Day 1 :
Keynote Forum
Vijay Singh
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA
Keynote: Biodiesel and ethanol from modifi ed sugarcane
Time : 10:00-10:30
Biography:
Vijay Singh received his MS and PhD in Food and Bioprocess Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is Professor in Food and Bioprocess Engineering and Associate Director of Integrated Bioprocessing Research Laboratory at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His research is on development of bioprocessing technologies for corn/biomass to ethanol, advanced biofuels, food and industrial products. He has directed more than $9.5 million research; authored more than 200 publications and holds ten patents related to corn processing and biofuels production. He has received numerous Excellence In Research Awards from professional societies, academic institutions and trade organizations.
Abstract:
A new bioenergy crop has been recently developed for the US: Lipid cane, a sugarcane engineered to produce non-food oil, as drop-in fuels, in place of sugar. Lipidcane present excellent potential to serve as a renewable fuel crops. Lipid cane is a crop suitable for land in the South Eastern US that is marginal, or unsuited for food crop production. At the current yields of sugarcane in the SE US, this would produce about 33 barrels of oil per acre, compared to about 1 from soybean. By increasing
the photosynthesis, even higher barrels of oil per acre can be produced. Sugarcane is far less demanding on soils and fertilizers than food crops in general, and can be grown on land unsuited to food/feed crops. Th e US south-east has large areas of land that have dropped out of food and fi ber crops agriculture, a decline that continues to this day. Yet this area receives high rainfall, suffi cient to avoid the need for irrigation, and the long growing season maximizes the amount of sunlight these crops can capture over the year. By modifying the plant’s own triaclyglyceride (oil, TAG) pathway to up-regulate synthesis in the mature stem and down regulate consumption, so causing accumulation. TAGs, in lipid cane are similar to those of soybean and can be easily converted to biodiesel. Preliminary estimates indicate that using the 23 billion acres of marginal land in the SE US that is not in food production, more than 25 billion gallons of oil could be produced with these crops. Techno-economic evaluation of lipid cane as biofuel crops will be presented.
Keynote Forum
Jordan Godwin
Platts, USA
Keynote: Sink or Swim: Navigating the biofuels climate in an oil price recession
Time : 10:30-11:00
Biography:
Jordan Godwin is a Biofuels Analyst for Platts in Houston, Texas. He has covered biofuels pricing, trends and policies since 2012, originally serving as a Price Reporter on the US ethanol, biodiesel and RINs markets for two years before moving over to the Platts Analytics team. His main areas of focus include supply/ demand forecasts, tracking global trade fl ows and other trends in the biofuels industries, with a key focus on North American, Asian and African markets. Prior to joining Platts, he served as a Journalist for two years after receiving his Bachelor of Journalism from the University of Texas, Austin in 2010.
Abstract:
With so much uncertainty plaguing global biofuels markets in 2015, producers, investors, traders and market participants of all backgrounds need answers on: What direction does the industry takes in 2016? How has the historic oil decline aff ected the biofuels outlook in the past six months, and what does it mean for the industry moving forward? Will policy setbacks in the US and UK continue to stunt biofuel industry growth in 2016? How can the markets thrive with explosively volatile feedstock agriculture prices dragging margins on for a rollercoaster ride? Will Asian and Middle Eastern markets continue to emerge as major consumers in 2016 and if so, how can Western holders capitalize? Platts off ers answers to all of these questions with our vast and in-depth global biofuels market coverage. For nearly three years, I worked as a Price Reporter with an ear on the ground as US ethanol markets shift ed all over the place, driven by wild corn prices and federal government policy swings. Now, my mission as a Biofuels Analyst is to provide insight into both the status quo in the global biofuels picture as well as the future of the markets, utilizing specifi c historical trends and dozens of producer margin models.
Group Photo and Networking & Refreshment Break 11:00-11:20 @ Foyer Versailles
Keynote Forum
Yinbo Qu
Shandong University, China
Keynote: On-site cellulase production with feeding spent sulfite liquor by Penicellium oxalicum for integrated biorefinery
Time : 11:20-11:50
Biography:
Prof. Qu graduated from Shandong University in 1974, got his Ph.D. there in 1986, became a research assistant in 1981, and became full professor in 1993 in Shandong University. He had been a visiting scholar in The University of Tokyo, Lund University and Kyoto University. His main research interest is biodegradation and bioconversion of lignocellulosics by microorganisms. With cooperation of his colleagues, more than 300 papers and 10 books were published in his research fields. He was elected as Vice President of Chinese Society for Microbiology in 2006 and Advisory Board Member of Asia Federation of Biotechnology in 2010.
Abstract:
For improving economic feasibility of cellulosic ethanol from agricultural residues, cellulase should be produced on-site to reduce the cost of cellulose saccharification. Shandong Tranlin Group has developed a set of technologies to produce pulp and paper from million tons of straws by ammonium sulfite process, and produce fulvic acid as fertilizer from the spent sulfite black liquor. A very large amount of waste straw (straw clippings or chaff, about one third of feedstock) was leaved there without valuable usage. A new process was proposed to produce ethanol from those waste straws. The waste straw and wheat bran was used as main component of medium for cellulase production on-site. Since the black liquor contains large amount of oligosaccharides and nitrogen, it was fed into bioreactors as inducer and nutrients for cellulase production by fed-batch process. The cellulase activities increased at very low cost. The xylose in the hydrolysate also was fermented to ethanol by an engineered yeast strain constructed in our laboratory to increase ethanol concentration and yield. A pilot plant with a capacity of 2,500 tons cellulosic ethanol per year was designed and is constructing now, with expectation to built commercial facilities with capacity of 100,000 tons ethanol per year accompany with paper and fertilizer products hereafter.
Keynote Forum
Jianzhong Sun
Jiangsu University, China
Keynote: How to Crack Down the Biomass Recalcitrance for Fuels and Chemicals: A Novel Approach from Nature-Inspired Technology
Time : 00:00
Biography:
Dr. Jianzhong Sun has completed his PhD from Louisiana State University, USA and 2 year further postdoctoral career at same university. He was then to be hired as an assistan professor for 5 years at Mississippi State University, USA, and later, since 2009 he has served as an outstanding professor at Jiangsu University, China up to present time. Also, he is a director and founder of Biofuels Institute, Jiangsu University, a professional research organization that has hired more than 20 faculty and professionals with some graduate students. He has published more than 90 peer-reviewed papers in reputed SCI journals, 7 professional books (both in English and in Chinese) and has also served as a guest editor, editorial board member, as well as a refree for more than 20 international SCI journals. He is salso curently served as a vice president of China Energy Association.
Abstract:
In line with the requirements for sustainable economics and clean environments, biofuels from cellulosic biomass have recently received tremendous attention both in industry and academic communities worldwide. However, despite the surging popularity of biofuels as transportation alternatives, they in current have barely put a dent in our use of oil. It is clear that breakthrough technologies are still needed to overcome barriers, particularly for deeper understanding of biomass recalcitrance, developing cost-effective processes for converting biomass to fuels and chemicals. At present, it has become a world leading-edge research field to evaluate and mimic a variety of natural lignocellulosic systems, such as cellulose-eating animals, wood-feeding termites/insects, or other biomass utilization systems, to achieve efficient conversion and utilization of lignocellulosic biomass for fuels and chemicals. This review addresses various lignocellulolytic systems, their potential values, challenges, and opportunities that exist for scientists and industries to advance the biofuel technology, where the following topics will be further addressed: 1) Scientific and industrial potentials of the natural biomass utilization systems; 2) Novel biocatalysts explored from natural biomass utilization systems and their engineering potential for industrial uses; 3) Novel microbial symbionts discovered from natural biomass utilization systems by “omics” technologies; 4) Bioreactor innovations mimicked and advanced from the efficient biomass utilization systems by nature-inspired technology. With this overview, I hope that you can sense the excitement of the scientific endeavors both from China and the rest of world to crack the hard nut in developing lignocellulosic biofuels.