Required courses

 

Course title: Fundamentals of Energy

Level: Master’s

Type: Required

Total class hours: 45

Credits: 3

Course description:  Concepts and definitions of Energy. Society development and energy use. Renewable and non-renewable sources, energy availability in the world and in Brazil. Energy Supply. Introduction to energy: fundamental quantities and concepts of transport phenomena.  Momentum, heat and mass transfer.

 

Course title: Energy, Development and Sustainability

Level: Master’s

Type: Required

Total class hours: 45

Credits: 3

Course description: Concepts and definitions on development; development and environment; development and social issues. Use of resources and energy production. Energy and its interactions with social, environmental, political and cultural issues.

 

Course title: Interdisciplinary Seminar

Level: Master’s

Type: Required

Total class hours: 30

Credits: 2

Course description: Variable content covering subjects of interest in the area of ​​energy and presentation of seminars related to the students’ research.

 

Course title: Scientific Methodology

Level: Master’s

Type: Required

Total class hours: 15

Credits: 1

Course description: Introduction to research in energy and sustainability. Scientific methodology applied to energy and sustainability. Dissemination and publication of research results: production of theses and scientific articles.

 

 

Elective courses

 

Course title: Teaching Practicum

Level: Master’s

Type: Elective

Total class hours: Established by the Program’s delegate council on a case-by-case basis.

Credits: Up to 4 credits, as established by the Program’s council, through successive enrollments.

Course description: Teaching practice in higher education, involving the preparation and application of theoretical and practical classes, the participation in partial evaluation of course contents, and the application of pedagogical methods or techniques (directed studies, seminars, among others).

 

Course title: Special Topics

Level: Master’s

Type: Elective

Total class hours: 45

Credits: 3

Course description: Course with variable content, according to the developments of the Program’s lines of research. Topics are usually related to the research activities carried out within the areas of concentration.

 

Course title: Special Topics I – Nanotechnology Applied to Photovoltaic Solar Energy (2016/3)

Level: Master’s

Type: Elective

Total class hours: 45

Credits: 3

Course description: Amorphous and crystalline silicon; Cadmium telluride; CIGS: copper indium gallium selenide solar cells; Gallium arsenide; Organic dyes and polymers; Perovskites; Deposition techniques; Hybrid and Tandem Cells; Upward Conversion; Exciton Fission; Photophysics and load generation mechanisms.

 

Course title: Special Topics II – Valorization of Waste from the Energy Sector: Materials and Environment (2016/3)

Level: Master’s

Type: Elective

Total class hours: 45

Credits: 3

Course description: Contextualization of the topic. Legislation and types of waste. Selection and processing of materials. Properties and applications of materials. Technologies for treatment and recovery of solid waste: use of waste in soil stabilization. Ceramic materials, cement, asphalt and polymers: properties and deterioration. Industrial manufacturing processes and waste valorization. Methodologies applied to the development and study of new materials. Waste and effluent valorization: sludge, waste from industrial processes. Materials under development.

 

 

 

Specific courses by area of concentration

Energy systems

Course title: Mathematical Methods for Energy Engineering

Level: Master’s

Type: Required (for the Energy Systems area)

Total class hours: 45

Credits: 3

Course description: Ordinary differential equations (ODE): solutions by series; special functions; systems of ordinary differential equations; numerical solutions. Partial differential equations (PDE): defining boundary conditions; method of separation of variables; Fourier and Laplace. Use of computer programs with specialized libraries for analytical and numerical solutions of ODE and PDE.

 

Course title: Solar Energy

Level: Master’s

Type: Elective

Total class hours: 45

Credits: 3

Course description: An overview of photovoltaic and thermal solar energy in Brazil and worldwide. Fundamentals and basic concepts of solar radiation. Semiconductors and photovoltaic effect. Technologies of photovoltaic cells and modules. Autonomous photovoltaic systems.  Grid-connected photovoltaic systems. Building-integrated photovoltaic systems. Mathematical models of photovoltaic systems. Sizing  and simulation of photovoltaic installations. Components of  solar energy heating systems. Residential and industrial water heating system. Solar thermal systems for electric power generation. Solar energy refrigeration and air conditioning systems. Thermal energy storage. Simulation of solar thermal systems.

 

Course title: Wind Energy

Level: Master’s

Type: Elective

Total class hours: 45

Credits: 3

Course description: Overview of wind energy in Brazil and worldwide. Fundamentals and application of wind energy. Historical aspects, types and technology of wind turbines. Regulation and control systems. Control of electric generators. Autonomous and grid-connected wind energy systems. Power quality of wind turbines. Wind farm electrical installations. Connection of wind turbines to the grid. Technical and economic feasibility of wind farms. Simulation of wind energy systems.

 

Course title: Fuel Cells and Hydrogen

Level: Master’s

Type: Elective

Total class hours: 45

Credits: 3

Course description: Introduction to Fuel Cell Technology. Types of Fuel Cells. Thermodynamics. Kinetics. Cargo transport. Mass transport. Mathematical Modeling. Characterization. Hydrogen: production, storage and use as energy vector.

 

Course title: Advanced Transport Phenomena

Level: Master’s

Type: Elective

Total class hours: 45

Credits: 3

Course description: Mass, momentum, energy and species conservation equations; analytical resolution of diffusive processes in one and two dimensions; momentum conservation solutions; coupling of energy and species and movement quantity; radiative heat transfer.

 

Course title: Conversion and Use of Thermal Energy

Level: Master’s

Type: Elective

Total class hours: 45

Credits: 3 (theoretical)

Course description: Transfer and conservation of energy in systems and control volumes. Entropy, irreversibility and availability. Chemical reactions in energy conversion processes. Power cycles. Refrigeration cycles. Cogeneration.

 

Course title: Modeling and Simulation of Energy Systems

Level: Master’s

Type: Elective

Total class hours: 45

Credits: 3

Course description: Fundamentals of a simulation model. The state of the art of exergetic analysis and thermodynamic optimization. Thermoeconomics and Exergoeconomics. Function Objective. Analysis of developed models and new models.

 

Course title: Linear Systems

Level: Master’s

Type: Elective

Total class hours: 45

Credits: 3

Course description: Fundamentals of linear algebra. Continuous-time and discrete-time linear dynamical systems: definitions and properties. Input-output representations: differential equations, convolution, transfer function. State variable representation. Realizations. Analysis of linear and time-invariant systems: stability, controllability and observability. State feedback. State observers.

 

Course: Technologies and Methods for Smart Grids

Level: Master’s

Type: Elective

Total class hours: 45

Credits: 3

Course description: Smart grid system: generation, transmission and distribution of electric energy. Microgrids. Power flow analysis tools. Distributed Generation (DG): Energy generation, processing and storage equipment. Tools for modeling and analysis of DG networks. Control of the DG connection to the network. Allocation of DG sources.

 

Course: Biological Biomass Conversion to Biofuels and Bioenergy

Level: Master’s

Type: Elective

Total class hours: 45

Credits: 3

Course description: Biological conversion of biomass to fuels. Diversity of the microbiota involved in the biological conversion of biomass. Production of biodiesel, bio-hydrogen, biogas. Biological production of hydrogen from agro-industrial waste.

 

Course: Thermochemical Solid Conversion Processes

Level: Master’s

Type: Elective

Total class hours: 45

Credits: 3

Course description: National and world energy scenario. Thermal energy sources: fossil fuels, biomass, solid waste. Characterization and physical-chemical and structural properties of solids. Thermochemical solid conversion processes: pyrolysis, gasification, combustion. Characterization and control of gas emissions. Use and application of conversion products, by-products and waste.

 

 

Planning and sustainability in the energy sector

 

Course: Strategic Planning and Energy Sector Policies

Level: Master’s

Type: Required (for the Planning and Sustainability Area)

Total class hours: 45

Credits: 3

Course description: Strategic planning. Proposals and implementation of public policies focused on the energy sector. Interrelationship of the sector’s policies with environmental, social and economic issues.

 

 

Course: Environmental Data Analysis

Level: Master’s

Type: Elective

Total class hours: 45

Credits: 4

Course description: Introduction to environmental data collection; sampling; descriptive statistics; introduction to multivariate statistics; spatial and temporal data analysis; visualization of variables in time and their interpretation; integration of environmental data in GIS. Spatial modeling methods. Geoprocessing: basic principles of georeferenced data. Geographical information system (GIS): basic principles; data structure and data source for GIS; organization of data in GIS. Applications of geoprocessing in energy engineering.

 

Course: Energy in the Coastal Zone

Level: Master’s

Type: Elective

Total Class hours: 45

Credits: 3

Course description: Classification of the coastal zone; main forces (winds, waves, currents and tides). Energy in different types of coastal zone and its potential for power generation. Methods of energy harnessing on the coast: wind, wave and tidal energy.

 

 

Course: Environmental Bioethics and Sustainability of the Energy Sector

Level: Master’s

Type: Elective

Total class hours: 45

Credits: 3

Course description: Fundamentals of Environmental Ethics. Social Ecology. Theoretical conceptions of Environmentalism. The concept of Life and Sustainability. Policy and Ethics for Sustainability.

 

 

Course: Environmental Law and the Energy Sector

Level: Master’s

Type: Elective

Total class hours: 45

Credits: 3

Course description: Law and the environment. Concept and principles of Environmental Law. Environmental legal system in the energy sector.

 

 

 

Course: Minimization and Analysis of Environmental Impacts of the Energy Sector

Level: Master’s

Type: Elective

Total class hours: 45

Credits: 3

Course description: Environmental impact assessment. Control and treatment of atmospheric emissions from energy-generating industries. Conventional and advanced treatment of solid waste and liquid effluents from energy-generating industries. Conventional and advanced treatment of waste from fossil fuel and biofuel generation. Recovery of degraded and/or contaminated areas due to energy extraction, generation, conversion and transport. Instrumental analytical techniques for Environmental Impact Assessment of the energy sector (spectroscopy, chromatography, electrical methods, radiation measures, thermal analysis).

 

 

 

Course: Toxicology and Genotoxicology of Waste from the Energy Sector

Level: Master’s

Type: Elective

Total class hours: 45

Credits: 3

Course description: Notions of environment, ecology and sustainability. Basic concepts and fundamental principles of toxicology, ecotoxicology, genotoxicology and biomonitoring. Description and characterization of the main effluents of the energy sector and kinetics of the contaminants in the environment and in organisms. Use of bioindicators and indicators of environmental quality to monitor these residues and their effects on the environment. Standardized toxicity tests with organisms from different trophic levels: EC50 and LD50. Nature of genetic material. DNA mutation and repair. Effects of different residues on the genetic heritage of living beings, including humans. Modern techniques used to qualify and quantify environmental and genetic damage.