Renewable Energies II

Code:

EQ0103

Acronym:

ENR II

Keywords
Classification	Keyword
OFICIAL	Technological Sciences (Project)

Instance: 2012/2013 - 2S

Active?	Yes
Responsible unit:	Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering
Course/CS Responsible:	Master in Chemical Engineering

Cycles of Study/Courses

Acronym	No. of Students	Study Plan	Curricular Years	Credits UCN	Credits ECTS	Contact hours	Total Time
MIEQ	36	Syllabus	4	-	6	56	162

Teaching language

Suitable for English-speaking students

Objectives

OBJECTIVES • Promoting the development and internalization of methodical procedures for organizing information. • Increasing the performance on writing and oral communication, and on team work, appealing namely, to negotiation and resolution of conflicts. • Stimulating innovation, intervention and opening mind to change. • Promoting procedures that simultaneously consider economical, environmental, social and ethical factors, for the resolution of problems with different levels of complexity. • Providing information for guarantying environmental quality, through its management based on the sustainable development concept.

Learning outcomes and competences

SKILLS Personal and professional: • Demonstration of perseverance, flexibility, creativity, initiative, critical thinking and capacity to face risks; • Identification of the objectives of the projects to be developed; • Collection of information needed for the development of projects with autonomy, interpreting the collected information according to the actual knowledge; • Utilization of engineering advanced knowledge associated with holistic approaches, aiming to define systems and to interact in them, to identify the central and priority questions, and to find equilibrated solutions. Interpersonal: • Team work with good performance on written and oral communication, in multicultural and multidisciplinary environments; • Communication in foreign languages, valuing the English. Technical: • Conception, project, implementation and development of works such as: i) analysis of real cases for the selection of the best options for bioenergy production, justifying those options; ii) operation of complex systems for the co-production of bioenergy and added value products; • Utilization of Portuguese and European legislation, international agreements, control mechanisms and incentives, concerning bioenergy production and use; • Application of the concept of sustainability and renewal of energetic resources; • Application of the mechanisms and systems for the rationalization of energy utilization; • Identification of future trends and strategies for research and development on biofuel production from biomass.

LEARNING OUTCOMES Students approved will be able to develop their professional activity in bioenergetic systems, acquiring knowledge for: • Understanding fundamental knowledge concerning renewable energies; • Recognizing the biomass role on the sustainability and on the future management of energetic resources; • Identifying the physical-chemistry characteristics of different types of biomass, evaluating their availability and potential for energy production; • Identifying and describing the processes used, for biomass conversion in different kind of energy, integrating those processes in the different generations of production; • Previewing and evaluating the costs of biomass and respective processing for bioenergy production; • Knowing the parameters for the quality control of biofuels; • Evaluating the relevance of using wastes as raw materials for biofuel production; • Identifying and interpreting the relationship between energy, environment and economy, evaluating environmental impacts associated with bioenergy production; • Having opinion about the controversy bioenergy/food in the competition for the use of arable land; • Applying the concept of biorefinery for the co-production of bioenergy and added value products.

Working method

Presencial

Program

Sustainable energy the engine of sustainable development Eenergy production and consumption; energy supply and utilization; resources of fóssil fuels and prevision of their evolution; environmental impacts of energy; energetic prosperity versus environmental protection; biomass overview. Characterization of biomass resources Biomass definition; renewability indices and biomass resources. Biomass relevance for energy production Utilization options; advantages and desadvantages; fóssil fuel substitution for reducing greenhouse gas emissions; controversy bioenergy/food in the competition for the use of arable land; different generations of biofuel production. Chemical and physical properties relevant to energy production Thermal conversion of biomass Biomass to electricity; biomass to fuels. Bioconversion of biomass Biogas production; bioethanol production; biodiesel production (production technologies, quality control, the determinant role of raw material). Challenges and future perspectives Alternative raw materials, development of production technologies, the biorefinery concept, environmental protection.

Mandatory literature

Tester, Jefferson W. 340; Sustainable energy. ISBN: 0-262-20153-4
Petrou, E. C.; Pappis, C. P.; Biofuels: A Survey on Pros and Cons, Energy & Fuels, 23, 1055–1066, 2009
Gressel, J. ; Transgenics are Imperative for Biodiesel Crops, Plant Science, 174, 246-263. , 2008
Rittmann, B. E.; Opportunities for Renewable Bioenergy Using Microorganisms, Biotechnology and Bioengineering, 100, 203-211, 2008

Complementary Bibliography

ed. by Alain A. Vertès [et al.]; Biomass to biofuels. ISBN: 978-0-470-51312-5
John Tabak; Biofuels. ISBN: 978-0-8160-7082-4
McGowan, Thomas F. 1950- 340; Biomass and alternate fuel systems. ISBN: 978-0-470-41028-8
European Environmental Agency ; How Much Bioenergy can Europe Produce Without Harming the Environment?, European Environmental Agency Report No 7, Luxembourg, 2006
Coutinho, J. A. P. ; Comida ou Combustível? (É Esta uma Questão?), Engenharia Química, 8, 4-6, 2008
Parente, E. J. S. ; Biodiesel & Alimentos , Tecbio, Fortaleza, 2008
Yazdani, S. S.; Gonzalez, R.; Anaerobic Fermentation of Glycerol: a Path to Economic Viability for Biofuels Industry, Current Opinion in Biotechnology, 18, 213-219, 2007
Alvim-Ferraz, M. C. M. ; Alterações Climáticas, Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto, Porto, 2009
Alvim-Ferraz, M. C. M. ; Reciclagem de Resíduos para Produção de Biodiesel , Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto, Porto, 2009
ed. by Ashok Pandey; Handbook of plant-based biofuels. ISBN: 978-1-56022-175-3

Teaching methods and learning activities

Presentation of the subjects that compose the program during contact hours, using the support of audiovisual media (transparent sheets, slides, photos, videos, and information available in internet); that presentation is oriented to be interactive, stimulating as far as possible discussion involving students, to increase the performance in oral communication; the presences will be registered. Tutorial orientation of project works made in group, in the form of case-studies related with the subjects that compose the program; special emphasis is done to the application of knowledge to problems under Regional and National scale, considering their European and World framework. Field-work embodied in the realization of study trips, to visit production units that materialize the subjects that compose the program.

keywords

Technological sciences

Evaluation Type

Distributed evaluation with final exam

Assessment Components

Description	Type	Time (hours)	Weight (%)	End date
one oral presentation	Prova oral		15,00
two laboratorial sessions	Trabalho laboratorial		25,00
exam	Exame		60,00
	Total:	-	100,00

Amount of time allocated to each course unit

Description	Type	Time (hours)	End date
attending classes	Frequência das aulas
	Total:	0,00

Eligibility for exams

Not missing classes more than the limit: 25% of the previewed number of classes.

Calculation formula of final grade

Mark of Distributed Evaluation (MDE) MDE= 0,1xMPCH+0,4xMPW+0,1xMRST+0,4x[(MWT1+MWT2)/2] MPCH: Mark of Participation in Contact Hours; MPW: Mark of Project Works; MRST: Mark of the Reports of Study Trips; MWT1, MWT2: Mark of Written Tests. To be approved through distributed evaluation the students must obey the following criteria: i) Not missing classes more than the limit: 25% of the previewed number of classes. ii) Minimum mark of 6 (in 20) in each written test; iii) Minimum mark of distributed evaluation equal to 10 (in 20). The final mark of students approved through distributed evaluation is equal to MDE. The students not approved through distributed evaluation, can make a recourse examination which mark substitutes MDE.

Examinations or Special Assignments

Not applicable.

Special assessment (TE, DA, ...)

According to general norms at FEUP.

Classification improvement

Realization of one global exam.