Postgraduate - UnitCHE5882 - Biomass and biorefineries

This unit entry is for students who completed this unit in 2015 only. For students planning to study the unit, please refer to the unit indexes in the the current edition of the Handbook. If you have any queries contact the managing faculty for your course or area of study.

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6 points, SCA Band 2, 0.125 EFTSL

Refer to the specific census and withdrawal dates for the semester(s) in which this unit is offered.

Level	Postgraduate
Faculty	Faculty of Engineering
Organisational Unit	Department of Chemical Engineering
Offered	Clayton Second semester 2015 (Day)
Coordinator(s)	Professor Gil Garnier

Synopsis

The unit covers biomass reaction engineering including kinetics, reaction/mass transfer limitations, selectivity, improving reaction rates, and homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysis. The role of biotechnology including enzymatic reactions, fermentation, selectivity will also be studied together with common separation liquid and liquid-solid separation processes.

Global concepts relevant to biorefineries will be emphasised including the carbon cycle (micro and macro perspectives), overall sustainability of water, energy, and minimising by-products from biorefineries.

Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, students will be able to:

analyse new developments in fundamental aspects of biorefineries
evaluate and recommend an appropriate biorefining approach for various biomass feedstocks
assess and critique new advances and applications for biorefineries from a technical perspective
review and critique recent biorefinery research literature and summarise the findings and insights
create and analyse experimental data to produce an accurate and detailed report

Assessment

Continuous assessment: 50%
Final Examination: 50%

Students are required to achieve at least 45% in the total continuous assessment component and at least 45% in the final examination component and an overall mark of 50% to achieve a pass grade in the unit. Students failing to achieve this requirement will be given a maximum of 45% in the unit.

Workload requirements

2 hours lectures, 3 hours tutorial and 7 hours of private study per week. 8 hours of laboratories during the semester

Chief examiner(s)

Professor Karen Hapgood

Prohibitions

CHE5298