13^th International Congress on Biofuels and Bioenergy October 18-20, 2018 Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Biography:

Roger Ruan is the Director of Center for Biorefining and Professor of Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering Department at University of Minnesota, and Fellow of ASABE. He has published over 400 papers in referred journals, books, and book chapters, and over 300 meeting papers and other reports, and holds many patents. He is also a top-cited author in the area of agricultural and biological sciences. He has served as guest editor and/or editorial board member of Bioresource Technology, etc. and an Editor-in-Chief and chairman of the board for International Journal of Agricultural and Biological Engineering.

Abstract:

Various biomass, such as crop residues, food wastes, and municipal wastes are a potential feedstock for the production of renewable energy and fuels. Gasification and pyrolysis are efficient ways for conversion and utilization of these wastes. Fluidized bed processes that are the most common methods employed in fast pyrolysis and gasification have some significant issues include a complex and expensive system and process, high ash particles in products due to violent agitation, the low energy density of syngas due to the dilution by carrying gases, etc. In this presentation, we will present our improvement and new development of a fast microwave assisted downdraft catalytic pyrolysis and gasification processes and system using the novel microwave heating mechanism in which microwave susceptors and catalysts are used to significantly improve the heating characteristics, and the yield and quality of the products. Solid feedstocks are directly fed onto the hot microwave absorbents efficiently and efficiently maintained at desirable temperatures, resulting in higher temperature rise rate of the feedstock and therefore much more efficient absorption of the microwave energy also, and in turn fast gasification and pyrolysis. A separated packed-bed catalysis for the volatiles was also developed to improve the quality and yield of the pyrolytic and gasification products. Results and discussion on the effects of key process variables such as microwave susceptor type, particle size, and loading, microwave power input and control, feedstock loading method, raw material and catalyst temperatures, and the ratio of raw material and catalyst loading on product yields and quality, and energy consumption will be presented.

Biography:

Rafal Strzalka has been working at the Stuttgart University of Applied Sciences since 2002. As part of his work, he was involved in numerous national and European projects. Since 2013, he has been coordinating the research activities of the university in the field of energetic use of biomass as a project manager. The core competencies of him includes the optimization of energy production processes, the comprehensive analysis of biomass energy infrastructure and specialized, simulation-based efficiency enhancement measures for biomass-fired energy generation systems.

Abstract:

Bioenergy is nowadays by far the most important renewable energy source. In order to achieve high sustainability of bioenergy utilization under the increasing requirements of future-oriented energy supply, the performance of biomass plants has to be increased and used “smarter” as before. The highest efficiency of the utilization of biomass potentials is currently achieved in decentralized systems, as they can be characterized by relatively high conversion efficiencies, high flexibility, and reasonable investment costs. Due to their system characteristics, decentralized bioenergy plants are operated in a heat-driven mode, which leads to problems to achieve the designed conversion efficiency if an urban area with fluctuating heat demand serves as the heat sink. Resulting from this difficult operating conditions of bioenergy plants, the aim of the study is the development of innovative system applications that will enable optimal integration of bioenergy plants with the objective of optimal exploitation of their system potential in the context of future-oriented energy supply. In the case of decentralized bioenergy plants, the available options for the application of effective process control technology are limited due to the scaling effects. This usually leads to fluctuations of the process parameters and consequently to significant losses in system efficiency. To solve this problem, an optimization concept developed in the context of the presented study, consisting of new hardware components for combustion air management and fuel parameters control will be described in the paper. The presented approach includes also the implementation of model-based improvement of the system control, which will lead to a significant increase in the system stability and process efficiency. In order to achieve optimal integration of modern bioenergy plants within sustainable energy supply systems, the infrastructure requirements of the supply areas must also be taken into account. For this purpose, a 3D CityGML model of the building infrastructure was developed by using a GIS system. The simulation platform created in this way was extended by a heat network model. This platform can be used to predict the evolution of heat demand of the supplied urban area, which will make the operation of bioenergy plants more efficient. Furthermore, this platform can be applied to remedy infrastructure deficits, which can additionally increase supply efficiency. The comprehensive system application presented in the study, consisting of new hardware components, model-based system optimization, and an infrastructure integration platform, can be universally used to improve the operation of existing and new planned bioenergy plants. With respect of a large number of bioenergy plants as the most important producer of regenerative energy, the utilization potential of this effective system application can be estimated as very high.

Biography:

Peter Jackman is a Director in both the Biotechnology and Cleantech Industry Groups at the Washington, DC-based intellectual property law firm Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox. He helps to protect industrial biotechnologies including biomass, biofuel, biochemical, bioprocessing, and genetic engineering technologies, leveraging his BS in biology and MS in microbiology. He frequently lectures and publishes on patent issues surrounding green technologies. He is a contributing author of Patent Office Litigation, Second Edition, published in 2017, and further served on the BIO International Convention and the BIO World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology Program Committees. His practice includes counseling clients in global patent portfolio procurement and management strategies, technology transfer, invalidity, non-infringement, freedom-to-operate and patentability opinions, and due diligence investigations. He also assists clients in reexamination and Inter Partes Review proceedings at the USPTO.

Abstract:

Modern agriculture is being transformed by a confluence of advancing technologies. Agricultural biology, cell biology, genome and proteome research, gene sequencing, and gene editing technology like CRISPR is reshaping agriculture to face the challenges of an expanding global population, climate change, and a finite natural resource base. Patents provide the infrastructure to protect innovation and enable technology progress in the area of agriculture, particularly biomass. According to data obtained from the US Patent and Trademark Office, patenting in agricultural technologies has increased steadily over the past few decades. For many years, the only way to challenge the validity of a patent was through protracted and expensive district court litigation. Inter parts review was introduced by the America Invents Act on September 16, 2012, and designed as an efficient alternative to district court litigation to challenge patent validity. Since its debut, IPRs have enjoyed widespread adoption across many industries. As of March 2018, more than 7,500 petitions have been filed. Although the total number and frequency of IPR petitions filed related to the biomass industry are relatively low compared to other industries, the data are interesting. To date, about 30 IPRs have been filed attacking plant utility patents. Given the IPR filing rate in the biotech industry, it is reasonable to believe that more patents in this sector will be challenged in the future. Patent owners who believe that their patents may be challenged in an IPR proceeding should consider adjusting their patent prosecution strategies accordingly. This presentation will provide an analysis of recent IPR filings related to the plant industry and discusses action steps based on lessons learned from these proceedings to further strengthen patent portfolios in view of IPRs.

Biography:

Cristian Panaite is a Managing Director at Forstpan, a company which provides consulting services for wood trade business, including acquisition strategies, budget planning, and legal advisory, timber harvesting management, and personal training. He’s professional experience is based on his work in main multinational companies present on Romanian wood market (Romanel Wood Industry, Kastamonu Romania SA, Kronospan) in different positions, from junior buyer to wood purchase manager. Holds a Bachelor Degree in Forestry and a Master Degree in Business Administration.

Abstract:

The bioeconomy has two main drivers: climate protection, especially by reducing the emission of greenhouse gases (GHG); and the foreseeable shift from fossil-based to renewable feedstocks. Biomass is widely accepted as the only sustainable alternative to fossil carbon sources and the starting point for developing production processes that can be characterized as having a low, or even zero carbon footprints. The bioeconomy development faces a number of hurdles. Although the processing and transformation of agricultural and silvicultural biomass to chemicals and fuels is established, the feedstock base of these industries is still dominated by fossil carbon sources. However, the transition into the bioeconomy is also an opportunity to build new cross-sectorial value chains. A bioeconomy involves three elements: biotechnological knowledge, renewable biomass, and integration across the application. The emerging “bioeconomy” reflects the dramatic increase in companies using renewable resources to develop new products and processes. The social benefits of the bioeconomy are compelling: expanded energy availability, better food security, mitigation of climate change, and more. Evaluated at 2 trillion Euro and employer for 21.5 mil people, the existing European bioeconomy market is a strong foundation for further expansion and development. Its potential growth is based on sustainable management and availability of primary biomass and various side streams. The present biomass supply in EU is estimated at 314 MtOE and the biomass potential is between 375 to 429 MtOE depending on the sustainability criteria applied.

Biography:

MR Riazi is currently professor of chemical engineering at Kuwait University. He was previously a faculty member of chemical and petroleum engineering at various universities in US, Canada, Europe, and the Middle East. He has published extensively including 6 books on petroleum and biofuel properties and processing technology. He is the founding editor and editor in chief of IJOGCT (London, UK) and an editor of the Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering (Elsevier). He is an elected Fellow of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) and is a licensed professional engineer in Ontario, Canada (P.Eng.).

Abstract:

Use of biofuels in the transport sector is on the rise considering limited available fossil energy resources, the environmental issues associated with the use of fossil fuels and attention to the security of supply. In this presentation, we discuss properties that are important for the quality of fuels and the environmental emissions for both petrofuels (such as diesel fuel) and biofuels (such as biodiesel). These properties include density, distillation temperature, viscosity, pour point and properties related to cold weather, vapor pressure, solubility, carbon residue, elemental composition, acid content, cetane index, the heating value or energy content and the C/H ratio. In addition, we discuss factors that affect the quality of biofuels, such as the composition of raw materials and processing methods as well as the blending of bio and petrofuels. Finally, a comparison is made on the environmental impacts and the emissions from an internal combustion engine when a biofuel or petrofuel is used especially on the CO, CO₂, NOx and sulfur emissions.

Biography:

Elsa Weiss-Hortala is Assistant Professor at IMT Mines Albi in the field of energy and environment issues. She has completed her PhD in 2006, after obtaining a Masters in Chemical Engineering, Chemistry and Materials Science. She is involved in research projects dealing with carbon materials, using wet and dry thermochemical processes. She is currently a member of the WasteEng Organising Committee (International conferences on Waste and Biomass Valorization) and is Vice-President of ETRA (European Tyre Recycling Association) for pyrolysis aspects. She published more than 25 papers in peer-reviewed journals.

Abstract:

Kitchen waste (KW) are interesting resources of bio-oil production because of their high content of organic matter. Hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) seems to be a more suitable process since these wastes have a high moisture content. KW result in more than 30 wt.% of crude bio-oil yield with high HHV (>35 MJ/kg) using hydrothermal liquefaction. Thus HTL is identified to be a promising technology for bio-oil production. Carbohydrates, proteins, lipids, and inorganic minerals are the main components of KW and the main sources of the oil products during the HTL process. Due to the high variability and different conversion rate of these components in HTL, it is hard to predict or control the yield and quality of oil products obtained from different KW sources. In this research, the characteristic of bio-oil products obtained from HTL of real KW and optimization of the reaction parameters are studied and compared to simulated KW. 43~46wt.% of bio-oil were produced at 300~360°C, and the gas oil fraction of the bio-oil was over 50wt.%. Simulated KW (a mixture of starch, tryptone, and rapeseed oil) in binary and ternary mixtures was used to study the interactions. The interaction of carbohydrate and protein presents a significant effect, resulting in an increase of 11.1wt.% on bio-oil yield, and a decrease of 10.0wt.% on char yield, respectively. Finally, the interaction method seems to be useful to predict the bio-oil yield from the model compounds, with less than 1wt.% of absolute difference with experiments, while the char yield is slightly higher than the predicted value.

Biography:

Andrew Ledlie is the North American Marketing Manager for Biorefining at Solenis. He has 27 years of experience in a variety of roles and industries for Water and Process treatment at Solenis and is currently responsible for strategic planning and development and launch of new technologies into the ethanol market. He is a frequent speaker at ethanol conferences and author of numerous articles in Ethanol Producer Magazine and Biofuels International Journal. A graduate in Molecular Biology at McMaster Universtiy, he resides in Hamilton, Ontario.

Abstract:

Ethanol plants rely on cooling towers to regulate temperatures in various parts of the process in order to run efficiently and productively. This cooling is so critical to ethanol production that some plants use chillers during the summer months to provide additional cooling in order to maintain production levels. In 2017 Solenis introduced North American ethanol producers to the hidden threat of biofilm in these cooling water systems. The issue is that while operators have clean-in-place procedures to address the process side fouling of critical heat exchangers, the cooling tower water side of these heat exchangers often gets less if any attention. Additionally, water reuse demands limit treatment options in cooling systems. As a result, biofilms, a thin coating of bacteria including their secretions and any entrained solids in the water, can form on the cooling water side of these exchanges and impede heat transfer. Lastly, these films are highly corrosive to the underlying metallurgy, resulting in leaks and failures in mere years when the equipment should be expected to last for decades. While awareness continues to grow, this paper will build on the knowledge shared in 2017, and reinforce the importance of controlling biofilm by providing followup performance data on a novel treatment program called ClearPoint. Data from one ethanol producer which has been using this program for over a year now will be shared. Two technologies, new to the ethanol industry, one being a real-time biofilm monitoring device, and the other being an alternative microbiocide to chlorine, are at the heart of this program. We will share how this approach has helped this ethanol producer to reduce chiller usage by over 80% during the summer of 2017 (as part of a new larger cooling tower installation), in addition to a greater than tenfold reduction in mild steel and copper corrosion in their cooling system. This improvement has maximized the asset life of their system and saved significantly on energy while minimizing costs and downtime associated with repairing leaks. 

Biography:

Wendy E Lamson is a patent agent and partner at the firm of Perley-Robertson, Hill & McDougall.  She has over 17 years of experience creating patent portfolios for Canadian companies, including a local Ottawa biofuel company. She is a published author on patent utility requirements and holds an LLM in Intellectual Property Law at Osgoode Hall Law School (2015) and a BSc in biochemistry from Simon Fraser University (2000). She blogs on various topics directed to helping inventors achieve success in patenting green technology at www.patentgreentech.com.

Abstract:

Lignocellulosic biofuel patenting has experienced rapid growth in the last 15 years. Despite some recent downward trends, cellulosic ethanol and biodiesel patenting have both increased roughly 7 times since 2003, and biodiesel patenting has increased by around 8 times. However, an increasingly crowded patent space poses challenges for start-ups and mid-size companies to secure patent rights in this emerging field. Added to this challenge is that US supreme court case law developments are not favorable to patentees. A small to medium size enterprise with limited resources, however, can build a winning patent portfolio in such an environment to attract investment by implementing a strategic patent strategy. A strategic patent strategy serves to carve out a niche that adds value to an organization rather than being a drain on resources. Such a strategy should be implemented at each stage of the patenting process, including invention mining, drafting and filing the patent application, and examination of patent applications. On-going culling of a patent portfolio to ensure alignment with business objectives is also necessary to extract maximum value. The protection of trade secrets, particularly in an era of increased reliance on digital information, should dove-tail with developing a strategic patent portfolio.

Biography:

Takeshi Sako received his PhD from Tokyo Metropolitan University. He worked on chemical engineering at National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology for 22 years. He became a professor at the Department of Materials Science and Technology at Shizuoka University in 2000. He was deans of Faculty of Engineering and Graduate School of Integrated Science and Technology from 2013 to 2017. He has worked on the supercritical/subcritical fluid technology for more than 30 years. In particular, he has studied the production of many kinds of biofuels from waste/unused materials using hydrothermal treatment.

Abstract:

Waste biomass is promising raw materials in the 21^st century because they are produced much and carbon neutral for use. We show several techniques to convert waste biomass to useful fuels and clean energy with hydrothermal treatment.

(1) Production of powder fuel: Mixture of waste biomass and plastics is one of the refractory wastes. The new technique was developed to convert waste mixture to clean fuel with the high heat of combustion. The waste mixture was treated in hot water at around 200^oC and 2MPa. We obtained the powder fuel with 1-2mm in diameter and 25MJ/kg in heat of combustion.

(2) Production of hydrogen gas: Hydrogen gas was produced from waste biomass using superheated steam. Waste biomass was converted to a gaseous mixture of hydrogen, methane, carbon dioxide and others. Furthermore superheated steam itself was decomposed to hydrogen and, as the result, the hydrogen yield increased much.

(3) Production of bio-ethanol: Effective bio-ethanol production was developed by using paper sludge as a raw material and the combined process of hot water hydrolysis and enzymatic saccharification. Combined process realized more than 80% of high glucose yield and no production of furfural compounds, which are inhibitors of ethanol fermentation.

(4) Production of thermal energy: 2-step superheated steam oxidation using catalyst was developed to incinerate livestock waste completely and safely to carbon dioxide, water, and nitrogen gas. The toxic and bad-smelling ammonia was decomposed rapidly. The thermal energy was recovered using a high-pressure heat exchanger efficiently.

Biography:

Satindar Kaur completed her PhD in Chemistry from Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar (India). Was later on appointed as Professor and Head Department of Sugar and Alcohol Technology. She has more than 80 publications in international journals. For one of the student’s PhD thesis has been published in LAMBERT Publications. Has one patent to her credit and a life member of International Sugar Organization (ISO) and ISSCT having presented papers in ISSCT international conferences. Was appointed as a referee in ICUMSA for plantation white sugar for GS-9 and S-6. Attended the ICUMSA meet as a referee at the University of Cambridge in 2012. Has been working in the field of biomass conversion with one PhD student presently working on Thermochemical and biochemical methods using hybrid methods with developed and new strains in the laboratory for quick and efficient biomass conversion to bioethanol and biodiesel.

Abstract:

The Earth is passing through a very difficult phase of global warming with the CO₂ levels having shot up from 280ppm in 1960 to more than 400ppm now (Dangerous Levels Beyond 450ppm). In ice age it was 180ppm. The temperature risen by more than 1.4℉ (0.8℃) leading to problems related to Tsunami, floods, melting glaciers and erratic seasons. Anthropogenic emissions contribute to global warming by burning fossil fuels such as coal, petroleum diesel and above all deforestation in the name of development, for forests are great carbon sinks. We have reached a stage where the use of fossil fuels are totally stopped and renewable fuels such as   Bio-fuels such as Bio-Diesel and Bio–Ethanol which are” solar liquids” are promoted and are the need of the hour. They are going to play an extremely important role in addressing global warming concerns associated with petroleum fuels. But also in meeting India’s energy needs, which are expected to grow at 4.8% over the next couple of decades, and will  address energy security as we presently import 75% of the total crude costing 7lac-crore/year and also. Brazil has made a turnabout in the economy by using Ethanol as a substitute to gasoline while India has missed the race. Diesel is highly polluting and carcinogenic and its demand is five times petrol. So it’s very pertinent that it be replaced. Ethanol and biodiesel are gaining worldwide acceptance as biofuels, ethanol in spark-ignition engines and bio-diesel in compression-ignition engine vehicles which up to 15-20% blending need no change in engine. Other fuels are dimethyl ether (DME) or blends with diesel for buses trucks as clean fluids by Volvos in Japan, Europe, USA and Fischer-Tropsch liquids (FTL) made from coal used in South Africa as diesel. Nitin Gadkari, Transport Minister says  blending of Bioethanol will go up to  22.5% and of bio-diesel up to 15%. As ethanol produced from molasses is not sufficient to meet the blending even up to 10%. Thus, the second generation fuel from the lignocellulosic biomass like bagasse wood etc needs to be tapped. In our laboratory both Bio-Ethanol and Bio-Diesel are being synthesized. Bio-Ethanol has been produced from Corn Cob and Bio-Diesel by the effect of Oleaginous microorganisms including bacteria, mold, yeast, microalgae effect on Bagasse to produce lipids and their further transesterification to produce Bio-Diesel. For Ethanol the bioconversion was carried out using a hybrid approach for co-utilization of dilute acid hydrolysate (pentose rich stream) and hexose rich stream obtained by enzymatic saccharification employing commercial Cellic–Ctec2 as well as in-house cellulase preparations derived from Malbranchea cinnamomea, Scytalidium thermophilium and a recombinant Aspergillus strain. For Ethanol, Acid hydrolysis (1% H₂SO₄) of corncob at 1:15 solid-liquid ratio led to removal of 80.5% of hemicellulosic fraction. The solid glucan rich fraction (63.5% glucan, 8.3% pentosans and 27.9% lignin) was hydrolyzed at 10% substrate loading rate with different enzymes for 72 h at 50°C resulting  in release of 732 and 535 (mg/g substrate) total sugars by Cellic-CTec2 and M. cinnamomea derived enzymes, respectively. The fermentation of enzyme hydrolysate with co-culture of Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Pichia stipitis added in sequential manner resulted in 3.42 and 2.50% (v/v) ethanol in hydrolysate obtained from commercial Cellic-CTec2 and M. cinnamomea, respectively. Employing a hybrid approach, where dilute acid hydrolysate stream was added to solid residue along with enzyme Cellic-CTec2 during staggered simultaneous saccharification and fermentation at substrate loading rate of 15% resulted  in 252g ethanol/kg corncob. By this method glucose produced was immediately fermented and less inhibitors were produced making the process more efficient and quick. The studies have been monitored by SEM, TEM, XRD, and FTIR to corroborate the results. Bio-diesel is monoalkyl esters of vegetable oils such as canola (rapeseed), cotton seed, palm, peanut, soybean and sunflower oils. Rapeseed and sunflower oils are predominantly used in Europe while palm oil predominates in Tropical countries. Oleaginous microorganisms including bacteria, mold, yeast, microalgae are considered promising candidates as they are not affected by seasons, high lipid contents and can be produced from a full diversity of carbon sources to give a similarity of fatty composition to that of vegetable oils. They  can achieve high cell density on a variety of low cost materials such as industrial sugars, agricultural waste and raw glycerol generated as bio-diesel waste. Bio-Diesel has been produced from Oleaginous yeast Trichosporon sps. yeast strain which has been isolated from decayed wood. Its potential to produce lipids has been evaluated on glucose, glycerol and sugarcane bagasse   acid hydrolysate. The fermentation process was carried out  for 120h at 30℃. Lipids were extracted and subjected to transesterification using acidic Methanol (1% H₂SO₄). The mixture was heated at 60℃ for 12h at alcohol/oil ratio of 6:1 and top phase containing fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) analysis of lipids was carried out by GC-FID and NMR. It  revealed the presence of Oleic acid, Palmitic acid, Linoleic acid and Stearic acid. The Biodiesel properties (Iodine Number, Cetane Number, and cold filter plugging point) showed the sustainability of the yeast strain with potential for Biodiesel production. The cetane number of the lipids ranged from 53.39 to 59.59 indicating stability of Bio-diesel production. Sugarcane bagasse is one of the important lingo-cellulosic agricultural by-products which upon acid hydrolysis (1% H₂SO₄ with a solid-liquid ratio of 1:15 in an autoclave for 30 mins) results in the xylose-rich stream. This can be utilized for the biosynthesis of lipids. The possibility of using the biodiesel derived waste, glycerol and acid hydrolysate of agriculture waste for cultivation of yeast culture will simultaneously provide a method for the disposal of large volumes of algae biodiesel derived waste. India is a very diverse country with rich dense forests of the North-East. Attempts are being made for the production of Bio-Ethanol from Bamboo.

Biography:

Deepika Awasthi has completed her PhD in Microbiology and Cell Science from University of Florida, USA. She is currently working as a Biologist Postdoc Fellow at Joint BioEnergy Institute in Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, CA, USA.

Abstract:

Methane is an abundantly present, highly potent greenhouse gas that can be obtained from both renewable and non-renewable sources. The United States is the highest global natural gas producer, with a production capacity of 750 billion cubic meters annually. Methane is the major ingredient of natural gas. At the same time, about 300 billion cubic meters of annual methane production occurs biologically from landfills and waste in the United States. Methane is biologically assimilated by organisms categorized as methanotrophs. In the search of alternative carbon source that is not competent to food derived carbon, for manufacturing chemicals to replace petroleum-based products, methane and methanotrophs provide hope. With emerging metabolic engineering practices, recent focus has included engineering and establishing methanotrophs as hosts for bio-based chemical production. Biologically synthesized chemicals are sustainable and are often bio-degradable. Thus, a class of petroleum-derived, non-biodegradable chemicals, called surfactants are looked at for their biological synthesis. Surfactants are agents that reduce the surface tension of a solvent and increase its solubility, hence, surfactants play a crucial and commercially important role in many industries including, pharmaceuticals, agriculture, food, and cosmetics. Rhamnolipids (RLs), are a class of microbial glycolipid- surface active agents that have been classified as the next generation surfactants. RL production requires expensive substrates, additionally, mostly pathogenic bacterial strains are known for high RL production. Use of the plentiful methane as a carbon source for the biological synthesis of RL from non-pathogenic methanotrophic bacteria offers many advantages. This study focuses on engineering methanotroph as a platform for rhamnolipid synthesis. In the present work, efforts are centered to engineer Methylomicrobium alcaliphilum strain 20Z, a GRAS methanotroph, harboring and expressing, heterologous genes essential for RL synthesis (rhlY, rhlZ, rhlA, rhlB) from Pseudomonas aeriuginosa.

Biography:

Jennifer Littlejohns completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Guelph in Biological Engineering and her PhD at Queen’s University in Chemical Engineering where she investigated the three-phase bioreactor design for the treatment of industrial waste gases. Prior to joining the NRC, she gained over 8 years experience in the Biofuels and Biomanufacturing Industries as a Senior Development Engineer at Iogen Energy and Abbott Laboratories. She is currently a Research Council Officer and Program Technical Lead for the Bioenergy Program at the National Research Council.

Abstract:

Small-scale gasification coupled with an internal combustion engine for CHP generation is a well-explored method of bioenergy production. Several commercially available systems can be found across Europe. However, this kind of technology is typically designed to operate optimally and produce minimal tar only when clean, ideal feedstocks with a narrow distribution of moisture, size, and heating value are used. In Canada, the ability to utilize the abundant source of residual biomasses for CHP production would improve the economic case for these units significantly. Therefore, an adaptation of this kind of CHP system is required to be able to utilize alternative, low-value residual feedstocks and achieve optimal efficiency without excessive tar production. Several areas of development are required for the adaptation, which includes gasifier design, gas clean-up for tar removal, optimization of engine operation, and overall system integration. This presentation will discuss the utilization of a simplified kinetic/transport model for the design of gasifiers operating on residual feedstocks. Experimental data from a small-scale gasification CHP unit operating on residual woody biomasses such as construction and demolition waste, oriented strand board and chipped pallets are used to validate the developed model and will also be presented. The results show that the model has the ability to be used as a predictive design tool for gasifiers to achieve optimal carbon conversion and reduced tar production for various feedstocks that are relevant to Canada.

Biography:

Guang Zhao received his Bachelor (2002) and PhD (2007) degrees in Microbiology from Nankai University in China, before moving to the US to do postdoctoral work at Arizona State University. In 2011, he was recruited as Principle Investigator by Chinese Academy of Sciences under the support of the Hundred Talents Program. His research focuses on the production of platform chemicals from renewable biomass resource in engineered microorganisms. His goal is to establish biosynthetic systems for bulk chemicals, understand the physiology of recombinant strains from the molecular level, and improve the strain performance using synthetic and systematic biology methods.

Abstract:

3-Hydroxypropionate (3HP) is one of the top 12 value-added chemicals from biomass released by the US Department of Energy, serving as a precursor to a variety of commodity chemicals like acrylate and acrylamide, as well as a monomer of biodegradable plastic. To establish a sustainable way to produce these chemicals and materials, fermentative production of 3HP was thoroughly investigated in our lab. Firstly, a novel 3HP biosynthetic pathway employing malonyl-CoA as an intermediate was developed. Compared with other 3HP pathways, the malonyl-CoA route has some expected advantages, including broad raw material spectrum, redox neutral, and free of the cofactor. Secondly, the 3HP productivity was significantly improved by dissection of malonyl-CoA reductase (MCR, the key enzyme converting malonyl-CoA into 3HP) into two functional fragments, directed evolution of rate-limiting fragment MCR-C, carbon flux balancing and redirection toward 3HP biosynthesis. The 3HP production increased from 0.1g/L to 40.6g/L, about 50 times higher than that in the previous report. Furthermore, a series of 3HP-containing copolymers with fully controllable structures was directly synthesized using inexpensive carbon sources, differing from previously reported approaches based on the addition of precursors. The thermal and mechanical properties of copolymers dramatically changed depending on their structure and monomer ratios, which should widen their range of applications. Our study not only set up the sustainable route for production 3HP and its polymers but also established some new methods for metabolic engineerings, such as protein dissection and carbon flux redirection, which can be used in the biosynthesis of other promising chemicals and materials.

Biography:

Alex Michine is a Founder and CEO of MetGen since 2008. MetGen is a biotechnology company committed to serving industrial customers with enzymatic solutions tailored to their specific needs. He is a serial entrepreneur in the industrial biotechnology sector. He has relentlessly been promoting the future technologies for bioeconomy and has been an active spokesperson for great potential of cross-disciplinary collaboration.

Abstract:

Biofuels, chemicals, and materials derived from lignocellulosic biomass have been the focus of the international R&D community and technology developers for the last decades. However, despite intense efforts, a real breakthrough has not been achieved yet. This has been mainly due to a biased view, focusing solely on a certain end product–for example, cellulose pulp or ethanol–and considering by-products as low-value waste streams for energy applications. With the new wave of lignocellulosic biomass fractionation technologies being demonstrated at a pilot scale, success stories are closer than they have ever been. Biomass fractionation to high purity intermediate building blocks of cellulose to C6 sugars and hemicellulose to C5/C6 sugars and lignin, instead of just one main product, provides a way to produce a diversity of products and establish novel bio-based value chains. Especially important is the availability of higher purity lignin for different direct drop-in or after processing (depolymerization etc.) applications, which–compared to the conventional lignins derived from pulp mills or ethanol refineries–provides totally new applications and perspectives to enable the increased use of biobased raw materials in various industries.

Biography:

Samira Lotfi is a chemical engineer with 10 years of experience studying chemical process design, process simulation and kinetic parameter estimation for various applications such as catalysis. Prior to joining the NRC, she collaborated in several projects on conversion of biomass to energy and chemicals during her PhD at Ecole Polytechnique de Montréal. She joined NRC EME in August 2016 as a research associate in the water treatment group and more recently joined the low-carbon fuels and clean combustion team. As a researcher, she has contributed and/or managed various projects in such areas as syngas clean-up, gasification modeling and bioreactor analysis and process design.

Abstract:

One of the main barriers to the commercialization of small-scale, biomass gasification combined heat and power (CHP) technology is lack of cost-effective tar removal from the syngas. During gasification, a wide spectrum of aromatic hydrocarbons containing single to multiple ring aromatics, referred to as tar, are formed. Tar is problematic because it can condense in process piping, plug filters and form damaging deposits inside engines using tar containing syngas. In order to remove these tar components, we propose to build and evaluate a wet packed-bed scrubber using woodchips as a packing material and waste cooking oil as a scrubbing media. The study will evaluate the influence of the effect of oil/gas ratio, oil temperature and replacing part of woodchips with fine woodchips as a packing media on tar model compound removal from gas.

Biography:

Jaspreet Kaur done her graduation in Biotechnology and postgraduation in Microbial Biotechnology. Currently, she is doing PhD under the supervision of Prof SK Soni and Dr Raman Soni in the Department of Microbiology, Panjab University Chandigarh (India). The title of Jaspreet Kaur research is Rice straw to fuel ethanol: Standardization of pre-treatment, enzymatic hydrolysis and fermentation strategies. She is working on value addition to rice straw for its better utilization for the production of multiple carbohydrase’s and ethanol

Abstract:

A natural variant of Aspergillus niger P-19 has been used for the production of cellulolytic and hemicellulolytic enzyme cocktail on rice straw. Untreated rice straw was able to support the growth of A. niger P-19 and induced the co-production of CMCase, FPase, β-glucosidase, xylanase and mannanase with productivities of 88.28U/gds, 30.55U/gds, 46.59U/gds, 570.40U/gds and 54.47U/gds respectively under solid state fermentation. The yields were further augmented by optimizing various environmental and cultural conditions including a substrate to moisture ratio, pH of moistening agent, inoculum size, exogenous supplementation of carbon, nitrogen sources and surfactants. Characterization of the crude enzyme preparation revealed that all the enzymes had optimum activity at 60°C and pH 4.0. This enzyme preparation worked very well in the hydrolysis of 0.25N NaOH pre-treated rice straw and was able to produce 700mg of total reducing sugars and 500mg of glucose per gram of dried pre-treated straw. The sugars thus obtained in the hydrolysate were subjected to fermentation with S. cerevisiae which resulted in the ethanol yield of 15.8g/l with a productivity of 158g/kg of the pre-treated rice straw residue. The lignin obtained after alkali pre-treatment can be precipitated and used for multiple purposes and the residue left after enzymatic hydrolysis may be used as biofertilizer.

Biography:

Yuan Tian is a PhD candidate in environmental studies at the University of Northern British Columbia. Her research interests focus the remediation of oily sludge with added economic and environmental benefits. She is currently working on ionic liquid enhanced solvent extraction for oily recovery from oily sludge. She holds an MSc in safety engineering from Beijing Institute of Technology and a BEng in safety engineering from Anhui University of Science and Technology. For her master’s thesis, she simulated the propagation of the gas-solid and gas-liquid explosion using the self-developed program. The results have been published in the Journal of Safety and Environment.

Abstract:

This work proposes an alternative method for the safe disposal of metal-contaminated oily waste, generated during petroleum extraction. Co-pyrolysis of synthetic oily waste and hog fuel was conducted in a fixed bed reactor. Three experimental parameters (pyrolysis temperature, holding time, and hog fuel addition) were explored to optimize both oil recovery and metal immobilization. Using sequential extraction techniques, it was found that the distribution of metal ions in the various extraction fractions varied greatly with pyrolysis temperature. The higher the temperature, the more the metal ions existed in the non-bioavailable fraction. This is evident from the risk index (RI) for eco-toxicity assessment with a RI=34.63 at 600℃ compared to a RI=117.14 at 400℃. In contrast, the maximum of oil recovery was achieved at a low co-pyrolysis temperature (400℃). The addition of hog fuel had a significant synergistic effect on the redistribution of metal ions infractions resulting in lower RI values but reduced the overall oil recovery. Considering the effectiveness of hog fuel addition in the heavy metal ions immobilization at a low pyrolysis temperature (RI=54.12 at 400℃), a low-temperature co-pyrolysis (400℃) using 20% of hog fuel with less energy consumption is deemed the most effective strategy for metal-containing oily waste disposal.

Biography:

Vanessa Elisa Pinheiro is bachelor and licentiate in Biological Sciences by Universidade de São Paulo–Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto–Brazil. She has completed her master degree in Biochemistry at the age of 23 at Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto–Universidade de São Paulo and today are doing her PhD at the same institution. Her thesis is involved with the enzymatic pretreatment of biomass aiming the biogas production.

Abstract:

The depletion of fossil fuels, costs and pollution have stimulated the search for alternative energy sources. The production of biogas from wastes is an alternative that contributes to the environment preservation and minimizes the dependence on fossil energy sources. Nevertheless, the use of lignocellulosic biomass through the anaerobic pathway of organic matter degradation usually requires a pretreatment, which leads to the solubilization of sugars and the removal of lignin. Thus, this study aimed to show which selected wastes (barley bagasse, sugar cane bagasse, elephant grass, thick orange pie, average orange pie, wheat bran, coffee grounds, orange peel, white sludge, vinasse, corn bran, soy bran, soy peel, cotton bran, cassava husk, cassava flour, banana peel, corn straw, sorghum stem, sorghum seed, entire plant sorghum and wet distiller grain) were the most hydrolyzable by amylase secreted by Aspergillus brasiliensis, A. tamarii Kita xylanase and cellulase from Trichoderma reesei, Novozymes^®. Later on, it was studied mixtures between these enzymes using simplex-centroid designs. The most hydrolyzed waste by each enzyme separately applied and measured by DNS method at 50°C, 120rpm and incubation for 24hours were corn bran, banana peel, and sorghum seed. The simplex-centroid designs resulted in model equations and respective response surface contours. Amylase extract had a significant positive influence on corn bran, maximizing the reducing sugar yields when it was singly used. However, in all the three waste treatments, interactions between the three enzymatic extracts can be seen. These interactions were synergic or antagonistic depending on the treatment. In conclusion, it was observed that the enzymes significantly affect the waste hydrolyzes, applying either separately or in a consortium.

Biography:

Hailey received her Master’s degree from Utah State University and is currently working toward her PhD at Colorado State University. She focuses on sustainability assessments of agriculture, rural wealth and bioprocessing. When she is not working, she prefers to be in the mountains.

Abstract:

Drought represents a significant risk for agricultural producers in the American Southwest. One method for limiting this risk is planting high-value crops that are drought resilient. Two such crops, Guayule and Guar, are native to arid climates and produce a broad range of valuable products including natural rubber, guar gum, and biofuels. This work outlines two process models used to evaluate the efficiency of converting raw Guayule and Guar biomass into final products. The process models are leveraged to develop life cycle (LCA) and techno-economic analyses (TEA) that will be used to evaluate the social, environmental and economic feasibility of integrating these crops into the American Southwest. From these models, output parameters optimize agricultural production and validate regional macroeconomics. Initial results have shown that the heat used to extract valuable components of biomass represents the single highest process energy demand. From this finding, we have modeled heat integration and diverted a portion of bagasse coproduct for on-site heat generation. For the remaining bagasse, processing pathways have been identified that will generate high-value fuels while minimizing required processing energy and cost. Remaining objectives include determining a coproduct pathway for resins. This modeling has demonstrated the potential to optimize processing for arid crops such as Guayule and Guar while simultaneously outlining potential pathways for decreasing agricultural risk in the face of continuing drought.

Biography:

Shantanu Gupta graduate engineer from Calcutta University and management graduate from Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta having over 30 years of experience in handling downstream oil business and consultancy. Having worked as Vice President (Marketing Operations) with Indian Oil Mauritius Limited, Mauritius during 2009-2012, gathered in-depth knowledge of international marketing in the petroleum business. Presently, working as General Manager (Operations) and In Charge of Biofuel implementation in the country for Indian Oil Corporation Limited overseeing activities related to Bio-fuel Implementation on All-India basis and future strategies for achieving higher blend percentage of ethanol blended petrol and bio-diesel blended diesel. Interacting with Ministry and various stakeholders of sugar industries for smooth procurement and blending of ethanol for self-reliance in energy for the country. As a member of “Working Group of Bio-Fuel” appointed by Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas, Government of India since 2015, attended various meeting and seminars, presented papers and also made a presentation in international conferences on various facets of Biofuels.

Abstract:

Indian Oil Corporation (Indian Oil) is India's largest commercial enterprise, with a sales turnover of over Rs 5,00,000 lakh crore (US$ 74 billion) and profits of Rs 22,626 crore (US$ 3.33 Billion) for the year 2017-18. Indian Oil is ranked 137^th among the world's largest Corporates (and first among Indian enterprises) in the prestigious Fortune ‘Global 500’ list for the year 2018. As India's flagship national oil company, with a 33,000-strong work-force currently, Indian Oil has been meeting India’s energy demands for over half a century. With a corporate vision to be 'The Energy of India' and to become 'A globally admired company,' Indian Oil's business interests straddle the entire hydrocarbon value-chain–from refining, pipeline transportation and marketing of petroleum products to exploration & production of crude oil & gas, marketing of natural gas and petrochemicals, besides forays into alternative energy and globalisation of downstream operations with a focus on biofuels. In line with the vision of Government of India, Indian Oil has been blending 10% ethanol in Motor Spirit and 5% biodiesel in diesel. As on date, Indian Oil has achieved overall 5% ethanol blending in MS across the country. Various initiatives are being taken to generate ethanol through 2G technology. In bio-diesel, extensive work has been undertaken to develop infrastructure at all 125 operating locations to blend 5% biodiesel in diesel within the next two years. With close coordination, used cooking oil conversion to bio-diesel are being explored which will be a major thrust to become self-reliant in energy for the country as a whole.

Biography:

Probir Das has completed his PhD on Environmental Engineering at the age of 30 years from the National University of Singapore. Before joining Qatar University as post-doctorate, he worked at ICES, A*STAR Singapore as a scientist for 2 years. Currently, he is a Research Assistant Professor in the ‘Center for Sustainable Development’ at Qatar Univesity. His research interests include biofuel, bioremediation of wastewater, and high-value metabolite production using microalgae and cyanobacteria. He has published 18 papers in reputed international journals.

Abstract:

Harvesting of microalgae biomass is a major obstacle for the low-value microalgal product (e.g., biofuel). Although most of the microalgae remain in the culture suspension, some microalgae exhibit a self-settling phenomenon in the absence of mixing. A self-settling microalga could, therefore, be an ideal candidate for biofuel feedstock. The present study investigated the biocrude oil production potential of two indigenous marine microalgae: Chlorocystis sp. (self-settling), and Picochlorum sp. (non-settling). Both these strains were grown simultaneously in 2 identical 25,000L open raceway ponds in the Qatari desert. Anabaena-type cyanobacteria were spotted in Picochlorum sp. culture on the 6^th day and the biomass was harvested on 8^th day using a centrifuge. After 10 days of cultivation, Chlorocystis sp. biomass was harvested using sedimentation. Harvested biomass samples were then converted to biocrude oil, using a 500mL Parr reactor. The biocrude yield (AFDW basis) of Picochlorum sp. and Chlorocystis sp. were 39.6 and 34.8% respectively. The energy content of the biocrude oil samples was 32.78 and 33.38MJ/kg for Chlorocystis sp. and Picochlorum sp. respectively. Both the strains were capable of efficiently recycling more than 95% of the HTL aqueous phase (AP) nitrogen when 50% of culture nitrogen was supplied as HTL AP. Although lower biocrude yield was obtained from Chlorocystis sp. biomass, compared to Picochlorum sp., harvesting of Chlorocystis sp. biomass would require much lower energy compared to Picochlorum sp. Therefore, a self-settling marine microalga (e.g., Chlorocystis sp.) could potentially be a better candidate, over non-settling microalgae, for producing biofuel feedstock.

Biography:

Abstract:

Microalgae are reported as a potential source of lipids and biodiesel, however, refinement and metabolic engineering are needed to enhance productivity and minimize the costs. Our investigation involved the production and quality evaluation of biodiesel from native microalgal isolates namely Chlorella sorokiniana MIC-G5, after transesterification of lipids with methanol in presence of sodium methoxide; and in Botryococcus sp. MCC31, after conventional and in situ transesterification. Total lipids extracted from dry biomass of Chlorella sorokiniana was in the range of  410 to 450 mg.g^-1 whereas in Botryococcus sp. it varied as  330 to 410 mgg^-1 DW. In Chlorella, the total saturated and unsaturated FAMEs were 43% and 57% while in Botryococcus these were 46% and 54%. The major FAMEs present in the biodiesel were methyl palmitate (C16:0), methyl oleate (C18:1) and methyl linoleate (C18:2). The ¹H and ¹³C NMR spectra matched with criteria prescribed for high-quality biodiesel from both the isolates. The biodiesel from Chlorella  exhibited a density of 0.873g/cc, viscosity of 3.418mm²/s, CN of 57.85, HHV of 40.25, iodine value of 71.823g I₂ 100g⁻¹, DU of 58% and a CFPP of –5.22℃ whereas biodiesel from Botryococcus sp. showed a density of 0.853g/cc, viscosity of 3.512mm²/s, CN of 57.57, HHV of 38.88, iodine value of 75.56g I₂ 100 g⁻¹, DU of 58% and a CFPP of 4.8ºC. The results were in accordance with the details as specified by American Society for Testing and Materials and EN standards. Our study reports the promise of in situ transesterification in Botryococcus sp. and illustrates that the two microalgal genera can be a valuable feedstock for high-quality biodiesel generation.

Biography:

Mario Ochoa is a Mechanical Engineer with a Specialization in Management of Technological innovation. He has 23+ years of international experience working in the oil and gas industry both in Venezuela and Canada. His professional experience has been heavily focussed in the development, management, and deployment of new technologies and projects associated to bitumen and heavy oil production & processing. He currently works as manager Renewable Liquid Fuels Enterprise Technology at Suncor Energy Inc., developing and implementing a strategy to successfully incorporate Renewable Fuels into Suncor’s value chain.

Abstract:

Suncor is the largest Canadian Oil Sands producer, vertically integrated with a successful history of innovation and a very stable business model. In order to ensure long-term/sustainable development new approaches, new ideas must be developed with an emphasis on deployment and commercialization. The incorporation of renewable/bioprocesses into Suncor’s value chain will significantly contribute to achieving sustainable development. This presentation explores the opportunities in the areas of biofuels and renewables liquid fuels within Suncor Energy and it is intended to guide/align academia and industry towards the development of opportunities with a “deployment” mindset

Biography:

Yaobin Zhang received his Ph.D in Environmental Engineering from Dalian University of Technology 2005. Currently he is a professor the Deputy Dean of School of Environmental Science & Technology, DUT. His research interest is anaerobic digestion of wastes to energy. He has published more than 130 peer-reviewed papers in international journals, and been authorized more than 20 patents. He was selected into the Program of the New-Century Excellent Talents in China University. He received the Youth Award of Outstanding Contribution in Scientific & Technological Innovation of China Petroleum & Chemical Association (CPCA), the Youth Scientific and Technological Award of China Environmental Scientific Society, and the First Prize of Scientific & Technological Award of CPCA.

Abstract:

Anaerobic digestion is a slow process and easily go sour, inhibiting methane production. In this study, scrap iron was applied to accelerate anaerobic digestion of organic waste. When adding scrap iron into an anaerobic digester for treating sewage sludge, the sludge reduction increased by 12%, and methane production increased by 21.3%. Chemical iron corrosion had not increased H₂ content of the biogas, but decreased H₂ content by 85%, which was due to the stimulate of the growth of H₂-utilizing methanogens that consumed H₂ to forward the anaerobic respiration to process. Especially, rusty iron was more effective in enhancing sludge digestion. Compared with the clean scrap iron, the rusty scrap iron could further increase methane production by 29% and increase sludge reduction by 7.1%. Iron-reducing bacteria like Geobacter was enriched in the rusty scrap iron-added system, triggering a dissimilatory iron reduction which is capable of utilizing complex matters in the sludge as electron donor to help the sludge decomposition and anaerobic sludge digestion.

Biography:

Kathleen Hefferon has completed her PhD from the University of Toronto and postdoctoral studies from the Department of Food Sciences, Cornell University. She is the Fulbright Canada Research Chair of Global Food Security. She is currently on Faculty at Cornell University and is writing a second edition to her book “Biopharmaceuticals in Plants.” She has published in multiple research journals and has edited 6 books. Kathleen just completed as editor of an Encyclopedia on Food Security and Sustainability.

Abstract:

Cellulases and other cell wall degrading enzymes are currently being engineered with improved traits for application in the breakdown of lignocellulosic biomass. The majority of assays with these ‘designer’enzymes have been carried out using synthetic substrates such as crystalline bacterial micro cellulose (BMCC). The use of synthetic substrates may not reflect the actual action of these cellulases on real plants. In the following study, suspension cell walls from several plant species were examined as possible alternatives for synthetic cellulose substrates. The results suggest that isolated plant cell walls can be used to reproducibly assay for cellulase activity.

Biography:

Margit Weltschev is a chemist and has been working in the Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing since 1987 since 1990 in the department: Containment Systems for Dangerous Goods. The evaluation of the compatibility of metallic and polymeric materials for tanks, IBC, and packagings belongs to her work scope. These evaluations are part of the Database Dangerous Goods and the BAM-List-Requirements for Tanks for the Carriage of dangerous goods. She finished the PH thesis about the comparison of material parameters of polyethylene grades with the test performance behavior of packagings for the transport of dangerous goods in September 2009.

Abstract:

The objective of this research was to determine the resistance of frequently used sealing materials such as FKM (fluorocarbon rubber), FVMQ (methyl-fluoro-silicone rubber), VMQ (methyl-vinyl-silicone rubber), EPDM (ethylene-propylene-diene rubber), CR (chloroprene rubber), CSM (chlorosulfonated polyethylene), IIR (butyl rubber), PA (polyamides), NBR (acrylonitrile-butadiene rubber) and PUR (polyester urethane rubber) in fuels and heating oil with admixtures of biogenic sources such as E10 (fuel with 10% ethanol), E85 (fuel with 85% ethanol), non-aged and aged biodiesel, diesel fuel with 5% biodiesel, non-aged and aged B10 (heating oil with 10% biodiesel) at 20°C, 40°C and 70°C. Mass, tensile strength and breaking elongation of the test specimens were determined before and after the exposure for 84 days in the fuels. The visual examination of some elastomer test specimens clearly showed the great volume increase until a break or partial dissolution. Shore hardness A and D (for PA) were determined before and after exposure of the test specimens in the biofuels for 42 days. There is not determined a threshold for the reduction in tensile properties and Shore hardness in the international standards. Therefore a threshold of 15% was determined for the evaluation of the compatibility. In summary, it can be therefore stated that the chemical resistance of the fluoropolymers FKM and FVMQ in fuels and biofuels is the best one.

Biography:

Claudia Cardoso has completed her PhD at the age of 31 years from the Federal University of Pernambuco-Brazil and postdoctoral studies from the Federal University of Minas Gerais-Brazil. She is the Associate Professor of chemistry at Federal Rural University of Pernambuco-Brazil, since 2006. She has published 11 papers in reputed journals and has been working with biodiesel and biojet fuel since 2012.

Abstract:

Biofuels are renewable fuels and the main alternative to fossil fuels. Actually, we can call the attention for the two most studied, the biojet fuel and biodiesel. Biojet fuel can be produced by different routes and biomass, while Biodiesel consists of alkyl esters and is mainly obtained by the transesterification of a triglyceride with an alcohol in the presence of a homogeneous or heterogeneous catalyst. Heterogeneous catalysts, especially CaO, are widely studied for biodiesel synthesis since they can be reused and synthesized from renewable sources. Its precursor is the CaCO₃ that can be obtained from limestone or alternative source as fishery residue. Our group has processed and characterized the different fishery residue, actually seen as an ecological problem at the Brazilian littoral, evaluating its usage as a heterogeneous catalyst in the production of biojet fuel and biodiesel, respectively. Crustaceans and bivalve carapaces, crude and calcined, were studied in the production of both biofuels. A special attention is given to the crustacean considering that is reach in the biopolymers chitin and chitosan (about 50%), that can be used as carbon and hydrogen extra source at the biojet fuel production, plus the CaCO₃ (about 50%), used as an alkaline catalyst. Both crustaceans and bivalve, once calcinated, originates the CaO that has been used as a heterogeneous catalyst for biojet fuel as for biodiesel.

Biography:

Matts Lilja, an expert in camera imaging and technical development with more than 30 years of experience, started his career as an 18-year-old in the security business, monitoring surveillance cameras. He rapidly moved up and 1993 founded ISG, a company in the surveillance industry: After selling the business to Lagercrantz, an industrial conglomerate, in 2003 he continued to Saab-owned Opax as CEO and later Ameeral Beltech. Today, he is the CEO of Blink Services, network operator for LoRaWAN. He is also a board member of several companies aside from Tracy of Sweden: Blinkfyrar, Precis Biometrics and Smart Agritech Solutions of Sweden.

Abstract:

A bio-based economy not only offers great opportunities to reduce dependence on fossil fuels. It also offers opportunities to increase the proportion of renewable energy, create green jobs and strengthen the world's forestry's competitiveness and export. Bioeconomy is a key to sustainable, low carbon and circular economies in line with the EU climate goals and Agenda 2030. North America and the Nordic region, with its long-term sustainable forestry, contribute strongly to the global bioeconomy and are good role models for other forestry countries to invent and establish long-term care plans, where the possibility of an increased withdrawal of total biomass will be one of the good consequences. A long-term forest management plan increases the overall forest volume in each country and also enables the disposal of valuable biotopes with high nature conservation values. The withdrawal from the forest will never be bigger than growth every year. With this as a starting point, we lock in carbon dioxide from the atmosphere in environmentally-friendly buildings, furniture, and constructions of wood and creates forests that increase in the long term both in terms of volume and importance in order to curb climate change.

Tracy of Sweden^® offers the market a sharp tool for planned and controllable withdrawal of biomass, which creates the conditions for an efficient and balanced bio-based economy. It identifies and traces the origin of each log and digitizes the entire forest flow from stump to the consumer. Image analysis is done by each end area of logs and pulp bits and links individual log to the coordinates where the tree stood. With advanced patented cloud-based image recognition methodology can the individual log be recognized at any time (e.g. on truck, sawmill, port or customs). The system is global and built together with IBM.

Tracy man^® the product for manual registration when cutting with a chainsaw.

Tracy aut^® the product for registration directly on the harvester. The method makes the logs to unique individuals. If you want to add more information such as species, length, diameter, and quality, it will be fully possible within a year. Tracy man^® already has that feature.

Some countries are struggling with problems such as illegal felling and/or stolen timber. Tracy of Sweden makes a big difference by identifying and registering the origin of all legal felling and "unlabeled" wood thus becomes automatically illegal. Tracy of Sweden can guarantee the origin of the requirements that the EU Timber Regulation, FSC or PEFC has on traceability is met. Tracy of Sweden more or less affects all UN sustainability goals (www.svenskskogsdata.com). Svensk Skogsdata AB is changing its name to Tracy of Sweden for the global launch of our products.