BSEN 5540 - Biomass and Biofuels Engineering

This course introduces the various processes and engineering principles in converting biomass into biofuels and chemicals. The focus will be on thermochemical and biochemical conversion platforms.

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The main portion of this class focuses on the different methods of biofuel creation, and allows us as students to be able to complete some calculations that go into the processes. The class also gives us the opportunity to read papers on the current research that is occurring in the growing field.

In lab we have been completing some energy measurements for a common biomass that would be used in the biofuel conversion process, and we are also going to be given the opportunity to research more in depth for our final project. We also were given the opportunity to see some of the machines used at Auburn for biofuel research, as seen in the picture below. Due to Auburn being a land grant university, we have so much more access to new technologies surrounding this field, and it has been an amazing opportunity to see the technology we learn about in class first hand.

I have been enjoying the class so far because it is a topic of interest of mine since my experience in agriculture over the summer. The agriculture sector could use the biofuel conversion process to their advantage, and hopefully they will be utilizing it more in the future because of the decreased dependence of fossil fuels.