Available energy options, their advantages and disadvantages. Environmental effects, comparative evaluation of energy options and energy needs.

Fossil fuels: petroleum, natural gas and coal – Origin, processing and production of value added products – available current conversion technologies.

Nuclear Energy: Principles of Fission – Fission reactors, U enrichment and processing of spent fuels. Nuclear reactor kinetics and control – nuclear fusion – magnetic and other confinement – evaluation of the option of nuclear energy.

Electrochemical power sources – theoretical background on the basis of thermodynamic and kinetic considerations.

Primary cells – various types, especially magnesium and aluminium based cells – magnesium reserve batteries.

Secondary cells: classification based on electrolyte type, temperature of operation on the basis of electrodes – chemistry of the main secondary batteries – Batteries for electric vehicles – present status.

Fuel cells – classification – chemistry of fuel cells – detailed description of hydrogen/oxygen fuel cells – methanol – molten carbonate solid polymer electrolyte and biochemical fuel cells.

Solar energy conversion devices – photovoltaic cells – photoelectrochemical cells – semiconductor electrolyte junctions photocatalytic modes for fuel conversion process – photobiochemical options.

Hydrogen as a fuel – production (thermal, electrolysis, photolysis and photoelectrochemical) storage and applications of hydrogen storage.

Other methods of energy conversion: processes especially in the form of storage as chemical energy.

Text Books:

1. A. Vincent Modern Batteries, Edward Arnold, 1984.
2. Narayanan and B. Viswanathan, Chemical and Electrochemical energy systems, Orient Longmans, 1997.
3. Sriram, Basic Nuclear Engineering, Wiley Eastern, 1990.
4. S. J.. Appleby and F. K. Foulkes, Fuel cell Hand Book, Von Nostrand Reinhold, 1989.
5. Linden, Hand book of batteries and Fuel cells, McGraw Hill Book Company, 1984.
6. Ohta, Solar Hydrogen energy systems, Peragamon Press, 1979.
7. Gratzel, Energy Resources through photochemistry and catalysis, Academic Press, 1983.
8. Ohta, Energy Technology, Sources, Systems and Frontiers conversions, Pergamon, 1994.
9. G. Speight, The chemistry and technology of petroleum, Marcel Dekker Inc. (1980).