ChemE 341 - Energy and Environment I

Course Description

Credits: 3.  Energy use. Fossil energy conversion. Oil, gas, coal resources. Air impacts. Nuclear energy principles, reactors, fuel cycle. Offered: jointly with ENVIR 341/ME 341; A.

Designation

Prerequisites

Either MATH 112, MATH 124, or Q SCI 291; either CHEM 120, CHEM 142, PHYS 114, or PHYS 121.

Textbook

Web lecture notes by Philip C. Malte: https://courses.washington.edu/enenv341

Energy: Its Use and the Environment, R.A. Hinrichs and M. Kleinbach, Harcourt College Publishers, ISBN-0-03-031834-3.

Course Objectives

1. Understand current energy use patterns and trends in the USA and for the world.  Understand the environmental impacts of energy conversion and its impact on global climate change.
2. List the main types of fossil and nuclear energy conversion systems, and state their pros and cons with respect to environmental impact and energy efficiency.
3. Understand the overall features of the main types of the fossil and nuclear energy conversion systems.
4. Understand the principles of fossil and nuclear energy conversion. Demonstrate an understanding of the law of energy conservation.
5. Understand the concept of the heat engine and the first law efficiency, and how to apply the Carnot efficiency for estimating heat engine efficiency.
6. Demonstrate an ability to perform “back of the envelope” calculations of the performance of energy conversion systems.
7. List the main fossil energy resources, and demonstrate an understanding of resource availability and how cost of extraction affects availability.
8. Demonstrate an ability to think forward and to reasonably estimate trends in energy use and technology changes, over the next 10 to 50 years.

• Fundamentals
  • Energy and power units.
  • Conservation of energy.
  • Energy efficiency.
  • Heat engine and Carnot efficiency.
• Practice
  • Energy use patterns and trends for the US and the world – past, present, and future.
  • Fossil energy conversion systems, including steam cycle, combined cycle combustion turbine, automotive engine, and diesel engine.
  • Estimates of the oil, gas, and coal resources of the planet.  Biofuel resource also discussed.
  • Environmental impact of fossil energy conversion, including air pollution, acid rain, and global climate change.  Solutions for cleaner energy conversion.
  • Use of nuclear fission reactors for electricity generation in the US and world.  Principles of nuclear fission, and types of fission reactors and their safety.  Nuclear fuel cycle, and the fate of the spent fuel.
  • Introduction to nuclear fusion.

Three 1-hr lectures each week, including laboratory demonstrations from time-to-time. Autumn quarter.

Engineering

(a) an ability to apply knowledge of mathematics, science, and engineering
(e) an ability to identify, formulate, and solve engineering problems