Day 1 :
Keynote Forum
Anton Holland
NIVA Inc., Canada
Keynote: How do we make bioeconomy and biofuels research relevant and accessible to politicians, the public, industry, and the media?
Time : 09:00-09:30
Biography:
Anton Holland is President and CEO of NIVA Inc., a consultancy focused on all aspects of science communication and knowledge brokering. He leads the company’s strategy to assist science-based organizations to bridge the gap that exists between complex science subject matter and the information demands of different audience types. He has developed keen insight into the need for clear and concise science writing for public audiences; this has provided him with the ability to find innovative ways to make the connections that help people understand science and technology.
Abstract:
The bioeconomy, of which biofuels are a significant part, is essential to achieving a low-carbon future. But adopting the products of the research and development that support the bioeconomy is fraught with misunderstanding at many levels. For example, While the public understands that the bioeconomy is here, there is a poor understanding of what it is and what it means. There is also a need for much greater understanding about the bioeconomy among policymakers in general. This lack of understanding is one of the biggest hurdles in getting policy support for what professionals who research, develop, and commercialize bioproducts are trying to accomplish. The public and some policymakers erroneously feel that sustainability is a problem when it comes to the bioeconomy for example, the food versus fuel debate. That this is based on their biases rather than factual evidence presents significant and critical challenges that must be met. And to top it off, there is an incredible lack of knowledge in most countries about the bioeconomy's major benefits. Very clear, non-ambiguous messaging is needed, but it’s in short supply. Understanding these varied audiences, knowing how to craft clear evidence-based messages, and understanding effective approaches like plain language communication and data visualization are essential tools for all scientific and business professionals whose aim is to advance any aspect of the bioeconomy.
Keynote Forum
Bruce Hillen
Susteen Technologies Canada Ltd., Canada
Keynote: Thermo Catalytic Reforming (TCR®) sustainable resources from sewage sludge and organic waste
Time : 09:30-10:00
Biography:
Bruce Hillen has held the position of CEO within Susteen Technologies Canada Ltd (STC) since its beginning 3 years ago. STC is a spin-out company of Fraunhofer Umsicht in Germany which he also acts as a consultant for in the area of Thermochemical Conversion of carbon-based organics into renewable fuels for Canada. Previous to this, he had a 25-year career with the Calgary Board of Education in the Department of Facility and Environmental Services. He now considers himself an entrepreneur. He is certified in Advanced Biofuels through McGill University and is a member of the Alberta and International biochar initiatives.
Abstract:
Thermo-catalytic reforming is a three-stage thermo-chemical process combining catalytic pyrolysis, cracking and reforming to decompose organic materials into gas, oil, and char while upgrading these products throughout the process. A carbon-based, organic solid material enters the TCR® reactor through an injection system which is designed to keep oxygen out of the process, avoiding the combustion of the feedstock. The feedstock is heated up in an auger pipe reactor stage to temperatures ranging from 400-500°C. First water contained in the feedstock is evaporated. At higher temperatures, complex organic molecules such as cellulose or lignin are decomposed into carbon, carbon-monoxide, carbon-dioxide, hydrocarbons, and water. Carbon and minerals contained in the feedstock form a solid char while other products form a vapour phase. In other pyrolysis and gasification technologies, the produced hydrocarbons include significant quantities of highly viscous tars with high boiling temperatures. When the product vapours are cooled down these tars coat reactor walls and contaminate the product gas and oil. This results in major problems regarding plant availability and maintenance and requires too complex further product treatment to enable commercial use of the products. Some competing technologies avoid vapour condensation entirely and immediate combust the vapours to produce heat as their only product other than char. Taking this one step further a second stage–called post reforming–was added to the process to make further use of the unique properties of the char. Char and vapour move from the first stage into a vertical reactor stage while being heated up to temperatures ranging 550-700°C. The char forms a fixed bed which is continuously renewed by char coming from the top while char is extracted at the bottom. The vapour is forced to flow through the char bed before being extracted from the post reforming stage.
Keynote Forum
Hongsheng Guo
National Research Council Canada, Canada
Keynote: Dual fuel combustion in compression ignition engines and the application for low carbon fuels
Time : 10:00-10:30
Biography:
Hongsheng Guo is a Senior Research Officer and leader of the Low Carbon Fuels and Clean Combustion team of National Research Council Canada. He has more than 30 year experience in low carbon fuel and clean combustion research, and published more than 200 journal and conference papers in clean combustion area.
Abstract:
Compression ignition diesel engines have been widely used in transportation and power generation industries due to the higher reliability and superior fuel conversion efficiency. However, they generate a significant amount of CO2 and particulate matter (PM) emissions. The Paris Climate Agreement requires a significant reduction in CO2 emission in next 10~30 years, which has exerted pressure to industries using diesel engines. Fuels produced from renewable resources generate significantly lower CO2 emissions than diesel combustion, such as renewable natural gas, biogas, and syngas. Replacing diesel by these renewable fuels in internal combustion engines help significantly reduce CO2 emissions. Dual fuel combustion mode is an efficient, practical and flexible way to burn these renewable fuels in internal combustion engines since it maintains the higher efficiency of diesel engines and retains the capability to switch back to pure diesel combustion mode when there are not enough renewable fuels. This study investigates a low carbon gaseous fuel–diesel dual fuel combustion engine. The low carbon gaseous fuel can be renewable natural gas, biogas or syngas. The results show that the dual fuel combustion significantly reduces CO2 emissions and almost remove PM emissions. Therefore, the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from a dual fuel engine are much lower than those from a diesel engine operating at the same power output. The dual fuel combustion mode provides a great pathway for renewable gaseous fuels to replace diesel in internal combustion engines to reduce GHG emissions in future, such as for power generation and transportation.
Keynote Forum
Amarjit Bhakshi
Refining Hydrocarbon Technologies LLC, USA
Keynote: An overview of renewable fuels ethanol from cellulose and bio-diesel from conventional/algae feed status and economic options for ETBE
Time : 10:50-11:20
Biography:
Amarjit Bakshi, over 40 years’ experience in Engineering/Consulting Management at a senior level in Process Engineering, Technology, Business Development, Licensing, Acquisitions, Alliances and Project Management, and Engineering, Operations Management and Process Engineering. Provided proven leadership and vision with broader perspectives and ability to manage multiple tasks and personnel on mega projects. Patents provide refiners and petrochemical plants innovations to enhance the performance of the units. Worked in all EU countries including the UK, Germany and The Netherland. Major developments in Oil and gas business, downstream and petrochemicals technology, Catalysts, an international alliance, licensing & contract negotiation, technology marketing, new technology commercial launch, partner relations. He had his PhD and also undergraduate degree both in Chemical Engineering from University of Surrey, Guildford, UK.
Abstract:
Advances in Biofuel technology: RHT-ETBE and RHT-TAEE are the Smart configuration technologies to enhance the conversion to over 97 to 90 percent respectively by having multiple sides draws from the columns, and one can much better quality also than competitive technologies. The major advantage in these processes is that it allows wet ethanol to be used in the process and still meeting TBA and TAA specifications in the product. Essentially the process is rejecting the water from wet ethanol and makes high-quality Ethers at low Capex and Opex to the competitive processes. RHT- Biodiesel process is optimized to produce biodiesel from palm oil, Rape seed oil, vegetable and animal product that are all fatty acids with an even number of carbon atom typically 12 to 22 atoms. This biodiesel is comparable to hydrocarbon diesel. The triglycerides are reacted with methanol/ ethanol or higher alcohol which all produce biodiesel in the acceptable boiling range. Methanol is most commonly used for the biodiesel production as being the cheapest alcohol, hence provides better economics. After the transesterification reaction, the product, methyl esters of those oils/fats as product and glycerine is produced as a byproduct. Glycerine is separated from the methyl esters of vegetable oils that are the biodiesel by phase separation by gravity settling due to density differences. The methyl esters and glycerine are purified to meet the product specifications. The technology is able to provide that reaction also to meet high overall conversions and selectivity at low Capex and Opex without producing any liquid waste.
Keynote Forum
Evgeny Katz
Clarkson University, USA
Keynote: Implantable biofuel cells operating in vivo— Potential power sources for bioelectronic devices
Time : 11:20-11:50
Biography:
Evgeny Katz received his PhD in Chemistry from Frumkin Institute of Electrochemistry (Moscow), Russian Academy of Sciences, in 1983. He was a senior researcher in the Institute of Photosynthesis (Pushchino), Russian Academy of Sciences, in 1983-1991. In 1992-1993 he performed research at München Technische Universität (Germany) as a Humboldt fellow. Later, in 1993-2006, he was a Research Associate Professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. From 2006 he is Milton Kerker Chaired Professor at the Department of Chemistry and Biomolecular Science, Clarkson University, NY (USA). He has (co)authored over 440 papers in peer-reviewed journals/books with the total citation more than 30,000 (Hirsch-index 84). His scientific interests are in the broad areas of bioelectronics, biosensors, biofuel cells, and biomolecular information processing.
Abstract:
Implantable devices harvesting energy from biological sources and based on electrochemical transducers are currently receiving high attention. The energy collected from the body can be utilized to activate various microelectronic devices. This presentation is an overview of the recent research activity in the area of enzyme-based biofuel cells implanted in biological tissue and operating in vivo. The electrical power extracted from the biological sources presents use for activating microelectronic devices for biomedical applications. While some microelectronic devices can work within a fairly broad range of electrical operating conditions, others, such as pacemakers, require precise voltage levels and voltage regulation for correct operation. Thus, certain classes of electronic devices powered by implantable energy sources will require careful attention not only to energy and power considerations but also to voltage scaling and regulation. This requires appropriate interfacing between the energy harvesting device and the energy consuming microelectronic device. The lecture focuses on the problems in the present technology as well as offers their potential solutions. Lastly, perspectives and future applications of the implanted biofuel cells are also discussed. The considered examples include a pacemaker and a wireless signal transfer system powered by an implantable biofuel cell extracting electrical energy from biological sources