TOKYO INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

Course description and aims

This course discusses the present state and future outlook of energy supply in Japan focusing primarily on petroleum, which currently constitutes 40% of Japan's primary energy. In addition to discussing topics such as alternative energy supplies offering potential for the future such as unconventional petroleum resources, gas-to-liquid (GTL) fuels, shale gas and biomass fuels, the course will also examine various technologies for preventing global warming, including hydrogen/fuel cells and CO2 capture, storage, and transformation.
This course provides an opportunity for considering environmental issues from various perspectives while focusing primarily on petroleum, currently functioning as the backbone of energy supply and consumption. In addition, the course provides a discussion of measures taken by industry to resolve environmental issues along with the development of technology for that purpose, while also cultivating an accurate understanding and basic assessment abilities with respect to environmental issues to enable each student to develop a heightened awareness of environmental protection. The course subject matter also attempts to achieve the objective of developing technicians capable of functioning as valuable members of society by amply incorporating knowledge useful to technicians, such as that relating to life cycle assessments (LCA) and other leading-edge analytical techniques.
This course also focuses on Green chemistry. Topics concerning Green chemistry include the difference between Drug discovery chemistry and Process chemistry in Medicinal chemistry, and the technologies to produce the desired compounds and the complex molecules.
Students will learn that it is important to develop selective reactions, design efficiently synthetic strategies, and choose reaction conditions with the lower waste in order to synthesis the desired compounds selectively, efficiently, and environment-friendlily.

Student learning outcomes

By the end of this course, students will be able to:
1) Consider environmental issues from various perspectives
2) Acquire accurate understanding and basic assessment abilities with respect to environmental issues, and a heightened awareness of environmental protection
3) Gain hands-on knowledge of petroleum and fuel cells through their actual handling and observation
4) Understand the purpose of green chemistry and explain its principles
5) Understand the definition of valuation index for green chemistry and calculate the atom economy value
6) Understand the importance of synthetic strategy and design efficiently synthetic routes

Keywords

Petroleum-Based Energy, Global Warming, Green Chemistry, Atom Economy

Competencies that will be developed

Class flow

The course is composed of lectures and simple experiments with the goal of enabling students to not only understand petroleum and fuel cells, but also develop hands-on knowledge through their actual handling and observation. The printed materials are also explained.

Course schedule/Required learning

Textbook(s)

Unspecified.

Reference books, course materials, etc.

Course reference materials will be distributed for each lecture.

Assessment criteria and methods

Learning achievement is evaluated by reports.

Related courses

• CAP.I416 ： Catalysis for the Environmental Issues
• ZIG.E430 ： Environmental Fate and Transport of Chemical Compounds

Prerequisites (i.e., required knowledge, skills, courses, etc.)

None.