2^nd World Bioenergy Congress and Expo June 13-14, 2016 Rome, Italy

Christoph Emmerling is Associate Professor of Soil Science at the Soil Science Department, Faculty of Regional and Environmental Sciences, University of Trier. His main emphases in research and teaching are Soil Biology, Land-use Change, and Renewable Resources. From 2001 until 2005 he was head of the commission Soil Biology of the Soil Science Society of Germany. Recently he is member of TriCSS – Trier Centre of Sustainable Studies – and of the steering committee Bioenergy 2.0 of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.

The ecological drawbacks of growing maize like soil erosion and the use of large quantities of fertilizers and biocides effected the debate about its use as biogas substrate. Consequently, the investigation of alternative plants for this purpose is subject of many research activities. An auspicious approach is the use of perennial energy crops. The cultivation of such species is associated with ecological (soil protection, biodiversity, no use of biocides) and economical (no sowing and plant protection after establishment, avoidance of work peaks) advantages. In the light of doubts and reservations against new biogas substrates, our approach is to substitute only parts of maize in the biogas feedstock. With growing acceptance, the shares can be raised up to total substitution. In this context, the compability of both substrates is very important. Inhibitional effects that decrease the methane yield of both maize and the alternative energy crop should be avoided. Furthermore, a neutral behaviour of this composites or even better synergetic effects (e.g. compensation of nutrient deficiencies) should be achieved. To investigate the interaction with maize we mixed it with different shares (0, 10, 25, 50, 75, 100 %) of diverse alternative energy crops (Miscanthus giganteus, Sida hermaphrodita, Silphium perfoliatum, Elymus elongatus as cultivated variety “Szarvasi”) and incubated them for 50 days in a batch assay. The biochemical methane potential of these composites was then compared with the theoretical sum of the respective proportion of separately digested substrates to detect interactive effects.

In Taek Hwang has completed his PhD from Chonbuk National University in Korea and postdoctoral studies from Virginia Poly-tech. Institute and State University. He has been a principal research scientist at Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology (KRICT) since 2000 and Research Fellow in 2013. He has been an adjunct professor of the department of Green Chemistry & Environmental Biotechnology, University of Science & Technology (UST) in Korea since 2010. His current research work is focused on the biochemical conversion in the biorefinery process, especially, discovery of enzymes and chemo-enzymatic bio-catalysis. He has published more than 30 papers in reputed journals and has been teaching studients as an professor of UST.

A new methodology for the total cellulose hydrolysis using a chemo-enzymatic system of combining chemical depolymerization process and enzymatic hydrolysis was described in this paper. The approach undertaken herein involves the dissolution of cellulose in an ionic liquid (IL), depolymerization by acidic solid catalyst, and obtained total cello-oligomers aided by antisolvent. The yield of soluble cello-oligomers from cellulose depolymerization was 81.1% under 81.3% conversion and recovery of 99.8% treated with 1.5% AMB at 100oC for 1 h. Followed by the chemical depolymerization, all of the total soluble cellooligomers which are longer as in molecular length than cello-biose extracted from the reaction mixture was virtually hydrolyzed to the glucose by the β-1,4-D-glucan glucohydrolase identified from a Paenibacillus sp. HPL-001, which is different to other commercialized β-1,4-D-glucosidase. Continuous recycling 99% of ionic acid and organic solvent completely breaks down the cellulose to soluble sugars shorter than 6 AGU cellooligomers. The efficiency of this technology could compromise the dissolution and selective deconstruction problem for a crucial step in the production of glucose as final product without further degradation from cellulose as an alternative techno-economic process against traditional expensive three-enzymatic hydrolysis.

Young-Lok Cha is a doctorate at the University of Hannover, Germany. He is working as a senior researcher at the National Institute of Crop Science, Rural Development Administration, KOREA and his major is the development of lignocellulosic biomass conversion technology and biofuels production at pilot scale.

Various thermochemical pretreatments have been studied for easily convert to fermentable sugar for the bioethanol production from cellulosic biomass. Normally pretreatment of biomass was performed by acid or alkaline hydrolysis at high temperature and high pressure. In the case of herbaceous biomass, alkaline hydrolysis is advantageous to dissolve lignin. However, in alkali pretreatment process, the wastewater is one of the critical problems for reducing operational costs. In this study, the feasibility of recycling pretreatment-generated wastewater was investigated. The pretreatment was conducted with a twin-screw extrusion reactor under conditions: a screw speed of 40 rpm, 0.5 M NaOH of 27 L/h, biomass feeding of 4.5 kg/h at 99℃. Solid fraction of pretreated biomass was recovered 67% using wastewater adjusted with 0.5 M NaOH. Cellulose recovery of pretreated biomass was 94%. Finally using wastewater recycling in the pilot plant 25% of NaOH could be saved and 35% of process wastewater was decreased.

Si-Kyung Cho has worked on bioenergy production from organic wastes. He has experiences of operating the various reactor configurations (UASBr, dry anaerobic digester, and temperature phased anaerobic digester etc.), physico-chemical and biological analyses using various equipment, and mathematical/statistical analysis using computer programs. With his various research backgrounds, he has published 19 international papers and received 5 presentation awards from both domestic and international conferences.

In this study, a novel anaerobic treatment system, named as an upflow multi-layer anaerobic reactor (UMAR), was developed for high-solids organic wastes treatment and system performance was successfully demonstrated during continuous operation. The average methane (CH4) yield, CH4 production rate, and chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal rate were 280 mL CH4/g COD, 2.10 L CH4/L/day, and 89%, respectively, at 7.5 kg COD/m3/day of organic loading rate. To analyze the bacterial community, 454 pyrosequencing technique was applied. The experimental results clearly indicated that the upward plug-flow stream led to spatial distribution of bacterial communities at different vertical locations (upper, middle, bottom) of the UMAR. Firmicutes was predominantly detected in the middle and bottom parts, while Deltaproteobacteria and Chloroflexi were, interestingly, only found in the upper part. To speculate on the reason for vertical spatial distribution, their morphologies, functions, syntrophic reactions, and thermodynamics were widely discussed. In short, generation of multi-functions and/or layers in UMAR seems capable of allowing various bacteria to live in their preferable conditions, presumably resulting in higher anaerobic performance.

Khaled Nageh Mohammed Elsayed finished his Master’s degree in Microbiology (Marine Science) at Faculty of Science, Beni-Suef University, Egypt. He got DAAD scholarship (Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst) for 4 years to study his PhD at Jacobs University Bremen, Germany.

Microalgae offers a great potential to produce oils for the biodiesel industry but the cost and feasibility require further investigation into finding fascinating species that have both a high lipid content and robustness in unusual growing conditions. The Egyptian environment is characterized by sunny weather throughout the year and the availability of different water sources are represented by the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. In addition to this, there are many lakes and canals which can offer great opportunities for growing microalgae for different purposes. This presentation explains the characteristics of some microalgae species inhabiting the intertidal region of the Egyptian Red Sea shores between Quoseir and Marsa Alam cities in Egypt and verifies the validation of different suitable conditions in Nile red (NR) assay using green alga Nannochloropsis salina to detect and quantify intracellular lipids. In addition, it shows the ability of some species to grow under high temperatures (40°C) and visualizing the formed lipid vesicles inside algal cells using the confocal LSM510 laser microscope. The results revealed that there was an accumulation of these lipid bodies which is the backbone of biodiesel production as a response to temperature stress. Moreover, the molecular identification of the promised species was done.

Althuri Avanthi has completed her M. Tech from Indian Institute of Technology - Kharagpur and is pursuing her PhD from the same Institute under the guidance of Prof. Rintu Banerjee, who also supervised her for M. Tech dissertation. She completed her M.Sc dissertation from Osmania University. The manuscripts related to her Master’s work have been published in reputed journal. Her current area of research is biomass and biofuels with special emphasis on bioethanol production from holocellulosic stream of lignocellulosic biomass. She is availing DBT scholarship since 2012 and has recieved GATE fellowship during 2010-12.

An anvenue for integration of lignin degradation and enhanced reducing sugar production along with fermentation to ethanol in single step was investigated to reduce the total process time and increase biomass to ethanol conversion % (g/g). This venture was driven primarily by the synergistic action between lignocellulolytic enzymes viz. laccase for lignin degradation and cellulase and xylanase for saccharification, along with the syncronyous action of fermenting yeast that resulted in 7.5 % (v/v) ethanol concentration in 20 h from a mixture of second generation feedstocks such as Ricinus communis, Lantana camara, Saccharum officinarum tops, Saccharum spontaneum, Ananas comosus leaf wastes and Bambusa bamboos. This single step, green biotechnological approach lead to improved biomass to ethanol conversion of 26 % (g/g) such that 1 dry tone of pretreated biomass can produce 88 gallons of ethanol. The natural redox mediators of laccase present in the liquid obtained after biomass delignification showed inducing effect upon addition in minimal amounts to integrated system. It was observed that these compounds could accelerate laccase action in synergy with holocellulase without the need for any external mediators. The amount of water required to process 1 tonne of biomass through current technology under study is low in comparision to chemical/physico-chemical processing techniques since, steps such as neutralization and conditioning of hydrolyzate prior to enzymatic saccharification are not required. The efficacy of bioprocess on the biomass was evaluted through FTIR, XRD, SEM, CHNS analyzer, bomb calorimeter to probe the structural, crystallinity, morphological, elemental and energy density variations respectively.

Youngsoon Um has completed her PhD from Department of Chemical engineering at University of Maryland and postdoctoral studies at University of Connecticut. She is a Principal researcher in Korea Institute of Science and Technology. She has published more than 45 papers in reputed journals and has been serving as an editorial board member of Scientific reports.

Previously, Clostridium sp. S1 was found to produce butyric acid with the highest yields from various sugars compared to the other producers reported before because of a low production of acetic acid. In this study, the strain S1 was investigated for butyric acid production using lignocellulosic hydrolysate including fermentable sugars (glucose, xylose and mannose) and acetic acid. When synthetic medium mimicking soft wood (spruce) hydrolysate was tested (containing glucose, xylose, mannose, and acetic acid at 6.2 g/L, 0.52 g/L, 1.56 g/L, and 1.47 g/L, respectively), Clostridium sp. S1 consumed the mixed sugars simultaneously and there was no residual acetic acid. Because by-products in lignocellulosic hydrolysate such as furfural and phenolic compounds have been known to inhibit cell growth and butyric acid production, detoxification of lignocellulosic hydrolysate by electrochemical method previously developed in our group was applied to eliminate the inhibitors. Finally, Clostridium sp. S1 produced butyric acid successfully from the real soft wood (Japanese larch) hydrolysate (containing glucose, xylose, mannose, and acetic acid at 30.3 g/L, 4.72 g/L, 12.5 g/L, and 2.72 g/L, respectively) by utilizing mixed sugars and acetic acid. This unique feature of Clostridium sp. S1 consuming fermentable sugars simultaneously as well as acetic acid in lignocellulosic hydrolysate provides a great potential in butyric acid production with high yields.

Henry Oamen Patrick is a third year PhD student of Biotechnology at the University of Manchester. He completed his MSc degree in Biotechnology and Enterprise at the University of Exeter. He has won the Commonwealth Scholarship for both MSc and PhD degrees. He has keen interest in the biofuel and chemical industry.

Biofuels are considered to be part of the solution to dwindling global fossil fuel reserves. Bioethanol offers commercial viability, but has substantial disadvantages in terms of its fuel properties. Higher alcohols, such as n-butanol, isobutanol, isoamyl alcohol (3-methyl-1-butanol) and active amyl alcohol (2-methyl-1-butanol) possess better fuel characteristics than bioethanol, but their production lags behind in terms of commercial viability. While much research has concentrated on using Escherichia coli and Clostridium species, here we use yeast as a vehicle for the production of these higher alcohols. In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, higher alcohol production is via amino acid catabolism through the Ehrlich pathway, but the yield is relatively low. Proof of principle that high amino acid concentrations will generate higher alcohol levels has been obtained by adding amino acids exogenously. An attempt has been made to increase production of higher alcohols by over-expressing the transcription factor gene, GCN4 in prototrophic yeasts. Gcn4p is involved in the global regulation of nitrogen assimilation pathways. Results obtained show an increase in isobutanol production in the strain over-expressing the transcription factor relative to the wild type and delete strains. Future work will attempt to optimise this yield via genetic engineering.

Anongnart Wannapokin is pursuing her Master degree in the area of biomethane prodction from fallen leaves and algae at Program in Biotechnology, Faculty of Science, Maejo University, Chiang Mai, Thailand. She is 24 years old. Her research interests include renewable fuels such as biogas, biodiesel, bioethanol, biochar, and biomass processing also waste mangement.

Sustainable energy resources have become necessary for world stability, and biofuels may offer promising alternative energy. Recently, biomass for energy generation has attracted much attention at global and national wide. Biogas is a renewable gaseous fuel. It is generated by anaerobic digestion (AD) of organic wastes. The fallen teak leaves (Tectona grandis), represents an interesting substrate for biogas production. The chemical composition of leaves showed the C, H, N, S, and O content of 48.88, 5.83, 0.55, 0.18, and 30.04 %, respectively. In addition the leaves contain 3.33% moisture, 13.67 % ash, 86.33% volatile matter, and 3.33% fixed carbon, through dry weight determination. The content of total solids (TS), volatile solids (VS) and chemical oxygen demand (COD) in the leaves was measured; the results average as 982,151.93 mg/kg and 819,412.60 mg/kg and 21,333.33 mg/L, respectively. The biogas composition of carbon dioxide (43.57 %) and methane (55.47%) of was estimated from the biogas. Total biogas yield was 1.0740 m3/kg or 1,073.99 L/kg achieved through theoretical estimation; and total methane yield was reached 0.5964 m3. Based on COD estimation, our study shows the fallen teak leaves biomass is a potentially valuable fermentation substrate and produce 7.467 L (0.007 m3) of methane gas. Consequently, the study results confirm that fallen teak leaves are very suitable as a substrate for biogas production.

Youngsoon Um has completed her PhD from Department of Chemical engineering at University of Maryland and postdoctoral studies at University of Connecticut. She is a Principal researcher in Korea Institute of Science and Technology. She has published more than 45 papers in reputed journals and has been serving as an editorial board member of Scientific reports.

Previously, a newly isolated Clostridium sp. A1424 was found to reveal Isopropanol-Butanol (IB) fermentation with a small amount of acetone. In this study, we attempted to optimize IB fermentation performance of Clostridium sp. A1424 by examining pH stat fermentation and adding glycerol in the expectation of no acetone production. When pH was not controlled, the pH profiles showed the biphasic fermentation with the acidogenic phase and the solventogenic phase like other acetone-butanol-ethanol (ABE) producing Clostridium sp. When pH was maintained at the set point (6.0, 5.7, 5.5, 5.3, and 5.0), the cell growth was similar to or slightly higher than that with no pH control except the fermentation at pH 6.0. The optimum pH was found to be pH 5.5 revealing 15.37 g/L solvent (9.24 g/L butanol, 4.48 g/L isopropanol, and 1.65 g/L acetone) from 46.63 g/L glucose after 38 hours of cultivation. To achieve acetone-free IB fermentation, the co-substrate system of glucose and glycerol was tried to reduce carbon flux to acetone by increasing NAD(P)H from glycolysis pathway. As the ratio of glycerol was increased, the concentration of butanol was increased from 4.82 to 5.53 g/L and the concentration of isopropanol was decreased from 2.28 to 1.60 g/L. Especially, the ratio of butanol/isopropanol was significantly increased to 3.45 at the glucose and glycerol ratio of 2:1 without acetone production. This result demonstrates that using the mixture of glucose and glycerol with Clostridium sp. A1424 was highly efficient for IB fermentation with a higher portion of butanol.

Jane Estephane obtained, at the age of 24 years, her PhD degree, double diploma prepared in Claude Bernard University and in Turin University. She joined EURECAT group in France in 2008 as Area sales Manager; she was Responsible for selling catalyst related services to one of the Supermajor oil groups worldwide. Currently, she is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Balamand.

ZSM5 zeolite was impregnated with different KOH loadings (15 wt.%, 25 wt.% and 35 wt.%) to prepare catalysts used in the biodiesel production via transesterification of refined sunflower oil. The catalysts were calcined at 500 °C for 3 hr before characterization by N2 adsorption-desorption, XRD and XRF techniques. All the catalytic reactions were performed in a batch reactor at 60°C and under atmospheric pressure. It was found that KOH/ZSM5 with 35 wt.% loading showed the best catalytic performance. Optimization of the reaction conditions in the presence of KOH/ZSM5 (35 wt.%) was done by modifying the catalyst to oil ratio and the reaction time. A high methyl ester yield (> 95%) was obtained after a reaction time of 24 hours, a catalyst to oil ratio of 18 wt.% catalyst and a methanol to oil molar ratio of 12:1. Characterization of the spent catalyst was done using XRF, DSC and FTIR techniques in order to study its aging characteristics after three consecutive cycles. The results showed no significant leaching of KOH species into the reaction medium leading to a stable catalyst that can be successfully adopted in large scale industries for biodiesel production.