Biomass Energy Engineering
 
This course is tentatively scheduled for offering the spring semester of 2008.  Though it is still under development, the focus of the course will be on the major processes used in the conversion of biomass materials into useful fuels for the production of energy.  These biomass materials include agricultural byproducts including farm and animal waste, or specific crops which can be converted to natural gas, ethanol or biodiesel.  Other technologies evaluated will include municipal solid waste facilities for the production of methane gas, and wood byproducts such as sawdust and wood chips from lumber mills.  Numerous other biomass processes will also be studied.  Whenever possible, demonstrations and examples will be carried out in the Alternative Energy lab.
A major question often raised about these biomass energy sources is if they are a net generator of energy or do they take more energy to produce them than what they provide to the end user.  These are important issues which will also be studied in this class.