for hydrogen production using a sulfur-iodine or similar thermochemical cycle powered by nuclear energy.
Thermodynamics – A module will be developed to analyze solar photovoltaic electricity production using crystalline silicon solar cells and estimate their overall efficiency.
Thermodynamics – A module will be developed to study a closed-cycle ocean thermal energy conversion or similar system. In this system thermal energy from warm ocean surface water is used to boil a working fluid (such as ammonia) which produces electricity when passed through a turbine.