August 30: Presentation and discussion of individual and team concept maps for "global climate change," student responses to assigned reading materials on problem-based learning and technological problem solving
September 2: Student presentation and discussion of individual and team concept maps for solving Problem 1; assess the team concept map
September 3: Student presentation and discussion of individual and team concept maps for solving Problem 2; assess the team concept map
September 8: Student presentation and discussion of individual and team road maps for solving Problem 2; assess the team road map
September 9 (in 220 Willard): Student presentation and discussion of individual and team road maps for solving Problem 1; assess the team road map
September 22 (in 220 Willard): Presentation of a critical literature review and reassessment of the proposed concept and road maps for Problem 1; finalize the team concept and road maps.
September 23: Presentation of a critical literature review and reassessment of the proposed concept and road maps for Problem 2; finalize the team concept and road maps.
September 29: Student presentation and discussion of the links between the two problems and a plan for collaborative work between the two teams.
October 4: Submission of the literature survey and submission and presentation of progress report and a comprehensive plan for future work (Problems 1&2)
October 18: Presentation of progress for Problem 2
October 19: Presentation of progress for Problem 1
November 1: Presentation of progress for Problem 1- submit progress report.
November 2: Presentation of progress for Problem 2 - submit progress report.
November 15: Presentation of progress for Problem 2
November 16: Presentation of progress for Problem 1
December 1: Presentation of progress for Problem 1
December 2: Presentation of progress for Problem 2
December 10: Submission of final reports for Problem 1 and Problem 2.
December 13: Final Oral Examination -- 1:00 - 5:00 p.m.
1) Grade for team work (50%)
2) Individual final presentation
and exam on the whole problem at the end of the semester (25%)
3) Peer evaluation - confidential
grades from your team members (25%)
1) The grade for team work
will be determined according to the following distribution:
Critical and creative thinking, problem solving skills, clarity and integrity of reports and presentations will be considered in assigning these grades.
2) Final
Presentation/Exam (individual)
Each team will work on the assigned problem following the timetable given in the course outline. You will work as a team throughout the semester and will submit all your reports and make your presentations as a team in addition to individual presentations, as outlined in the course assignments.
Problem 1 - S. Eser
In the U.S., transportation sector accounts for the largest share of petroleum use with significant environmental impact. Cars and light trucks consume more than 60% of petroleum used in the country. Air emissions throughout the entire life cycle of petroleum fuels - from crude oil refining to combustion - pertain to many environmental issues, including tropospheric air quality, stratospheric ozone depletion, and global climate change threat. To scale back the anthropogenic impact on the environment, government regulation and/or market forces can dictate drastic changes in fossil fuel use in the coming decades of the new millennium. Short-term technological options in the U.S. transportation sector range from significant efficiency improvements in petroleum fuel cycle to using renewable fuels in internal combustion engines. You are assigned to make a scientific assessment of these options with preliminary economic analysis to provide a sound basis for instituting change in the U.S. transportation sector. You are free to study any "reasonable" scenario and compare it to the current petroleum fuel use regarding the energy conversion efficiency and air emissions (including carbon dioxide) throughout the whole fuel cycle.
One scenario you may want to consider is the replacement of all spark
ignition automobile engines in the U.S. by compression ignition engines,
using the best available technology. You must make a detailed mass
and energy balances and thermodynamic analysis of this transformation,
including petroleum refining processes, and combustion engine
operation. Consider all air emissions and the corresponding
EPA
regulations, particularly the 1990 CAAA (e.g., reformulated gasoline,
and the recently proposed phasing out of MTBE, etc.). It might
be useful to pick one refinery, e.g., Marcus Hook, and two commercial combustion
engines - one gasoline and one diesel with comparable power output - as
specific examples to extrapolate your results to the whole U.S. refining
and transportation system. Your analysis must take into consideration
the actual performance of the two engines under the driving conditions
that prevail in the U.S. It is important to discuss necessary changes
in refinery processes and the impact of these changes on other refinery
products, in particular, the aromatic compounds used as petrochemical
feedstocks. Clearly state all your assumptions.
Problem 2- C. Song
Specific Problem:
Production of 1-Ring and Two-Ring Aromatic Chemicals from Refinery Streams
Team Approach:
A team of graduate students will work together to solve this real-world problem. They are expected to gain important experience in critical problem analysis, critical literature review, creative thinking, and inter-dependent team work.
Problem Description:
The hydrocarbon streams can be used as fuels and chemical feedstocks.
Petroleum refineries and petrochemicals manufacturers would
like to maximize the value of overall product slate that meet
the market demand and environmental regulations.
A petrochemical company in Eastern US is a part of a large oil corporation that has various refinery streams, and would like to enhance their market share by producing value-added organic chemicals. As a new Fuel Science graduate, you have joined this petrochemical company and you have been put in charge of a special project established for finding out the best ways to utilize the refinery streams that are available within the company to make one-ring aromatic chemicals, and two-ring aromatic chemicals. You need to explore the most promising directions and prove the technical feasibility for the best possible ways for this company to develop commercial grade chemicals that can be produced in an economically desirable fashion.
The company has distillation tower, steam cracker, catalytic cracker, and catalytic reformer units, hydrocracker, and the main products from this company so far include gasoline, jet fuel and diesel fuel as well as some petrochemicals such as ethylene and propylene.
You are expected by the company management to make the conceptual design, in about 3 months, of several realistic processes to best utilize the refinery streams from these units for the economical production of value-added one-ring aromatic chemicals and two-ring aromatic chemicals as marketable products. This problem concerns petrochemicals from fuel refinery streams and involves some aspects of heterogeneous catalysis, petroleum refining, instrumental analysis, separation, thermodynamics, kinetics, and environmental issues.
You are advised to begin with a thorough literature review and
to critically analyze the technical information on the molecular compositional
features of refinery streams, to evaluate the availability and quantitative
aspects of certain refinery streams that are suitable for specific aromatic
chemicals, to quantitatively assess the market demand and supply of one-ring
and two-ring aromatic chemicals, to think of best ways to make use of them
with basic processing economics, and to recommend specific processes for
their production.
Collaboration through Concept Maps
If you need help call Kitty.
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