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IAP 2012 Activities by Sponsor

Chemical Engineering

"Fuel Your Mind" -- A Primer on Transportation Fuels, Current and Future
William H. Green (MIT Dept. of Chem. Eng.), BP Global Fuels Technology
Wed Jan 25, 09am-04:00pm, 32-124

No enrollment limit, no advance sign up

No enrollment limit, no advance sign up, lunch provided.

How is crude oil converted into gasoline and other transportation fuels? Is the gasoline available in Boston the same as what is available in Chicago? What are biofuels and what is driving the demand for these fuels of the future? Which fuel properties matter for performance?

Please join us in this short course offered by engineers from BP and Prof. Green to answer these questions, and to gain a better understanding of transportation fuels, and fuel processing technology.

Experiences so far with E85 (and CNG) illustrate some of the realities which make it very challenging to introduce alternative fuels which are not compatible with existing engines and infrastructure.

Topics to be addressed include:

1. Fuel Performance Criteria
2. Refining
3. Gasoline and Diesel
4. Biofuels, Ethanol & E85


Contact: William Green, 66-350, x3-4580, whgreen@mit.edu

"Horses and Thunder" – Meeting the Energy Needs and Oil Exploration and Production in the Deepwaters
Professor Ahmed F. Ghoniem
Thu Jan 26, 09am-04:00pm, 3-370

No enrollment limit, no advance sign up
Single session event

How will we meet our growing energy needs in the future, especially for transportation, which is heavily dependent on oil? More and more oil is discovered and produced offshore, in deeper and deeper water. How do we know where to drill and how do you actually drill for oil? What are some of the enormous engineering challenges in working at 5000’ of water and below? How do we produce it efficiently, bring it to shore safely, and then go beyond? What are some of the recent developments in science and engineering that will take us further?

This short course will focus on gaining a better understanding of exploring, drilling, and producing oil and gas in the deepwaters, including:

Energy needs & role of offshore oil
Exploration - the idea phase
Drilling - the discovery & development phase
Production - the extraction phase
Transportation - getting it to market
Recent science & engineering developments

We will look at Thunder Horse field in the Gulf of Mexico. Starting with 1999, this field has contributed > 5% of the oil produced within the US. Since then, oil has been discovered further out and effort is underway to produce from these fields.
Contact: Professor Ahmed F. Ghoniem, ghoniem@MIT.EDU
Cosponsor: Mechanical Engineering

High Efficiency Electric Power Generation: The Environmental Role
Janos Beer
Fri Feb 3, 11am-01:00pm, 66-110

No enrollment limit, no advance sign up
Limited to 100 participants.
Single session event

It is generally understood that high efficiency electric power generation consistent with high reliability of operation and reduced cost of electricity is economically beneficial, but its effect upon reduction of all plant emissions without the installation of additional emission control equipment is less well appreciated. High efficiency as the most cost effective tool capable of reducing CO2 emission from fossil fuel plant in the short term has become a key concept for the choice of technology for both new plant and upgrades of existing plant. High efficiency is also important for future applications of CCS to mitigate the energy penalty of the CO2 capture process.
Power generating options including Coal based Rankin cycle with advanced steam parameters, Coal gasification combined cycle, Natural gas-fired combined cycle and Oxy combustion are discussed and compared for their development, demonstration and commercial availability for deployment.
Contact: Janos Beer, 66-301, x3-6661, jmbeer@mit.edu


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Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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Last update: 7 Sept. 2011