Day 2 :
Keynote Forum
Anumakonda Jagadeesh
Nayudamma Centre for Development Alternatives, India
Keynote: Biofuel & Bioenergy in the energy mix
Biography:
Anumakonda Jagadeesh holds a Ph.D from prestigious Unversity of Roorkee(Now IITR), India. He published over 150 Research Papers in International Journals and over 50 Research papers submitted at International Conferences. He is the recipient of several awards including the prestigious Margaret Noble Foundation Seattle,USA Award in Energy Technology.
Abstract:
Apart from Solar,wind and other renewables bioenergy is best suited to our country in view of vast waste land and huge manpower hitherto ethanol is produced from sugar cane and corn. But there is a debate”Food Vs Fuel” and there is the need to find alternatives. The former US president Barack Obama has reduced subsidies on ethanol from sugarcane and corn. The alternative is biofuel from carefree growth, regenerative CAM plant like sisal agave and tequila. Being CAM plant it will act as “CARBON SINK”. Agave is a versatile plant well suited for millions of hectares of wastelands in India. Agave-derived renewable fuels, products and chemicals biofuels ethanol(1st and 2nd generations), biobutanol, biometh-anol, biojet fuel, green gasoline,
biooil, biocrude, biodiesel, biocoal, biochar, H2, syngas,biogas, torrefie d pellets and briquettes, drop-in fuels, pyrolysis oil, and biochar. Bioproducts Agave syrup(kosher), Powder inulin, healthy sweetners, far substitute (ice cream), bioplastics, cellulose, paper, acids, CO, CO2, biopolymers, pressed boards, geotextiles, fibres, phenols, adhesives, wax, antifreeze, film(food wrap), fertilisers, insulating foam and panes, gel, pectin, non wooven material9disposable diapers), mouldings, concrete additive, food additives, composite materials, esters, substitute for asbestos, in fiberglass,hydrocarbons, petrochemical precursors, activated coal, secondary metabolites, detergent, glycols, furfurans, resins, polyurethanes, epoxy, aromatics, olefins, paints and
lubricants. Green electricity Pellets and briquettes, syngas, biooil, biocoal, biogas, biochar, H2 cells, ammonia and pyrolysis oil. CO2 Sequestering in the soil Biochar. Agave: Competitive Advantages 1. Uses marginal dry-land (41% of the Earth’s surface). 2. Most Efficient use of soil, water and light. 3. Massive production. Year- round harvesting. 4. Very high yields. Very low inputs. 5. Lowest cost of production among energy crops. 6. Not a commodity, so prices are not volatile. 7. Very versatile: biofuels, bioproducts, chemicals. 8. 100 M tonnes established in the 5 continents 9. Enhanced varieties are ready. Mexico is pioneer in utilising every part of Agave for commercial exploitation. Will India follow? Ours is an agrarian economy. Let us utilise our
resources fully so that there will be more rural employment and climate change abatement by providing CAM plants. Agave as Aviation Fuel: AusAgave has spent the last ten years developing intellectual property on the drought resistant agave genus by embracing plant propagation, agronomy, cropping, and harvesting techniques which result in “plantations affording at least a 50 percent yield per acre improvement over historic sugarcane productivity,” according to the firm. “The results of our recent harvesting program have already proven our efforts to substantially increase sugar yields and decrease delivered sugar costs for select agave species, and we fully expect to continue decreasing sugar costs over the next few years,” states Chambers. Why Agave? How about ethanol yields of 10,000 liters per hectare (1070 gallons per acre, per year)? That’s a start. According to Byogy, AusAgave’s recent harvest results already demonstrate the production of low cost sugars allowing Byogy’s technology “to produce cost competitive gasoline, jet fuel, diesel, and a suite of chemicals at or below that of petroleum products without infrastructure modification, blending, or government subsidies.”( Tequila Sunrise: Companies Sign Pact to Advance Agave as Aviation Biofuels Feedstock, Renewable Energy World, June 18, 2014, By Jim Lane , CEO).
Keynote Forum
Lorenz Bauer
LJBill Chemical Consulting, USA
Keynote: Advanced Biofuels: Opportunities and challenges
Time : 09:30-10:00
Biography:
Lorenz Bauer earned his PhD from Washington University. He is an independent consultant associated with Lee Enterprises Consulting. He has worked over 30 years at Honeywell/UOP and start-ups developing new technologies in the chemical, environmental and energy fields. He is an inventor of over 26 patents and has published more than 15 papers in peer-reviewed journals. Currently, he is evaluating new technologies, his clients include the USDOE, the Southern Research Institute and several University Technology Transfer Departments.
Abstract:
Advanced biofuels are made from non-edible feedstocks including lignocellulosic biomass or woody crops, agricultural residues or wastes. Attempts to commercially produce these new fuels have lagged well behind expectations. There are few success stories to date despite significant investment. Low oil prices and highly publicized failures caused to the industry appear to be inactive. Commercialization efforts are continuing, and there are major projects under development. The next wave of implementation will benefit from the missteps of the prior attempts. There are major projects in progress in North America, South America, Asia, and Europe. These projects are a target at opportunities to valorize underused resources and convert wastes to fuels. There is a continued effort to supplement the income from fuel production by producing high value-added products. To be successful, an advanced biofuel production process must overcome some challenges. Lowering the cost of production is critical. There are concerns about the infrastructure, the economy of scales, complete utilization of the biomass, process integration and lowering the complexity of the process. Improving impression of advanced biofuels is critical. Government support has been shaken by the slow progress and pressure from both environmental groups concerned with land use and sustainability and those supporting the growth of first generation fuels. Other renewable technologies have claimed the attention of the public.
Keynote Forum
Yasuaki Maeda
Osaka Prefecture University, Japan
Keynote: Cascade utilization of biomass waste for the prodction of high quality BDF whose price is competitive to petro-diesel
Time : 10:00-10:30
Biography:
Yasuaki Maeda has completed his PhD from Tokyo Institute of Technology in 1970 and postdoctoral studies from National Council Canada from 1977-1979. He was a professor in Osaka Prefecture University(OPU) from 1991-2005. He is now an emeritus professor and working as Guest Professor in OPU, VNU Hanoi and VNU Ho Chi Minh.
Abstract:
Overall Goal of our study is to realize the effective measure for the mitigation of climate change, improvement of environmental pollution by cultivation-production-utilization of biomass energy, especially Biodiesel Fuel (BDF). We implement the project based on the following Outputs.
(1). Establish the effective technology for selection of the varieties of high yield oil plants, suitable to soil conditions and climate of each region; application of advanced farming techniques to develop material zones for oil to produce biodiesel. Considering the Indirect Land Use Change.
(2). Development of the green technology for BDF production and recovery by-products.
(2.1). Establish green co-solvent one-phase and two-phase technology with high efficiency, less emission of waste and being able to eliminate toxin, the scale of 300-1000kg/batch for biodiesel production to reach and exceed VN standards ISO 7717-2007s to produce biodiesel from plant oils and animal fats with different free fatty acid (FFA) contents.
(2.2). Establish technology for solvent recovery and purification of by-product glycerol ( more than 99% purity) by microwave method and develop the technology to utilize purified glycerin for the fuel of fuel cell and additive for acceleration of photocatalytic hydrogen generation from water
Keynote Forum
Ange Nzihou
IMT Mines Albi, France
Keynote: Syngas cleaning and characterization
Time : 10:50-11:20
Biography:
Ange Nzihou is Distinguished Professor of Chemical Engineering. He is Director RAPSODEE Research Centre-CNRS. He is Editor-in-Chief of a Springer Journal "Waste and Biomass Valorization" and chair of the Waste Eng. Conference series. His research is focused on Thermochemical Conversion of Biomass and Waste to Energy and Added Value Materials. A second field is the characterization, mechanisms, elaboration, functionalization of composites for energy and depollution. He has published more than 120 papers in peer-reviewed journal, has delivered more than 30 plenary and keynote lectures in international conferences over the 10 past years. He is Guest Professor in number leading universities in USA, China, India, and Europe
Abstract:
The production of synthesis gas (syngas) from biomass and biowaste is currently considered as an attractive renewable feedstock and promising route to produce chemicals, hydrogen, biofuels, and electricity by both the industrial and scientific communities. This trend is likely to continue in the foreseeable future due to the ever-increasing pressures from emissions regulations and end-user device quality requirements. Syngas is a mixture of hydrogen (H2) and carbon monoxide (CO) produced from the gasification or reforming of various carbonaceous feedstock. Raw syngas contains contaminants that must be characterized and mitigated to meet process requirements and pollution control regulations. Depending on the physical and chemical characteristics of the feedstock different technological pathways can be applied to produce syngas. The typical components of raw syngas can be classified into three groups: non-condensable gases (e.g. H2, CO, CH4, and CO2), condensable gases (e.g. H2O and tars) and impurities (e.g. HCl, NH3, H2S and particulates). Depending on the application, raw syngas may need to be cleaned of impurities and conditioned to adjust the H2/CO ratio in order to meet the requirements of environmental regulations and downstream processes respectively. Hence, an accurate characterization of the syngas chemical composition, at the different processing stages, is important to control and optimize the process efficiency. In this paper, various methods and equipment for sampling, preconditioning and analyzing the syngas components will be discussed. Analyses of the equipment detection limits, gas matrix sensitivity, and overall accuracy will also be made. Some applications of syngas will be also discussed.
- Bioenergy | Biorefineries | Biogas
Chair
Deepika Awasthi
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, USA
Session Introduction
Deepika Awasthi
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, USA
Title: Conversion of methane to bio-products by an engineered microbial platform
Time : 11:35-12:00
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.
Jennifer Littlejohns
National Research Council Canada, Canada
Title: Development of a simplified model for design of CHP systems to operate on residual, low-value feedstocks
Time : 12:00-12:25
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.
Guang Zhao
Chinese Academy of Sciences, China
Title: Biosynthesis of the platform chemical 3-hydroxypropionate
Time : 12:25-12:50
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.
Alex Michine
MetGen, Finland
Title: Concept and challenges of modern biorefineries
Time : 13:50-14:15
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.
Samira Lotfi
National Research Council Canada, Canada
Title: Biomasss tar removal using wet packed-bed scrubber
Time : 14:15-14:40
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.
- Young research forum
Session Introduction
Jaspreet Kaur
Panjab University, India
Title: Valorisation of rice straw by using it as a substrate for production of cellulolytichemicellulolytic enzyme cocktail and second generation ethanol
Time : 15:00-15:20
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.
Yuan Tian
University of Northern British Columbia, Canada
Title: Co-pyrolysis of synthetic oily waste containing heavy metals: Influence of operational conditions on the oil recovery and heavy metal immobilization
Time : 15:20-15:40
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.
Vanessa Elisa Pinheiro
Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil
Title: Mixture design of wastes hydrolysis by amylase, xylanase and cellulase rich extracts
Time : 15:40-16:00
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.
Hailey Summers
Colorado State University, USA
Title: Sustainability assessment of arid crops for the American southwest bioeconomy
Time : 16:20-16:40
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.