Dr. Mark Nimlos received B.S in chemistry from University of Massachusetts, Boston in 1981 and Ph.D in Chemical Physics from University of Colorado, Boulder in 1986.Currently he is a Principal Scientist in the National Bioenergy Center at the National Renewableenergy Laboratory (NREL). He has more than 25 years of experience in the design and management of complex, multiparty biomass-related research programs and projects, with a focus on thermochemical conversion research. Dr. Nimlos has served as lead scientist and manager on numerous projects funded by the Department of Energy and by private industry. His responsibilities have included DOE reporting, financial tracking and management, staff and subcontractor direction, and coordination of efforts by partner organizations. His areas of expertise are chemical and physical processes in thermochemical biomass conversion, including chemical kinetics and molecular modeling. He has authored or co-authored nearly 100 peer-reviewed scientific papers/book chapters.

Catalytic upgrading of biomass pyrolysis vapors is a promising technology for producing renewable, drop-in transportation fuels. Fast pyrolysis of biomass is known to produce high yields (> 70%) of carbonaceous liquids that requires after condensation, but expensive upgrading is required. As an alternative, the vapors can be upgraded before they are condensed. This approach has been investigated in the past using microporous acid catalysts such as HZSM-5, which produces gasoline-range hydrocarbons with very little oxygen. However, the yields (10 – 15%) are too low for this to be practical, and further development is needed. This presentation will discuss some of the approaches being pursued at the National Renewable energy Laboratory improve the yields and the economics of vapor phase upgrading. This includes the development of new catalysts and catalytic processes that efficiently convert the vapors into hydrocarbons as well as an investigation of process conditions to improve yields. A key part of this effort is an investigation of the chemistry and physics of pyrolysis and catalytic reaction. This includes experimental and computational studies of the mechanisms of the conversion realistic model compounds, laboratory screening studies and studies of heat and fluid transfer.

Nicolaus Dahmen studied chemistry at the University of Bochum, finishing his PhD in high pressure thermodynamics in 1992. He started his professional work on application of high pressure to chemical reactions and separation processes as a group leader and, since 2000, as head of division at the Research Centre Karlsruhe, which in 2010 merged into the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) together with the University of Karlsruhe. In 2005, he became project manager of the bioliq project, in which a large scale pilot plant was installed at KIT for synthetic fuels and chemicals production. Shortly after, he also took over the “Thermochemical biomass refining” division in the Institute for Catalysis Research and Technology (IKFT) and, after his habilitation on fundamentals for process developments with supercritical fluids, became a lecturer on physical and technical chemistry at the University of Heidelberg in 2010. After commissioning the pilot plant in 2014 he now is responsible for the bioliq R&D program.

The bioliq project aims at the large scale production of syntheticbiofuels from biomass (BTL, biomass to liquids). The bioliq process concept has been designed to overcome the problems met, when low grade, residual biomass are to be used to a large extent as required in a BTL process. Biomass such as straw, hay, residual wood etc. usually exhibit low energetic densities, thus limiting collection area and transportation distances. On the other hand, the production of synthetic fuels requires large scale production facilities in accordance with economy of scale considerations. In the bioliq process, biomass is pre-treated in regionally distributed fast pyrolysis plants for energy densification. The products, pyrolysis char and liquid condensates, are mixed to form stable, transportable and pumpable slurries also referred as to biosyncrude. Thus biomass is energetically concentrated allowing for economic transport also over long distances. In industrial plants of reasonable size, the biosyncrude would be gasified in an entrained flow gasifier at a pressure slightly above that of the following fuel synthesis. On site of KIT, a pilot plant was constructed and commissioned for process demonstration, to obtain reliable mass and energy balances, for gaining practical experience, and to allow for reasonable cost estimates. The fast pyrolysis plant has a biomass feed capacity of 500 kg/h (2 MW(th)). A twin-screw reactor, equipped with a pneumatic heat carrier loop with sand as the heat carrier medium is the main technical feature of the plant. The high pressure entrained flow gasifier of 5 MW(^th) thermal fuel capacity is an oxygen blown slagging reactor equipped with an internal cooling screen, particularly suited for the conversion of ash rich feeds and fast start up and shut down procedures. The raw synthesis gas is purified and conditioned by a high pressure hot gas cleaning system, consisting of a hot gas filter with ceramic filter elements, a fixed bed adsorption for HCl and H₂S removal and a catalytic converter for decomposition of nitrogen and sulfur containing trace compounds. Afterwards, CO₂ is separated. The purified synthesis gas is then converted to dimethyl ether in a one-step synthesis process, which in a subsequently following reaction is converted into fully compatible gasoline. Now, the pilot plant construction is completed and first operation took place by commissioning the whole process chain. The process development is embedded into a coherent R&D framework, allowing operation and further development on a science based basis. The pilot plant will be used as a research platform and offers many opportunities for collaborative work and joint projects with additional partners. The bioliq pilot plant is constructed and operated in cooperation with partners from chemical engineering and plant construction industries. Financial support was provided by the Germany Ministry of Agriculture and Food (BMEL), the state Baden-Württemberg and the European Community.

Dr. Siek-Ting Yong obtained her Ph.D. degree in Chemical Engineering from the National University of Singapore. She is a senior lecturer in Monash University Malaysia Campus. Her research interests include fuel reforming, direct carbon fuel cell, carbon capture, and membrane separation.

Direct carbon fuel cell (DCFC) is a type of fuel cell which produces electricity through electrochemical oxidation of solid carbon into carbon dioxide, without involving combustion reaction. The most promising advantage of DCFC is its remarkably high theoretical efficiency in converting chemical energy into electricity which is close to 100%. Its overall system efficiency taking into account of auxiliary losses is in the range of 60-70%, as compared to less than 40% for a Carnot Cycle. In this work, plant waste was tested as a sustainable carbon source for DCFC. The waste was pyrolyzed at different temperatures to produce biochar. Analytical techniques including XRD, microporous CO₂ adsorption, proximate and ultimate analyses were employed to characterize the biochar. The electrochemical performance of all samples in DCFC was also evaluated. The results shown that plant waste pyrolyzed at 600^oC yielded the highest power density. This superior performance was attributed to its abundance of carbon available as fuel source, and large numbers of active sites available for the electrochemical reaction. .

Dr. Parvana Aksoy is currenly a senior researcher at the 1TUBITAK MRC Energy Institute working under Gasification and Combustion group. She received her B.S and M.S. from Department of Chemistry of Çukurova University/Turkey. She completed her Ph.D. in the Department of Chemistry at Çukurova University in 2004. After receiving her PhD degree, she visited Penn State University where she conducted post-doctoral research on the development of thermally stable jet fuels for 6 years. She did an extensive research on producing of jet fuel from coal. Dr. Aksoy also worked as a quality control manager at the private fuel testing laboratory AMSPEC LLC. Her research mainly based on production and upgrading of bio-oils, production of transportation fuels, gasification of coals and biomass.

The CatLiq process is a thermochemical conversion of wet biomass with process conditions at the critical point of water. This technology has similarities to other thermochemical conversion processes such as liquefaction, pyrolysis and gasification. But it cannot be classified exactly as one of these technologies. This process is a continuous process that takes place at supercritical point of water by using both heterogeneous and homogeneous catalysts. Seven different waste biomass samples, such as saw dust, black liqour, paper mill sludge, bark, cow manure, sewage and bio gasification sludge were subjected to Catliq process. Biocrudes, gases and aqueous samples obtained from these processes were subjected to characterization tests. Biocrudes obtained from different waste biomass by Catliq process were dark brown, free-flowing liquids and had distinctive odor. The densities of biocrude oils were ~1.10 g/m3, higher than the density of petroleum crude oils. Crude bio-oils was a complex mixture of several hundreds of organic compounds, mainly including acids, alcohols, aldehydes, esters, ketones, phenols, and lignin-derived oligomers. Some of these compounds are directly related to the undesirable properties of bio-oil. Raw bio-oils obtained from liquefaction of different kinds of waste biomass had very high water content, high viscosity and density and high oxygen content. The heating values of raw bio-oils were between 32.0-37.06 MJ/kg, lower than crude oil. Biocrude obtained from catalytic liquefaction of sewage sludge had highest heat of combustion (37.06MJ/kg). It is obvious that waste biomass can be utilized to produce crude bio-oil and CatLiq process is a promising alternative technological pathway for the production of crude bio-oil. Crude bio-oils obtained from CatLiq process can be used as a combustion fuel in boiler/burner/furnace systems for heat generation, as a transportation fuel after upgrading, for the production of chemicals and resins (e.g., agri-chemicals, fertilizers, acids and emission control agents), also as a feedstock in making adhesives, e.g., asphalt bio-binders. Depending to feedstock some crude bio-oils can be mixed with crude petroleum oil up to 3% and can be refined together using petroleum refinery systems.

Dr. Mehmet Unsal graduated from Chemical Engineering in 1999 from Firat University, Turkey and then completed his PhD on Process Development and Optimization in Biodiesel Production at Gebze Technical University. He joined to TUBITAK MRC eleven years ago. He is still working at the Energy Institute at TUBITAK MRC as a principal researcher under the “Gasification and Combustion of Biomass and Coal” research group. His research mainly based on process development, process optimization, equipment design, biogasification, and upgrading of biocrude oil production and upgrading, biodiesel production, combustion and gasification of coals and biomass, waste heat recovery.

The CatLiq® process is a catalytic hydrothermal liquefaction process that takes place at water supercritical conditions in the range of 230-250 bar and 350-420°C and the obtained biocrude oil is called as “Altaca oil”. “Altaca Oil” is synthesized from aqueous bio-waste such as lignocelluloses, proteins, fats and carbohydrates and their mixtures. In the development phase of the CatLiq® process, after a pilot scale studies, a demonstration plant was scaled up. The upgraded version of the lab pilot plant is currently operational in Gebze-Kocaeli, Turkey, and a series of tests have been conducted to optimize conversion conditions of bio-gasification and sewage sludges. Using delivered data via these tests, the pre-commercial demonstration plant was designed and, the plant is under construction at the Gönen, Balikesir/Turkey. During designing studies, for thermodynamic calculation and process simulation Aspen HYSYS 8.4, and Chemcad 6.1, for heat exchanger designs Aspen HTFS, for piping Bentley, for the stress analysis and materials choise PV Elite, and for fluid dynamic and heat transfer Fluent were used. General requirements were observed for ASME Section 3 Div.2 in the pre-commercial demonstration plant design. The demonstration plant mass flow feeding rate is 15 ton/h, while the mass flow feeding rate of pilot plant is 60 kg/h. It is limited for continuous process due to the fact that the pilot plant has some fluid behaviors as fouling, plug, particle flow. It has been forecast that these limitation will solved at the scale up. The demonstration plant is an energy integrated system with heat recovery of 70%. Each waste heat stream at the plant was investigated in terms of its waste heat quantity (the approximate energy in the waste heat stream), quality (typical exhaust temperatures). Energy content of waste heat streams was considered as a function of mass flow rate, composition, and temperature, and was evaluated based on process energy consumption, typical temperatures, and mass balances. Ultimately, waste heat of any equipment was used for reaction energy of other equipment. Moreover, the plant was scaled up based on Best Available Technology. The plant is based on transforming the waste into a useful material and minimalizing waste production of the process.

Adam Lee holds a BA in Natural Sciences and PhD in surface science and catalysis from the University of Cambridge, and was appointed a Lecturer in Physical Chemistry at the University of Hull in 1997. After moving to the University of York and promotion to Senior Lecturer, he was appointed Professor of Physical Chemistry within the Cardiff Catalysis Institute at Cardiff University in 2009, and subsequently joint Chair of Sustainable Chemical Synthesis at the University of Warwick and Monash University. He was recently appointed Professor of Sustainable Chemistry in the European Bioenergy Research Institute, Aston University, where he holds an EPSRC Leadership Fellowship in “Nanoengineered Materials for Clean Catalytic Technologies”. Adam was awarded the 2000 CR Burch Prize by the British Vacuum Council, the 2004 Fonda-Fasella Prize of the Elettra synchrotron, the 2011 McBain Medal of the Royal Society of Chemistry and Society of Chemical Industry, and 2012 Beilby Medal of the Royal Society of Chemistry, IOM3 and Society of Chemical Industry for outstanding contributions in the field of heterogeneous catalysis and surface science. His research spans heterogeneous catalysis, green chemistry and synchrotron science, in which he has authored over 140 articles (h-index = 33), with particular focus on the rational design of functional materials for sustainable chemical processes and energy production. Adam is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and Associate Fellow of the IChemE, chair of the international spectroscopy peer review panel of the Diamond Light Source, and member of the international catalysis peer review panel of the Elettra Synchrotron.

Concerns over the economics of proven fossil fuel reserves, in concert with government and public acceptance of the anthropogenic origin of rising CO₂ emissions and associated climate change from such combustible carbon, is driving academic and commercial research into new sustainable routes to fuel and chemicals. Catalysis has a rich history of facilitating energy efficient, selective molecular transformations, and in a post-petroleum era will play a pivotal role in overcoming the scientific and engineering barriers to economically viable, and sustainable, biofuels derived from renewable resources. Biodiesel is one of the most readily implemented and low cost, alternative source of transportation fuels to meet future societal demands. However, current practices to produce biodiesel via transesterification employ soluble acids and bases, resulting in costly fuel purification processes and undesired pollution. Heterogeneous acid and base catalysts, able to transform undesired free fatty acid (FFA) impurities and naturally-occurring triglycerides within algal or plant oils into clean biodiesel, can dramatically improve process efficiency. The microporous nature of conventional catalysts hinders their application to converting bulky and viscous plant/algal bio-oil feed streams. We show how advances in the rational design of nanoporous solid acid and base catalysts, and their utilisation in novel continuous reactors, can deliver superior performance in the energy-efficient esterification and transesterification of bio-oil components into biodiesel.

Dr. Antonio J. A. Meirelles graduated in Food Engineering (School of Food Engineering, University of Campinas, FEA-UNICAMP, Brazil, 1980), master's degree in Food Engineering (FEA-UNICAMP, Brazil, 1984), PhD in Process Engineering at TH Merseburg (now Martin Luther University, Germany, 1987) and PhD in Economics (Institute of Economics, UNICAMP, Brazil, 1997). He is a professor at FEA-UNICAMP (Brazil) and Fellow of CNPq Research Productivity - Level 1A. He supervised 32 doctoral theses, 33 dissertations and 52 scientific initiation (undergraduate) works, and published 180 articles in scientific journals (h-index = 22), more than 176 full papers and 235 abstracts in conference proceedings, eight book chapters and one book. He also developed four patented processes or patent applications under review by the Brazilian Patent Office and was awarded the Young Scientist Award (First Place, 1989) and twice the Academic Recognition Award Zeferino Vaz (UNICAMP, 2001 and 2010). He conducts research on phase equilibrium thermodynamics, mass transfer phenomena and purification processes related to food processing and to the production of biofuels and biocompounds from oilseeds and sugarcane.

Biodiesel is mainly produced using the methylic route. Ethanol has the advantage of being a renewable alcohol, but the ethylic route has drawbacks that must be overcome for process optimization. Ethanol enhances the mutual solubility of the hydrophilic and lipophilic substances that occur along the production process and makes more problematic the purification steps. Along the reaction path two liquid phases are formed, the upper one is rich in monoalkyl esters and the bottom one contains glycerol. The industrial process uses basic homogeneous catalysts and requires a sequence of purification steps. The use of alternative approaches, such as biocatalysis, heterogeneous catalysis or supercritical conditions, also generates a two-phase reaction system and requires the use of alcohol in excess due to the reaction´s reversible character. This means that phase splitting and alcohol recovery are steps required for purifying biodiesel as well as for recycling the reactant in excess. In case of bioethanol as reactant, the sequence of purification steps used in the methylic route is not the best option. For instance, the ethylic route pontentially requires a specific and complete dehydration unity for recovering bioethanol, increasing the production costs of biodiesel. A new approach must be developed for the ethylic route, based, for instance, on the concept of using bioethanol in the whole sequence of the biofuel production, from the seed to the tank. This approach involves the following main steps: extraction and deacidification of vegetable oils using bioethanol as solvent, reactive steps applied to both ethylic miscelas containing deacidified oil or free fatty acids, biodiesel purification steps with minimal addition of washing water and a recovery and dehydration step of the bioethanol by extractive distillation using glycerol as dehydrating agent. The bioethanol used as reactant can also be acquired in hydrated form (azeotropic mixture) and be dehydrated within the proposed process. The main bottlenecks of the production process were addressed and process optimization performed. Different sources of fatty compounds were considered, including the most important for the Brazilian case, such as soy and palm oils, as well as other sources of potential relevance for the future, as microalgae oil. Experimental runs and modeling approaches were conducted with the aim of measuring and prediciting the relevant phase equilibrium data and for evaluating the performance of equipments for oil extraction and for oil deacidification by liquid-liquid extraction or ion exchange. The sequence of ethylic biodiesel production was investigated using ASPEN PLUS, including the bioethanol recovery and dehydration step. Some aspects related to the integration of food, feed, bioproducts and biodiesel production were considered, for instance the quality of the deffated meal after oil extraction with bioethanol and the recovery of minor components (tocopherols, sterols, etc.) during oil deacidification and the biofuel production.

Dr. Rebeca Sánchez received her PhD in 2013 from Universidad Rey Juan Carlos of Madrid working on biodiesel production by heterogeneous acid catalysts. She undertook a predoctoral research in the group of Prof. Adam Lee and Karen Wilson at Cardiff Catalysis Institute working on the synthesis of mesoporous Zr-SBA-15 hybrid materials for biodiesel production. She carried out a postdoctoral research in European Bioenergy Research Institute working on isosorbide production. She has published 10 papers in reputed journals and her teaching experience has been developed entirely at Universidad Rey Juan Carlos with different graduate and postgraduate teaching responsibilities.

Biodiesel production is gaining attraction as an efficient alternative for the valorization of sewage sludge. This waste, which can be considered as a raw material, contains significant quantitities of free lipids (10-30 wt%) liable to be transformed into biodiesel. Nevertheless, the low-quality of this feedstock makes necessary the use of novel conversion technologies, such as heterogeneous acid catalysis. This contribution deals with the extraction of lipids from primary and secondary sewage sludge collected from a wastewater treatment plant and their use in the synthesis of biodiesel over highly poison-resistant heterogeneous acid catalyst based on SBA-15-supported zirconium. Catalytic tests were performed in a 25 mL stainless-steel autoclave. The sludge was treated with different organic solvents to extract the lipids which were subsequently transformed into biodiesel over Zr-SBA-15 (two-step process). Alternatively and advantageously, similar experiments were carried out using directly the dried and wet sludge, without previous extraction (in-situ process). Zr-SBA-15 catalyst provided high biodiesel yields when processing primary and secondary sewage sludge in both the ‘two-steps’ and the ‘in-situ’ processes, converting almost 95% of the saponifiable fraction (free fatty acids and triglycerides) into fatty acid methyl esters (FAME). It must be noted that such good catalytic results are obtained even in the presence of high amounts of unsaponifiable matter and other impurities, typically accompanying such wastes. Besides, the excellent results (92%) obtained with wet (non-previously dried) sludge in the in-situ process demonstrate the high water tolerance of the Zr-SBA-15 catalyst, allowing to avoid the necessity of a sludge drying pretreatment.

Sandra D. Eksioglu is an Associate Professor of Industrial Engineering at Clemson University. She received her Ph.D. in Industrial and Systems Engineering from the University of Florida in 2002. Dr. Eksioglu’s research focus has been on the theory and application of operations research tools to problems that arise in the areas of transportation, logistics, and supply chain. She works on developing mathematical models and solution algorithms that help design and manage large scale and complex supply-chains. In particular, she is interested in the application of these tools to the biofuels supply chain. She received the Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award from the National Science Foundation in 2011 for her work on biofuels supply chain. She has co-authored over 50 refereed journal papers and conference proceeding. She is the co-author of “Developing Spreadsheet-Based Decision Support Systems Using Excel and VBA for Excel” 2nd Ed. which is the textbook used in one of the classes she teaches. Dr. Eksioglu is an active member of Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS), Institute of Industrial Engineers (IIE), and American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE).

This study presents mathematical models that capture the impact of different carbon emission-related policies on the design of the biocrude-for-biodiesel supply chain. These are two-stage stochastic programming models which identify locations and production capacities for biocrude production plants by exploring the tradeoffs that exist between location, transportation, inventory costs and emissions in the supply chain. The study analyzes the behavior of the chain under different regulatory policies such as carbon cap, carbon tax, carbon cap and trade, and carbon offset mechanisms. A number of observations are made about the impact of each policy on the supply chain designs and costs. The state of Mississippi is used as the testing grounds for these models. A number of solution algorithms are proposed to solve these problems, and ArcGIS is used to visualize and validate these solutions.

Biomass is a promising sustainable feedstock for the production of chemicals and transportation fuels. Biodiesel is a clean burning and biodegradable fuel which, when derived from non-food plant or algal oils or animal fats, is viewed as a viable alternative to petroleum-derived diesel. Catalytic esterification of free fatty acids (FFAs) and the transesterification of triacyl glycerides (TAGs) represent efficient routes to biodiesels from non-edible oils or waste oils . A major hurdle in the commercialization of such processes is the synthesis of efficient, inexpensive and robust heterogeneous catalysts able to operate at low temperature and pressure, and with good water and FFA tolerance. Here we discuss the application of diverse nanocrystalline and nanoporous solid acid and base catalysts for FFA esterification and TAG transesterification. Promising solid base catalysts include hydrotalcites, MgO and dolomitic mineral waste . Sulfonic acid and zirconia functionalised mesoporous silicas (SBA-15, MCM-41, KIT-6 and PMO) are promising solid acid catalysts for esterification under mild conditions with both surface functionality and framework architecture playing an important role in promoting activity and permitting continuous biodiesel manufacture.

Prof. Lue obtained a B.S. and M.S. degrees from National Taiwan University, and a Ph.D. degree of Biotechnology Engineering from University of Missouri-Columbia, USA, in 1990. She joined Chang Gung University in 1996 and is now the department chair of the Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering at CGU. Her research interest focuses on the development of high-performance materials for separation, energy, and biotechnology applications. Prof. Lue has published more than SCI papers and 2 book chapters, given 140 conference presentations, and applied 2 patents.

Ethanol is an environmentally friendly fuel and possesses higher energy density than methanol (8.00 vs. 6.09 kWh kg–1). It can be easily produced in large quantities from biological processing of agriculture products and is considered a renewable energy source. This hydrogen-rich alcohol fuel is easier to transport, store, and handle than conventional hydrogen fuel, and has become an attractive alternative to hydrogen for direct oxidation fuel cells. Direct ethanol fuel cells (DEFCs) have become promising power generation technology because of the simple systems, especially for portable, mobile, and transportation applications. In this presentation, an overview of research progresses on DEFCs will be briefly summarized, with an emphasis on electrolyte membrane development. The pros and cons of DEFCs operated in acidic and alkaline modes will be discussed. Efforts on advancing ADEFCs include the development of catalysts, membrane electrolytes, single cell design, and improvements in operating conditions. Several membrane electrolytes based on nano-composites have been studied by the author’ group and the material design guideline will be proposed. DEFC performance using non-platinum based catalysts will be reported. The attempts to improve alkaline DEFC performance through several routes are reported in this work, including development of electrolytes, catalysts, and catalyst porous substrate. The results obtained by the author’s group are compared with literature data. The outlook and future work toward commercialization of the DEFCs will be discussed.

Pedro de Oliva Neto is a professor of the graduation courses - Biotechnology Engineering and Biological Science at São Paulo State University, Brazil. He has earned Bachelors in Biological Science from UNESP – São Paulo – Brazil (1986), Masters in Food Science from Universidade Estadual de Campinas - UNICAMP (1990), São Paulo – Brazil, Doctorate in Food Engineering from UNICAMP (1995) He has vast experience in Industrial Microbiology, First and Second Generation Bioethanol, Special sugars, Biopolymers, Yeasts and derivatives, Enzymes production and inhibitory products against microorganisms.

Currently, the Brazilian bioprocess of fuel ethanol production is based on molasses and/or cane juice as substrate, and by fed-batch, continuous or mixed process. This bioprocess is operated in high scale with an stable cell recycle and high yeast concentration. The ethanol efficiency is controlled by several industrial parameters of fermentation and depending on the balance of these parameters and the control of some chemical and microbiological inhibitors. Sucrose and ethanol concentration, acid treatment of yeast cells, temperature and pH, yeast cells flocculation, and some chemical (lactic acid, sulphite) and biological (Lactobacillus fermentum) inhibitors will be discussed as a challenge to improve the bioprocess. The chemical control of microbial contaminants by monensin and some new alternatives will be shown. Recent studies of the control the yeast flocculation by reuse of enzymes as well as the use of bagasse for the production of xylo-oligosacharides as an alternative of diversification will be presented.

Rice husk was selected as a model lignocellulosic biomass since it serves as a low cost raw material available in surplus globally and is generally not used as fodder due to low digestibility and high silica content. However, its recalcitrance and high quantities of lignin and ash make the use of rice husk difficult in its bioconversion to bioethanol. This makes pretreatment an indispensable step in bioconversion of rice husk to bioethanol. Thus, in the present study, alkaline peroxide assisted wet air oxidation was investigated as a pretreatment for rice husk and its potential for bioethanol production was also studied. 185°C, 5 bar, 15 minutes was found to be the optimized condition for alkaline peroxide assisted wet air oxidation of rice husk wherein the glucan content enhanced from an initial 36.77% to 55.52% while lignin was reduced from 15.06% to 4.52% post pretreatment. The subsequent enzymatic hydrolysis using cellulase (25 FPU/g dry matter) and β-glucosidase (12.5 IU/ g dry matter) yielded 21.4g glucose/ 100 g untreated rice husk. The hydrolysed sugars were consequently fermented using Saccharomyces cerevisea to produce bioethanol using different fermentation configurations. The ethanol concentrations of upto 28.74g/L were obtained with an overall volumetric ethanol productivity of 0.19g/L.h.

Since the last few decades, a large amount of scientific investigations are focused on innovating a pathway for the production of value-added chemicals and fuels from renewable resources. The non-edible oils, such as jojoba oil is gaining consistent scientific and industrial considerations not only because of its applications in cosmetics and pharmaceutical industries but also due to the possibility of its transformation to biodiesel. An appropriate utilization of jojoba oil would avoid the usage of food-grade oil for biodiesel generation, and consequently, contribute in minimizing the capital cost of biofuel. In the present study, a considerable waste M. Galloprovincialis shells were utilized as a precursor for the synthesis of an economically less-expensive calcium oxide catalyst. Moreover, butanol was selected as a reagent for the alcoholysis process because it can be derived from a bacterial fermentation process; hence, every components used in biodiesel production process can possibly be generated from the natural resources. The efficacy of the waste shells, when calcined at 800 ºC for 6 h, to assist the butanolysis of jojoba oil was investigated. The progress in the butanolysis reaction was systematically monitored for 10 h using variable operating parameters, such as butanol-to-oil molar ratio (6:1-10:1-12:1) and catalyst amount (8-12-16 wt. %); while, keeping a constant reaction temperature (85 °C). The obtained results suggested that the optimal reaction parameters (butanol-to-oil molar ratio: 10:1, catalyst amount: 12 wt. %, temperature: 85 °C, time: 10 h, stirring intensity: 350 RPM) resulted in 60 % jojoba oil conversion.

Luis Puchades Rufino was born in 1980 in Valencia (Spain). He is an Agricultural engineer and currently the managing director of Ludan renewable energy and biogas operation Spain. He was director of the Spanish branch of Biogas Nord AG (Germany), a German listed company (BG8:) and one of the pioneers and largest biogas companies in the world, from 2006 to 2009. In 2010 He founded a company called Biovic to run agricultural businesses (corn, elephant grass), trading of raw materials and waste management. He had been involved in the development, design, construction and operation of more than 40 biogas projects. His areas of interest includes conversion of waste to energy, waste to food and waste to fertilizers. He also have more than 20 publications and research articles .

Maralfalfa (Pennisetum spp.) Is a Poaceae family forage grass used as livestock feedstock in Latin America, but its popularity is growing worldwide. The origin of maralfalfa grass is still unclear but it is likely to be of Pennisetum violaceum (Lam.) Rich. expers. or a hybrid (Pennisetum hybridum) Pennisetum americanum between L. and Pennisetum purpureum. Like all Pennisetum grasses, it reacts very positively to nitrogen and organic fertilization (Ramos Trejo et al. , 2012). Several cultivars have been established in Spain, associated to agroindustrial biogas plants located in Vall d´Uixó (Castellón) and Los Alcázares (Murcia), with rows of Maralfalfa of 15 m length, planted with two canes in parallel 0,10 m deep. The planting frame was 0,75 m between plants. Those plants have been fertilized with different amounts of digestates coming from the biogas plants. The doses of fertilization where adjusted to 80, 170 and 340 kg of Nitrogen per hectare and year. The average productions of dry matter per hectare have been 40, 55 and 59 t of DM of biomass, with an average content of water of the harvested material in 82,5%. It was made three harvests per year. The level of Crude Protein reached 17,2%, very much dependent on the age of each harvest. On parallel, several biogas tests have been performed, leaving yields of biogas between 520 and 600 l of biogas per kg of Volatile Solids. This positive relation between the yield of biomass generated per hectare and the use of the surplus digestates from waste management biogas plants reveals with extraordinary potential. On the energy field, the potential of methane generation reaches 18.200 Nm3 per hectare, compared to the 9.000 Nm3/ha of maize silage and 8.000 Nm3/ha of sorghum. On the sustainability and economical fields, the enormous reduction of fertilizer costs and the recycle of agrifood waste originated Nitrogen intro vegetable protein and tissue opens many areas of development of this application. Biorefinery and bioethanol projects might also benefit from this synergic relationship between biogas plants and maralfalfa plantations.

Serge R. Guiot is Principal research scientist at the National Research Council of Canada (NRC). After he obtained a D.Sc. degree in Environmental Science in Belgium, he joined NRC in Ottawa (Canada) in 1983, then the Biotechnology Research Institute in Montreal in 1987. He is currently leading the Bioengineering group within the Energy, Mining & Environment Portfolio (EME) of NRC in Montreal. His research interests include: biofilm and microbial fuel cell reactors for wastewater biotreatment; enhanced anaerobic digestion of wastes and algae; acidogenic digestion towards carboxylic acids; biomethanation of syngas. He has ten patents to his credit and has published over 180 articles in peer-reviewed journals. He recently was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II\'s Diamond Jubilee Medal in recognition for his reputable scientific work at NRC.

The microalgal biomass conversion into methane as a biofuel offers the best energetic balance among the different biomass–to-biofuel scenarios for microalgae containing less than 40% lipids. The anaerobic degradation limitation of algae at around 50% emphasizes the need for pre-treatment to obtain higher methane production from algae. This study was performed using Scenedesmus sp. AMDD, a green microalgae, as a model strain. Over 20 series of different pretreatments were evaluated, alone, or in sequence. The enzymatic pretreatments were performed with pectate-lyase and cellulase at incubation time from 2 to 24 hours. Chemicals pretreatments were done with H2SO4, NaOH or H2O2, at 0.2N and 2N and 2 to 24 h of reaction time. Thermal treatments were completed in an oven or a pressure vessel at 121 – 180°C or using a microwave (175 – 300°C). The enzymatic hydrolysis of Scenedesmus sp. AMDD followed with a three hours incubation in NaOH 0.2N resulted into a 75% solubilization. Similar results were found with incubation in 0.2N NaOH followed with short thermal treatment. Caustic and thermal pretreatments improved the methane production by around 12% compared with the anaerobic digestion of untreated algal biomass, at 335 ± 28 ml CH4 STP/g volatile solid (VS) added. The results from the enzymatic pretreatment were less encouraging with improvement of 2-7% of the methane production only. However., a combination of enzymatic with a thermal treatment successfully solubilized up to 75% of Scenedesmus sp. AMDD biomass. The resulting methane production, although up to 15% higher than for the control biomass, did not fully correlate with the increased dissolved organic matter. In anaerobic digesters continuously fed with solubilized biomass after combined enzymatic and thermal pre-treatment, the CH4 yield was improved by up to 35% in some operational conditions, while the degradation rate was faster, allowing for lower retention time.

Paz Gomez is agricultural Engineer, specialization on Rural Engineering and Agricultural Technical Engineer, specialization on Livestock Exploitations, both University Degrees by the Polytechnic University of Valencia (Spain, 2007). Research fellowship in Leibniz Institute for Agricultural Engineering Potsdam-Bornim in 2007, and visiting researcher in the Bavarian State Institute for Agricultrual Engineering (LfL, Fresing) in 2011. Researcher in ainia Technology Centre since 2008, in the field of biomethanation of agro-industrial waste through anaerobic co-digestion. Development of economic feasibility tools for biogas plants, analysis of agricultural valorisation of anaerobic digestates from horticultural crops and studies on biomethane applications. Experience in related projects: PROBIOGAS project, focused on development of sustainable production systems and use of agro-industrial biogas in Spain, DIGESMART project, focused on digestate from manure recycling technologies, and AGROBIOMET project, focused on sustainable production and use of biomethane as vehicle fuel using manure and alternative biomasses, among others.

The aim of BIOGAS3 is to promote the sustainable production of renewable energy from the biogas obtained of agricultural residues and food and beverage industry waste (agro-food waste) in small-scale concepts for energy self-sufficiency. Despite its multiple benefits, anaerobic digestion (AD) is not yet widely implemented in the agro-food sectors. New sustainable AD concepts are needed to increase the demand of biogas solutions. The project strategy includes: i) Analysis of the needs of end-users. ii) Development of tools to address these needs. iii) on-field actions to bring the developed tools to the end-users, including training sessions, workshops, webinars, etc. The main results of the project are summarized below:
1) Sustainable small-scale AD models based on existing technologies of small-scale AD to serve as examples for potentially interested agro-food companies.
2) Business collaboration models and smallBIOGAS software to evaluate the sustainability of new small scale biogas plants.
3) Build-up of skills and awareness on small-scale AD through on-line and face-to-face trainings, live webinars, etc. (ongoing).
4) Set the ground for new investments in agro-food companies with potential to implement small-scale AD (ongoing).
The activities to date point to a growing interest in the small-scale biogas production for energy self-consumption, especially in the countries where policies supporting renewables are changing. The agro-food sub-sectors with higher interest are those that have high energy consumption and significant waste generation, and the waste management is costly. The biogas plant constructors are ready to provide small-scale solutions to the agro-food industry. Several examples exist with proven economic feasibility.

Dr Silvia Tedesco is a lecturer and researcher at Dublin City University. She finished her IRCSET sponsored PhD in 2013, and she currently is co-principal investigator of two research grants on biogas generation, funded by Enterprise Ireland and SFI. Her research interests involve seaweed-based biorefinery, biogas production, biomethane upgrade and CHP generation.

Seaweeds (macroalgae) have been recently attracting more and more interest as a third generation feedstock for bioenergy and biofuels. However, several barriers impede the deployment of competitive seaweed-derived energy. The high cost associated to seaweed farming and harvesting as well as their seasonal availability and biochemical composition currently make macroalgae exploitation too expensive for energy production only. Recent studies have indicated a possible solution may lay in seaweed integrated biorefinery, in which a bioenergy and/or biofuel production step ends an extractions cascade of high-value chemicals. This results in the double benefit of producing renewable energy while adopting a zero waste approach, as fostered by recent EU societal challenges. This study investigates the biogas potential of residues from Ulva spp. seaweed after biorefinery extractions, which resulted close to raw un-extracted seaweed.

Muhammad Farooq is 2nd year PhD Mechanical Engineering student at Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh UK. Currently, he is working on the Regenerative activated carbon adsorption for low lost Bio-methane production from Bio-gas. He is author of number of publications in the area of energy generation. In 2014, he presented his research findings at various conferences including Super-gen Bio-Energy Hub Annual Conference Birmingham, UK Energy Storage Conference, Coventry & 1st Energy Academy Conference Edinburgh. Energy Storage Research Network (ESRN) awarded him travel grant to attend UKES Conference. He has been selected as exchange research scholar for the Clean Coal Energy Generation at Zhejiang University China. In 2015, he presented his PhD research at UK AD & Bio-gas Conference Birmingham and 2nd IMPEE Conference Edinburgh

Anaerobic digestion (AD) industry in the UK has experienced rapid growth in recent years over 130 operational AD plants in the UK outside the sewage treatment sector and more than 340 further projects are under development. Thus, there is an increasing demand for upgraded biogas to be used as vehicle fuel or injected to the natural gas grid. Since a typical biogas contains 1000 - 10,000 ppm hydrogen sulphide, its removal below 5ppm is required for uses beyond combined heat and power (CHP). Although a number of established methods exist for removal of hydrogen sulphide they tend to be costly for an average sized AD facility. A common industrial alternative to large-scale water-scrubbing is to adsorb hydrogen sulphide using a granular activated carbon (GAC) bed which is subsequently disposed as hazard waste. Accordingly, this research will focus on regeneration of activated carbon using an electric potential. The driving force is a high capacity system that is regenerative, inexpensive and leaves no waste. A 1% hydrogen sulphide / 99% nitrogen gas mixture is used as a benchmarked against an industrial activated carbon specifically used for hydrogen sulphide removal. Several Electric Conductive Activated Carbons (ECAC) will then be reported for their adsorption/ desorption potential. It is envisioned that this method can transform the production of bio-methane where early estimates have calculated that a regenerative system could save up to 50% of running costs.

Mrs. Sofia Gonzalez is Hergueta, Master in Biotechnology and Management of Energy Projects. Currently she is serving as Technical Director of Biogas and Biomass Gasification in Husesolar.

The food industry (food processing, catering, agriculture and livestock farms) produce large amounts of organic waste. To reduce expenses and to gain profits, this waste can be recycled by means of anaerobic digestion to obtain biogas, which can be used as fuel gas, as well as digestate (a high quality fertiliser). The key to avoid dependence on subsidies for the production of renewable energy is to identify how much thermal or electric energy would be saved by the introduction of this process and how much time it would take to recover the initial investment. In this presentation, we will see a brief introduction to anaerobic digestion technology (i.e. what is biogas, how it is produced and what are its chemical properties) as well as:
1. What expenses of food industries and agricultural and livestock farms can be transformed into savings and income.
2. Relevant aspects in the management of biogas projects (evaluate and avoid risks to optimize the time) issues.
2.1. Strategy: Replacement of thermal consumption in an industry for the production of renewable thermal energy by biogas.
2.2. Design of proper diet of sustrates to ensure stability of anaerobic digestion process, correct composition of biogas for use as fuel gas, ensuring quality digestate.
2.3. Site selection: Analysis of real case scenario to identify key success criteria for the selection of the location of biogas plants.
2.4. Change management aspects: Communication with public administrations and the public.

Dr. Hasan Merdun is currently serving as a faculty member at the Department of Environmental Engineering, Akdeniz University in Turkey. He got his undergraduate degree on Agricultural Engineering in Turkey. He got his MSc degree at Agricultural Engineering Department and PhD degree at Crop and Soil Environmental Sciences in Clemson University, USA, on the subjects of soil and water resources. After getting his PhD degree, he started working at the university as an academician. Around five years ago, he shifted his research interests from soil and water resources to bioenergy production through thermochemical processes / technologies, specifically fast pyrolysis and gasification. He worked with the Catalytic Processes and Materials Group as a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Twente, Netherlands, during June 4 - September 20, 2013. He studied the effects of different catalysts on the yield and quality of bio-oil and gas mixture produced by fast pyrolysis process. He has a specially designed drop-tube reactor for fast pyrolysis and is currently working on two projects. His research mission is to add value to the national and global bioenergy sector by applying an integrated biorefinery approach for the development of renewable energy technologies.

Energy demand is systematically increasing in almost all over the world based on the increase in population and technological development. Energy can be supplied mainly from fossil fuels (coal, oil, natural gas, etc.) and renewable resources (solar, wind, water/hydropower, biomass, etc.). Fossil fuels are heterogeneously distributed on earth, have limited reserves, and environmentally problems due to unwanted emissons to natural resources (air, water, soil, etc.). Renewable energy sources are renewable, reliable, environmental friendly, and sustainable; therefore, they are one of the best solutions to get rid of these problems of fossil fuels. Biomass is an important renewable energy source in all over the world used directly as combustion material or biofuel produced from conversion of biomass by means of modern technologies. Biomass energy or bioenergy studies have attracted attention to reduce fossil fuel consumption and emissons, as a result, global warming and climate change. In this study, after giving basic knowledge on biomass and its properties in addition to biomass conversion technologies, it is aimed to compare scientific studies relate to biomass conversion in Europe and Turkey. Firstly, the processes of biochemical (anaaerobic digestion) and thermochemical (pyrolysis and gasification) technologies commonly used in the conversion of biomass to biofuels or useful chemicals, factors or parameters affecting these processes, and technologies used in these processes are explained. Then, scientific studies conducted in Europe and Turkey by using these conversion technologies of biomass are compared. For this purpose, the studies on biochemical and thermochemical conversion of biomass in Turkey are compared, in respect to the applied technologies and parameters, with the studies on biocemical in Germany and thermochemical in the Netherlands. The results of this review study show that, in general, the studies on biomass conversion in European Countries has started earlier than that of Turkey, more modern technologies are applied in Europe because of more research funds to these studies, and based on that, more studies with more parameters with comprehensive values and more sensitive analyses are conducted in in European Countries compared to Turkey.