Debre Tabor University

Faculty of Engineering
Department of Chemical Engineering
Course Code: ChEg5201
Course Title:
‘’Sustainable Energy Technology ’’

By: Wondimhunegn Misganaw

Cont.
Introduction
 Any physical activity in this world, whether carried out by human
beings or by nature, is cause due to flow of energy in one form or
the other.
 The very first energy source was the sun, providing heat and light.
Later a lightning strike sparked a fire.
 Fire was then used for many uses from cooking to an additional
source of heat and light.
 More than 8,000 years ago, humans discovered that sails could be
used to harness wind energy for transportation.
 The milestone of fossil fuel utilization to run steam engines for
pumping water and so on, 18th century
Definition of Energy and Power
 Energy is the capacity of a physical system to perform work.
 It can also be defined as the ability of a system to cause
external action.
 The word ‘energy’ itself is derived from the Greek word
‘en-ergon’, which means ‘work content’.
 Energy can exist in numerous forms such as thermal, kinetic,
potential, electric, chemical, nuclear, and other forms.
 Power (P) is the rate at which energy is transferred or converted , or
how fast you get work done (Watts = Joules/sec)
Power = Energy/time, joule/second = Watt
 Different Units for Measuring Energy
Unit Definition Used In Equivalent to
British Thermal Unit BTU A unit of energy equal to the amount of Heating and Cooling 1 BTU = 1055 Joules (J)
energy needed to raise the temperature industries
of one pound of water by one degree
Fahrenheit. Equivalent to energy found in
the tip of a match stick.

Calorie or small calorie The amount of energy needed to raise the Science and Engineering 1 calorie = 0.003969 BTUs
(calorie) temperature of one gram of water by one
degree Celsius.

Food Calorie, Kilocalorie or
large calorie (Cal, kcal,
Calorie)
The amount of energy needed to raise the Nutrition 1 Cal = 1000 cal, 4,187 J or 3.969
temperature of one kilogram of water one BTUs
degree Celsius. The food calorie is often
used when measuring the energy content
of food.

Joule (J) It is a smaller quantity of energy than Science and Engineering 1 Joule = 0.2388 calories and
calorie and much smaller than a BTU. 0.0009481 BTUs

Kilowatt Hour (kWh) An amount of energy from the steady Electrical fields 1 kWh = 3,413 BTUs or 3,600,000
production or consumption of one J
kilowatt of power for a period of one
hour.
Therm A unit describing the energy contained in Home heating appliances 1 therm = 100,000 BTUs
natural gas.
 Power Units
 W, kW, MW, GW, hp, ton
of refrigeration
 1 horsepower(hp) = 740 W
 1 ton of refrigeration = 50
kcal/min = 1200 BTU/h

Q. If you turn on 4 light

bulbs, each rated at 40 W,
how long can they be on
before you reach 1 kWh?
 Exercise
1. In 2021, for the World-wide generation of about 24,000 terawatt hours of
electricity, 12 billion tons of oil equivalent was used. Calculate the efficiency
of thermal energy conversion to electricity. (1 toe = 42 GJ)
2. In 2020, Ethiopia had 3 GW of installed electric capacity and generated 7
billion kWh. What is the percent capacity utilization of electric power
stations?
3. Heat is transferred to a heat engine from a furnace at a rate of 80 MW. If the
rate of waste heat rejection to a nearby river is 50 MW, determine the net
power output and the thermal efficiency for this heat engine.
 Classification of Energy Sources
Energy can be classified into several types
I. Primary and Secondary Energy
Primary energy sources are those that are either found or stored in nature.
Example coal, oil, natural gas, and biomass.
Primary energy sources are costly converted in industrial utilities into secondary
energy sources; for example coal, oil or gas converted into steam and electricity.
II. Commercial Energy and Non Commercial Energy
The energy sources that are available in the market for a definite price are known
as commercial energy.
E.g. Electricity, coal and refined petroleum products
The energy sources that are not available in the commercial market for a definite
price are classified as non-commercial energy.
E.g. Firewood and cattle dung
Cont.
III. Renewable and Non-Renewable
Renewable energy is energy obtained from sources that are essentially
inexhaustible. Examples wind power, solar power, geothermal energy and
hydropower
Non-renewable energy is the conventional fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas,
which are likely to deplete with time.
Non-renewable energy sources
 A non-renewable resource is a natural resource that cannot be re-
made or re-grown at a scale comparable to its consumption.
 78% of the commercial energy we use comes from non-renewable
fossil fuels
 Fossil fuels represent stored solar energy captured by plants in the
past geological times.

 Oil
 Natural gas Fossil fuels

 Coal
 Nuclear
Calorific Values of Fossil Fuels
 The amount of heat produced by the complete combustion of a unit weight of
fuel is known as its calorific value. Calorific value indicates the amount of
heat available from a fuel. The greater the calorific value of fuel, the larger is
its ability to produce heat.
Crude Oil and Natural Gas
 Crude Oil and Natural Gas are both fossil fuels formed from the
remains of dead animal and plants over the course of thousands of
years.
 They both are used as a heat source, produce energy, and are both
made up of different hydrocarbons which are compounds of both
hydrogen and carbon.
 After its extraction, crude oil is refined and processed into a variety
of forms, such as gasoline, kerosene, and asphalt, for sale to
consumers.
 Natural gas (also called fossil gas; sometimes just gas) is a
naturally occurring hydrocarbon gas mixture consisting of methane
and commonly includes varying amounts of other higher alkanes.
Refining of Crude Oil
 Crude oil needs to be processed before it can be
used
 An oil refinery is an industrial process plant
where petroleum (crude oil) is transformed and
refined into useful products such as gasoline
(petrol), diesel fuel, asphalt base, fuel oils, heating
oil, kerosene, liquefied petroleum gas and
petroleum naphtha.
 Three major types of operation are performed to
refine the oil into finished products: separation,
conversion and treating.
 Fractional distillation is a process used to
separate its compounds.
How were oil and gas made ?
 Petroleum was formed from
organisms living in the sea.
 As these organisms died,
their bodies settled at the
bottom of the sea and got
covered with layers of sand
and clay.
 Over millions of years,
absence of air , high
temperature and high
pressure transformed the
dead organisms into crude oil
and natural gas.
Coal
 Coal is the most abundant and cheapest energy resource that is burned
mostly to produce electricity and steel.
 Coal is a solid fossil fuel and a sedimentary rock composed primarily of
carbon.
 There are four basic grades of coal: i) Peat ii) lignite (brown coal), iii)
bituminous (soft coal) and iv) anthracite (hard coal).
 Coal: Energy content ~ 24 GJ/Ton
Formation of coal
Nuclear Energy
 Nuclear energy is the energy of the
atomic nucleus.
 Nuclear energy is a non-renewable
resource because once the mineral is
used, it is gone!
 Nuclear reaction occurs because the
atom of radioactive minerals contains
nuclei that are unstable and break or split
apart releasing energy.
 The advantage of using nuclear material
for energy generation instead of coal and
oil, is that it produces very little
pollution.
Cont.
 There are two methods (Figure below) which can be used to release energy
from radioactive minerals:
I. Nuclear fission – In this process, the nucleus of heavy atom namely of
uranium or plutonium breaks apart into smaller fragments, releasing an
enormous amount of energy.
II. Nuclear fusion – In this process, small nucleus like those of isotopes of
hydrogen, namely deuterium and tritium etc. fuse or join together to form
heavier nuclei, releasing vast amounts of energy.

a) Nuclear fission b) Nuclear fusion

Cont.
 Most of our resources come from fossil fuels presently, and this has a short,
finite lifetime
 It is estimated that if the present rate of consumption continues, the reserves of
these fuel will get exhausted. Moreover, their use also causes environmental
pollution.
 Heating value of Oil and natural gas is 42 GJ/Ton and 54 GJ/Ton respectively.
Renewable energy resources
 Renewable resources are natural resources that can be replenished in a short
period of time.
 All known renewable energy sources originate in, electromagnetic radiation of
our sun, the earth’s and moon’s gravitational fields and heat radiating from
earth’s interior.

 Solar
 Geothermal
 Wind
 Biomass
 Hydropower
Exploitable potential of energy resource in Ethiopia
Sustainability and Sustainable Development
 Research into the field of sustainability has increased considerably
in the last decade due to
 Thiscould be attributed to the increasing awareness of global
warming and the perceived impacts of this phenomena.
 The imbalance between demand and scarce natural resource
 On another note, “there is an increase in education and
awareness relating to energy consumption and their prices, the
knowledge of the science behind climate change, and the
business effect that environmental and social sustainability could
have on the business”
Cont.
 Brundtland World Commission report defined sustainability as
(1987). Sustainability is “the development that meets the needs of
the present generation without compromising the ability of future
generations to meet their own needs social, economic and
environmental”
 A sustainable development considers future and present needs
when making decisions about:
 Resource and energy use
 Technological development
 Direction of investments
 Social, political and institutional change etc.
Three pillars of sustainability
Cont.
The three pillars of sustainability are :
 Economic sustainability is a system which maintains the economic
independence of humans across the globe to have access to the resources
that they require to meet their needs.
 Social sustainability Performance in terms of social justice, such as
avoiding child labor and sweatshops, and providing decent
employee benefits.
 Environmental sustainability is a system that maintains a stable
resource base by avoiding over-exploitation of both renewable and
nonrenewable resources.
 It is utilization of natural resources by humans at a rate where they are
able to replenish themselves to keep the earth’s environmental systems
in balance.
Sustainable Energy
 Sustainable energy is derived from resources that can maintain current
operations without jeopardizing the energy needs or climate of future
generation.
 Renewable energy and sustainable energy often used interchangeably. Even
though some renewable energy sources do not necessarily fulfill the
requirements of sustainability.
 Sustainable utilization of energy includes;
 Encourage citizens to cook and heat with electricity, especially from clean
renewable sources, instead of traditional biomass
 Work on improving conservation and efficiency of energy
 A tendency toward fuel diversification and de-carbonization, especially for
electricity production; and
 Improve pollution control and lower emissions.
Group Wok (Max. mark 20%)
Project Titles
Group one: Hydrogen production technology
Group two: Thermochemical energy conversion technology
Group three: Ocean (Tidal and Wave) energy technologies
Group four: Energy storage technologies
Group five: Fuel cells
Group six: Thermal Power plants

Paper submission date 15/07/2014 E.C.

Cont.
Each group
 With a maximum of 7 students
 Must not exceed 15 pages in the report/document
 Your report format should be Times New Roman, Font size 12, spacing 1.5,
and alignment type justify
 Table of contents and references must be included and cited
 The document should be submitted both in hardcopy and softcopy
(ephtah12@gmail.com).
Individual Assignment (Max. mark 10%)
1. What are the main goals and objectives of energy policy in Ethiopia?
2. Show that the maximum possible efficiency of wind turbine is 0.592 (Betz
limit) and justify why?
3. Discuss in detail classification of solar thermal power plant based on
operating temperature
4. Discuss the environmental effects of the utilization and generation of energy
5. Compare and contrast the pros and cons of renewable and non renewable
energy resources.

Submission date 07/07/2014 E.C.