Chattanooga Engineers Club
www.ChattanoogaEngineersClub.org 

  

June 9, 2008 - "GASOLINE FROM COAL" will be presented by Don  Thomas. 

Gasoline, diesel and the other liquid fuels presently vital to our society can be manufactured from coal -- and we (the USA) have the coal to supply a large portion of our needs for generations.  Four manufacturing methods are available - all have been used commercially.  A major source of aviation fuel for Germany in World War II, later the source of transportation fuels for South Africa, it is still going today with a 150,000 barrel/day plant.  And pioneering work in the USA by the Department of Energy, Union Carbide, Exxon and others have demonstrated that liquid fuels can be provided at half the cost of present day ($135/barrel) petroleum.  Coal-to-liquid fuels would provide many thousands of high-paying jobs, improve our economy and national security, and co- produce large quantities of electric power from our available Appalachian, mid-west, and western coals.

Don Thomas is a chemical engineer retired from Union Carbide and the Tennessee Valley Authority.  He has been involved in the operation and evaluation of coal liquefaction plant at Union Carbide, evaluation of synfuel processes at SRI International, and served on Department of Energy and Electric Power Research Institute coal technology committees. 

Lunch is available on meeting dates for $11 beginning at 11:30 am from the outstanding Cellar Buffet. Location: Tallan Cellar Restaurant, 200 West ML King Blvd, Chattanooga, TN 37402.   

FUTURE MEETINGS 

June 16, 2008 -  Bill Payne, City Engineer, will provide an update on the connector between Coolidge park and Renaissance park. 

June 23, 2008 – Greg Sedrick, Prof. at UTSI, will speak on “International Space Education”. 

The University of Tennessee Space Institute (UTSI) has created a partnership with the International Space University (ISU) in Strasbourg France to jointly explore research and educational activities in space science, space engineering, systems engineering, space policy and law, business and management, and space and society. The speaker accompanied Dr. Angie Bukley, Vice President of the University of Tennessee and Chief Operating Officer of UTSI on a visit to the ISU Strasbourg campus in early May to plan the joint venture.  Implementation will include the design and delivery of online classes jointly taught by UTSI and ISU faculty on the peaceful exploration of space and innovative economic development resulting from exploration efforts.  

June 30, 2008 - Plant Tour of United Enertech.  United Enertech designs and manufactures commercial and industrial louvers and also dampers and air control accessories for HVAC.  From a humble beginning of just 8 employees in 1998, United Enertech employs 135 today and is increasing sales at a pace of 40% per year.

LAST MEETING 

June 2, 2008 - "High Speed Ground Transportation for Atlanta/Chattanooga/Nashville" was presented by Joe Ferguson, Chairman, Advanced Vehicle Systems. 

The need to reduce traffic and improve air quality can be met to a significant degree by means of high speed ground transportation, such as the proposed MagLev system between Atlanta and Chattanooga and between Chattanooga and Nashville.  MagLev is clean, quiet and will attract ridership.  This project can provide 15,000 jobs during guideway construction.  The MagLev system uses electromagnetic levitation and propulsion with linear motors in the guideway, with an 8-foot dedicated track.  The cost would be approximately $4.5 billion with an 8-10 year construction time.  

ITEMS OF INTEREST  

Please send items of interest to the Chattanooga Engineers Club to the e-mail address in the Questions/Suggestions section. 

Professional Development Hours (PDH) are available for most meetings. 

Looking for details on a local society meeting?  Links to local engineering societies are available to you at: 

   http://www.chattanoogaengineersclub.org/engineer/. 

 

QUESTIONS, SUGGESTIONS? If you have any questions or suggestions about program items please contact Jim Schwall at 423-267-4257 or by email at jimgineer@comcast.net.  You can find membership application forms, references to future programs, historical data, and other info at http://www.ChattanoogaEngineersClub.org. To receive future meeting announcements by email, join the Cha. Technology Organization mailing list at: http://www.ChattanoogaEngineersClub.org/email