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

Biography:

David is the CEO of Muradel, a company commercialising the production of sustainable oils from organic feedstocks. He is an experienced Chartered Chemical Engineer with a strong background in leadership. He is proficient at motivating teams and has operated in the mining, automation, hospitality and defence industries. A calculated risk-taker with wide industry knowledge, David has spent the last 10 years developing new commercial opportunities focused on sustainable products from renewable feedstocks. David is also a tenured Professor at the University of Adelaide in the School of Chemical Engineering where he supervises postgraduate students on projects involving bioprocess technology R&D.

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Are microalgae derived biofuels anywhere near commercial reality? Over the past few years significant scale-up of appropriate processing technologies has been undertaken to further develop production of energy positive biofuels with carbon footprints less than fossil equivalents. Several companies have adopted hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) as the method to convert biomass to hydrocarbon feedstocks, commonly known as green crude. A sub-critical water reaction is used to drive HTL. The true boiling point (TBP) distributions of green crude show equivalent data to fossil crude oils. The TBP for green crude derived from Tetraselmis sp. was found to be very similar to that of West Texas Intermediate crude oil, which can be readily fractionated to typical fuel components including approximately 30% petrol, 30% bunker fuel, 20% diesel and 20% jet fuel. Specific distillates can be blended with fossil derived distillates or used directly in the fuel supply chain. The yield and quality of green crude can be manipulated in several ways by manipulating either the biomass production protocols and/or manipulating the HTL reaction conditions. To realise commercialisation of biofuels feedstock costs must be minimal. This presentation will provide data that shows how the yield, quality and specificity of biofuel products derived from biomass generate commercial interest, but can economically viable processes be achieved?

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Axel Schmidt has studied Environmental Geoscience and Environmental Assessment and Management in Trier, Germany. Since two years, he is PhD student at the Soil Science Department of the University of Trier, where he is also employed as Scientific Associate. His research activities focus on the cultivation of perennial energy crops and the impact on soil properties and biochemical methane potential (BMP).

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Miscanthus giganteus is a perennial low-input energy crop with very high biomass production and positive effects on soil properties and carbon sequestration. It is usually harvested in early spring for thermal combustion when the aboveground part of the plant is dead and dry. This material is less suitable for the production of biogas because it is relatively resistant to microbial decomposition due to its high content of lignified compounds. Therefore, the harvest in autumn is recommended to get better degradable material. One drawback can be that the plant is incapable of transfer nutrients back to the rhizomes where they are stored for the growth in the next year. To quantify the influence of different harvest dates (September, November, April) we analysed two different old Miscanthus giganteus fields (planted 1995 and 2008) over two years. We performed measurements of biomass yields, total and volatile solids and biogas and methane potential. Additionally we analysed the content of the main nutrients (N, P, K, Ca, Mg) in different parts (leafs, stems, rhizomes) of the plants. To estimate the consequences of early harvest on the biomass and specific methane production samples were also taken and analysed from plots where Miscanthus giganteus was harvested in fall in the year before. Based on the results we can conclude that under the right cultivation management Miscanthus giganteus can be an auspicious alternative to other energy crops (e.g. maize) for biogas production according economic and in particular ecologic aspects.

Biography:

Nallusamy Sivakumar has completed his PhD from Bharathidasan University. He is working as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biology, Sultan Qaboos University, Oman. His research areas are microbial fermentation, bioprocessing and bioactive compounds. He has published more than 25 papers in reputed journals.

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The increasing global demand for sustainable resources necessitates the complete utilization of feedstock. Wheat is a major global commodity and the milled wheat generating huge quantity of wheat bran as a waste which is underutilized. As wheat bran consists of 45% cellulose and hemicellulose, 15% starch, 6% lignin and 6% β-(1,3) / β-(1, 4) glucan, it has the potential to serve as low-cost feedstock for renewable energy. Keep this in mind, present study was aimed to convert the wheat bran into fermentable sugars for further production of polyhydroxybutyrate. The destarched wheat bran was pretreated with 1% NaOH and then subjected to enzymatic hydrolysis by cellulase of Trichoderma reesei (37 FPU/g) and β - glucosidase of Aspergillus niger (15 CBU/g). After hydrolysis for 96h, 42.6 g/L glucose and 21.8 g/L xylose were produced. The overall sugar concentration was 60.3 g/L with a sugar yield of 0.620 mg/g of pretreated wheat bran. Further, the PHB producer, Ralstonia eutropha grown in this hydrolysate supplemented with mineral salt medium (C: N - 20) for 48h, produced PHB and cell density of 71.5% and 25.6 g/L respectively, with a productivity of 0.381 g/L/h.

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Muhammed Khader Karunnappilli completed his BTech in Mechanical Engineering from Mahatma Gandhi University, Kerala and Piping Engineering from IIT Bombay. He is a major stake holder of Clear Vision Group of Companies for contracting in KSA, UAE & India. Petrocare is a consultancy service in India in the field of Engineering and Waste Management. He attended waste management summits conducted by CII & Saudi Environment Forum.

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We have a special project proposed and negotiating with Kalamassery Municipal Corporation (neighboring and satellite city of Kochi, biggest city and business capital of Kearala sate, India) for treating its solid waste. Municipal Corporation has its own dumping yard, which is in the mid of highly populated area, national highway and railway station. Very important point is that this yard in the river side, in which river is utilized for drinking water supply by water authority and industrial water supply for more than 20 major industries. Now many people are suffering due to this dumping yard. Our project proposes to collect segregated waste from the sources by effective utilization of “Kumbasree’, cooperative groups from ladies supported by government are collecting the waste from individual houses as organic and inorganic by providing different color plastic containers to each house to collect plastic, organic, metallic & diapers waste. We will set up a modern plant to produce refined biogas and electricity as a final product. Plant will be set up in the municipal land to achieve “Zero Waste” as the target. Initial separation of the organic waste will be done a conveyer belt to ensure it is 100% organic. Then, it will be crushed as slurry send to primary storage tank. This slurry will be pumped to series of horizontal bio-reactors. Gas formed shall be compressed and passed through cross flow scrubber to get 95-98% pure methane. CO2 & H2S shall be separated by the refining process. This refined gas will be utilized for electric power generation. Final waste from the reactors shall be separated in to solid and liquid. Solid will be sold as organic fertilizer and liquid will be sold as organic pesticide. All inorganic waste will be segregated and utilized for recycling. The ultimate Zero Waste target will be achieved.

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Nelson Abila holds a Doctor of Science degree in Economics and Business Administration from the University of Vaasa, Vaasa, Finland. He is a development economist with special interest in fueling sustainable development and economic growth. Nelson received the Åbo Akademi Award for his publications on the subject of renewable energy development in 2014. He has also received several grants including Fortum Foundation and Hilda and Evald Nissi Foundation Scholarships. Nelson has published journal articles in high ranking international journals.

Abstract:

Cassava is increasingly being cultivated for much more than food in Nigeria. Industrial utilization of cassava for starch, ethanol and flour is on the increase in the major production belts across the country. This industrial cassava utilization trend can be seen as one of the benefits-outcomes of the many initiatives in the last two decades which aimed at further exploring the crop beyond it staple potentials. As a country facing persistent energy challenges, Nigeria can derive some succors from the production of cassava for energy. There exist opportunity for producing ethanol to meet the set target for petrol-ethanol blending. This paper explores the present and future potentials of stimulating the production of cassava as an energy crop. The paper attempts to answer the questions relating what are the advantages and disadvantages of promoting the production of cassava as an energy crop. To answer the questions of this research, data were sourced from the secondary sources, including the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) production statistics. The estimation of the potential derivable biofuels from cassava is based on the ethanol yield given by Mekonnen and Hoekstra. Nigeria can derive upto 9.23 million cubic meters of ethanol from cassava based on the current production. As Nigeria is setting the stage for boosting agricultural production towards diversifying and stimulating the economy, the country must pay more attention to cassava as a crucial focal crop. The paper presents recommendations for exploiting the potentials of cassava as an energy crop.

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Alireza Mehrdadfar has completed his master at the age of 25 years from Islamic Azad University. He is the director of energy section in FATH Company, a premier Bioenergy organization.

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Azolla is non-native aquatic plants that introduced into the Anzali wetlands, Azolla is recognized as Environmental threat in Anzali Wetland. We produced biogas from Azolla biomass via supercritical water gasification and as result we achieved to produce biogas that contained 30% hydrogen. CHP is the sequential or simultaneous generation of multiple forms of useful energy (usually mechanical and thermal) in a single, integrated system. We simulated and optimized different units of CHP such as gas turbine, internal combustion, sterling, and etc. and use biogas of Azolla fern as feed to investigate Azolla ability for power generation, through Aspen Plus. We achieved 1MW to 2.25MW electricity from this small scale power plants. Consequently the results of our study depicted that this fern which known as threat, can be used as an alternative biomass feedstock for efficient power generation and indicates that biogas from Azolla biomass had excellent and considerable ability in order to generate power and less NOX emission.

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Sugar technologist 1980, Chemical Engineer 1989, Masters Science in energy efficient and thermal design 1997, PhD in Technical Sciences, specialty chemical 2005 at UCLV, titular Professor at Sancti Spíritus University 2007. 36 year work experience in sugar, milk industries and in the university. 60 postgraduate courses about process analysis, sugar technology, energy and environment, agriculture, water chemistry, pedagogy, investigation methodology. Professor of practice engineering, investigation methodology, process quality control, thermodynamic, administration, cogeneration and renewable energy. Advised more than 80 engineering thesis, 30 master degree and 6 PhD currently advise 5 PhD. 74 papers in scientific events and 68 publications.

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This paper shows the potential of biomass to contribute a change in Cuba's energy matrix, based on results achieved by Sancti Spíritus University "José Martí Pérez", UNISS, identifying potential for power generation using renewable energy sources in the province, in order to change the current energy structure for a matrix based largely on renewable sources to: increasing quality and stability of energy supply, reduce oil imports and environmental impacts of energy sector, financial performance and greater energy sovereignty. At work is exposed from an energy diagnosis in 2014 the contribution that would have the implementation of renewable energy potentials of available biomass to the energy matrix of Sancti Spíritus province, which have been identified by researches conducted to increase cogeneration in sugar industry, biogas production by biodigestión of different waste and biomass torrefaction of Marabú; also considering other projects promoted by the Cuban government. As results, the implementation of biomass as energy resource through potential identified by UNISS and projects promoted by the Cuban government in the consumption of 2014, would have helped to transform the renewable contribution from 6% to 55% in the matrix and generate more than 100% of the power consumption, biomass would provide around 98% of renewable, showing its importance for the Cuban energy matrix transformation; by a growth of 4% annual of energy consumption, could be covered from renewable more than 50% of whole demand and 90% of electricity consumption until 2020 and Sancti Spíritus could achieve energy indicators comparable with developed countries.

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Ananda S. Amarasekara is a professor in the Department of Chemistry at Prairie View A&M University in Texas. He received his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the City University of New York in 1985. His research interests include cellulosic ethanol, renewable fuels, and catalysis in biomass processing. He has published ~ 100 research publications in peer-reviewed journals.

Abstract:

Efficient hydrolysis of lignocellulosic biomass to fermentable sugars is a challenging step and the primary obstacle for the large scale production of cellulosic ethanol. Ionic liquids are well known for their ability to dissolve cellulose and our interest in the search for efficient catalytic methods for saccharification of polysaccharides has led us to develop -SO3H group functionalized Brönsted acidic ionic liquids (BAILs) as solvents as well as catalysts [1]. Later we found that these sulfuric acid derivatives can be used as catalysts in aqueous phase as well. For example, BAIL 1-(1-propylsulfonic)-3-methylimidazolium chloride aqueous solution was shown to be a better catalyst than H2SO4 of the same [H+] for the degradation of cellulose [2]. This observation is an important lead for the development of a BAIL based cellulase mimic type catalyst for depolymerization of cellulose. In an attempt to develop a recyclable, simple enzyme mimic type catalysts we have studied quantitative structure activity relationships (QSAR) of a series of BAIL catalysts and found that activity with different cation types decreases in the order: imidazolium > pyridinium > triethanol ammonium. Furthermore, we have investigated the effects of selected metal ions on 1-(1-propylsulfonic)-3-methylimidazolium chloride BAIL catalyzed hydrolysis of cellulose in water at 140-170 °C. The total reducing sugar (TRS) yields produced during the hydrolysis of cellulose (DP ~ 450) in aq. 1-(1-propylsulfonic)-3-methylimidazolium chloride solution at 140 - 170 °C using Cr3+, Mn2+, Fe3+, Co2+ Ni2+, Cu2+, Zn2+, and La3+ chlorides as co-catalysts as well as interactions of catalysts with cellulose are shown in the figure below. These results show that cellulose samples heated with Mn2+, Fe3+, Co2+ as co-catalysts produce significantly higher TRS yields compared to the sample heated without the metal ions. The highest catalytic effect enhancement is observed with Mn2+ and produced TRS yields of 59.1, 78.4, 91.8, and 91.9 % at 140, 150, 160, and 170 °C respectively; whereas cellulose hydrolyzed without Mn2+ produced TRS yields of 9.8, 16.5, 28.0, and 28.7 % at the same four temperatures. This is a 503, 375, 228, and 220 % enhancement in TRS yield due to the addition of Mn2+ as a co-catalyst to BAIL catalyzed cellulose hydrolysis at 140, 150, 160 and 170 °C respectively. This paper will present the development of BAIL based artificial cellulase type catalysts, QSAR studies, catalyst immobilizations, applications on lignocellulosic biomass materials (corn stover, switchgrass, poplar) and recycling studies.

Biography:

Janusz A. Kozinski is the Founding Dean and Professor in Lassonde School of Engineering at York University, Canada. His multi-disciplinary research background relates to thermodynamics, space science, chemical and biological engineering. Some of his notable works are in supercritical water gasification for biofuel production, hydrothermal flames for toxic waste remediation, next generation nuclear energy reactors and development of immune buildings systems.

Abstract:

The adverse effects of climate change resulting from increasing greenhouse gas emissions and intense consumption of fossil fuels are well-known. The pollution of natural resources, such as water, air and soil, by refractory industrial wastes has also become a global environmental concern. The effluents from dairy industries are one of such wastes that require proper attention prior to disposal. Dairy effluents are comprised chiefly of spoiled milk, yogurt, cream, cheese whey, fat and other milk-based products. The dairy industry effluents, including whey waste and milk-based residues, are enriched in lactose and minor amounts of glucose that could potentially be converted to biofuels and biochemicals. Lactose was used in this work as a model compound of dairy effluents for gasification in supercritical water using a continuous flow tubular reactor. Four parameters impacting supercritical water gasification were studied, namely temperature (550-700°C), residence time (30-75 s), feed concentration (4-10 wt%) and catalyst concentration (0.2-0.8 wt%). The best total gas yields, carbon gasification efficiency, H2 yields and other major gases (CO2 and CH4) were obtained at 700°C using a feed concentration of 4 wt% lactose and a residence time of 60 s at 25 MPa. Furthermore, catalytic lactose gasification involving 0.8 wt% Na2CO3 resulted in maximum H2 yield (22.4 mol/mol) compared to those obtained by 0.8 wt% K2CO3 (21.5 mol/mol) and non- catalytic gasification (16 mol/mol). The results indicate that waste effluents from dairy industries could potentially serve as an attractive raw material for hydrogen production from gasification.

Biography:

Juan Matos Lale completed his Ph.D in Physics and Chemistry of Surface at the Central School of Lyon (France) in 1999. He worked upon the influence of carbon materials in different heterogeneous photocatalytic reactions with potential applications in solar nanotechnology. Prof. Matos focus his research in the synthesis, characterization and applications of nanomaterials in catalysis, photocatalysis, environmental, industrial and green chemistry and alternative energies processes. He has been Invited Professor at Clark University (USA) in 2004, Claude Bernard University (France) in 2005, Palermo University (Italy) in 2007, Szceczin University (Poland) in 2008, Max Plank Institute for Colloids and Interfaces (Germany) in 2010, Politechnique University of Valencia (Spain) in 2010-2011, Adam Mickiewizs University (Poland) in 2011, and National Carbon Institute at Oviedo, Spain (2012). Prof. Matos is now Full Professor and Researcher of the Biomaterials Department in the Technological Development Unit (UDT) of University of Concepcion. He currently has about 70 papers published in high impact journals, about 1500 citations and h-factor 18.

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Biochar-based materials applications in catalytic and photocatalytic reactions related with the photoproduction of liquid and gaseous molecules will be presented [1]. Sawdust of a soft wood was used to prepare biochars for H2 photoproduction on Au-TiO2/biochars under visible irradiation. A remarkable increase in the photoactivity of the composite up to a factor about 3 times higher than the commercial catalyst free of biochars was found and ascribed to the surface pH of biochars [1]. Biomass-derived molecules such as furfural, chitosane, and saccharose were used to prepare hybrid C-TiO2 materials by solvothermal synthesis. Hybrid TiO2-C supports led to an important enhancement in the catalytic activity of Pd-based catalysts in the electrooxidation of formic acid with a maxima density power up to 3.3 times higher [2] than the same catalyst on a commercial carbon. Pd-based catalysts supported on hybrid Biochar-TiO2 supports can be designed to control the selectivity of phenol hydrogenation to cyclohexanone or cyclohexanol (up to 100% yield) by controlling the chemical nature of the biochar supports [3]. Up to 10 times higher photoactivity that the standard semiconductor was found in the photodegradation of methylene blue under visible-irradiated Biochar-based/TiO2 materials [1]. An integrated approach will be presented to remark the potential of biochar-based sustainable catalysis and photocatalysis considering energy production and environmental considerations. It can be concluded that biochars-based materials show new perspectives for the sustainable catalysis and photocatalysis related with clean energy production, green and selective catalytic processes, and for the environmental remediation of polluted water by solar technology.

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Jordan Godwin is a Biofuels Analyst for Platts in Houston, Texas. He has covered biofuels pricing, trends and policies since 2012, originally serving as a price reporter on the U.S. ethanol, biodiesel and RINs markets for two years before moving over to the Platts Analytics team. His main areas of focus include supply/demand forecasts, tracking global trade flows and other trends in the biofuels industries, with a key focus on North American, Asian and African markets. Prior to joining Platts, he served as a journalist for two years after receiving his Bachelor of Journalism for the University of Texas at Austin in 2010.

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With so much uncertainty plaguing global biofuels markets in 2015, producers, investors, traders and market participants of all backgrounds need answers on what direction the industry takes in 2016. How has the historic oil decline affected the biofuels outlook in the past six months, and what does it mean for the industry moving forward? Will policy setbacks in the US and UK continue to stunt biofuel industry growth in 2016? How can the markets thrive with explosively volatile feedstock agriculture prices dragging margins on for a rollercoaster ride? Will Asian and Middle Eastern markets continue to emerge as major consumers in 2016 and if so, how can Western holders capitalize? Platts offers answers to all of these questions with our vast and in-depth global biofuels market coverage. For nearly three years, I worked as a price reporter with an ear on the ground as US ethanol markets shifted all over the place, driven by wild corn prices and federal government policy swings. Now, my mission as a Biofuels Analyst is to provide insight into both the status quo in the global biofuels picture as well as the future of the markets, utilizing specific historical trends and dozens of producer margin models.

Biography:

Umaiyakunjaram R. has completed his UG Civil Engineering in Annamalai University, Chidambaram, Tamilnadu, India in 1985 and completed his PG Civil/Environmental Engineering in Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, Tamilnadu, India in 2000. He is pursuing Ph.D in Anna university, Chennai, India from January 2011. He has been working as Environmental Engineer in Pollution Control Board, Tamilnadu, India.

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A pilot-scale submerged anaerobic membrane bioreactor treating fine screened and equalized raw tannery waste water without any pretreatment was investigated in this paper to explore the biogas yield from both particulate (CODP) & soluble organic pollutants (CODS). Flat sheet anaerobic membrane with pore size of 0.4 µm was used in this study and evaluated its performance of biogas production with Organic Loading Rate of 12 g of COD.L-1d-1. Anaerobic microbial growth in the SAMBR was measured and compared with VSS (mg.L-1) at elapsed time intervals which was further evaluated using membrane fouling characteristics by scanning electron microscope picture (SEM) of membrane, permeate velocity, CODin, CODout, COD in the reactor, biogas yield and composition of biogas etc., The biogas generation started from the 9th day and reached the maximum by 27th day. Initially volatile suspended solids (VSSs) and total suspended solids (TSSs) in the reactor were 4 g. L-1 and 5 g. L-1 respectively with ratio of 0.80. On the 27th day, the VSS and TSS in the SAMBR have reached a maximum value of 24 g. L-1 and 27 g. L-1 respectively with ratio of 0.89. The permeate flux was maintained at 7.06 LMH which is less than the critical flux discussed in literatures and due to that fact there was no reduction in permeate flux till the end of the experiment. Also at steady conditions, high treatment efficiency was achieved by the SAMBR with COD removal efficiency of approximately 97.14%. The methane content in the biogas was observed between 60 to 70%. High R2 value was observed between NH3 levels and Alkalinity during high fouling conditions attributed to precipitation of ammonium acetate salt or struvite responsible for membrane fouling. The optimum VFA/Alkalinity ratio was 0.5, which was consistent with the peak gas yield conditions. The study recommends the removal of NH3 to avoid the membrane fouling at high OLR of 12 g of COD.L-1d-1 treating raw tannery waste water.

Biography:

Samer Aouad has completed his PhD in 2007 at the age of 25 years from “Université du Littoral – Côte d’Opale”, France and is currently an Associate Professor of Physical Chemistry at the University of Balamand, Lebanon. He has published more than 30 papers in reputed journals and has been an “Invited Professor” several times at European Universities. He has been awarded funds for several national and international projects and he also serves as a scientific committe member of the JFL conference series.

Abstract:

The dry reforming of methane is a prospective process that can be used for the valorisation of the greenhouse gas; carbon dioxide. It also produces syngas suitable for use in Fischer-Tropsch oxygenated compounds syntheses. The main issue with this process is that the catalysts used are quickly deactivated by coke formation. Many studies focus on finding a catalyst that can resist deactivation. Hydrotalcite catalysts are stable and active in the dry reforming of methane. Moreover, the addition of lanthanum to the hydrotalcite composition improves catalytic activity. NixMg6-xAl2 and NixMg6-xAl1.8La0.2 (x = 2, 4 or 6) catalysts were prepared via the hydrotalcite route. The XRD showed that the calcined NixMg6-xAl1.8La0.2 catalysts contained different lanthanum oxide species. The FTIR spectra demonstrated that lanthanum doped catalysts adsorb more CO2. TPR analyses proved that the addition of lanthanum affected nickel species distribution in the catalysts and strengthened NiO-MgO interaction inside the solid matrix. The CO2 reforming of methane reaction (Ar/CO2/CH4:60/20/20; GHSV 60000 mL.g-1.h-1) was carried out in the 600oC to 800oC range. Lanthanum addition improved the catalytic activity especially by favoring the dry methane reforming reaction over all other secondary reactions in addition to the creation of more basic sites that enhance CO2 adsorption and contribute to carbon deposits removal. The most active lanthanum containing catalyst kept a constant catalytic performance for 14 hours on streamregardless of the formation of carbon deposits. These deposits can be removed under oxidative atmosphere at moderate temperature due to the presence of lanthanum oxide species in the catalyst.

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Foster Agblevor is currently the Utah Science Technology and Research (USTAR) endowed Professor of Biological Engineering at Utah State University (USU), Logan UT and Director of USTAR Bioenergy Center, Utah State University. He is also Adjunct Professor of Biological Systems Engineering, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA. He received Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry from the University of Toronto. He did postdoctoral work at the Hawaii Natural Energy Institute,University of Hawaii, Manoa Campus, Honolulu, HI.

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Olive oil production is a major industry in the Mediterranean countries such as Tunisia, Spain, Italy, Greece, and Turkey. Together, these countries produce about 90% of the world olive oil. Olive oil production generates olive mill waste water which contains phenolics, sugars and other substances that have to be disposed. The current disposal system in Tunisia for example consists of solar evaporation of the water and land filling of the solid sludge. We investigated the catalytic pyrolysis of the olive mill wastewater sludge (OMWS) in a fluidized bed system using HZSM-5 and other catalysts and compared them with pyrolysis using sand as the pyrolysis medium. The pyrolysis with sand generated very viscous liquids which were almost paste-like at room temperature, but when either the HZSM-5 or other catalysts were used as the fluidized bed catalytic pyrolysis medium, very low viscosity liquids (6 cP @40 C) were produced and the higher heating value (HHV) was as high as 42 MJ/kg and the oxygen content of the oil was less than 5 wt%. The oil formed two phases with the aqueous fraction and the pH was neutral. The gas chromatographic/mass spectrometric analysis and 13C NMR analysis of the oils showed that whereas the pyrolysis of OMWS on sand produced a large number of long chain fatty acid products, the catalytic pyrolysis oils consisted of mostly ketones, esters, and alcohols with very little fatty acid groups. The properties of the catalytic pyrolysis oils showed that it could qualify as a green diesel fuel or it could be readily hydrogenated to improve its properties further as an infrastructure ready biofuel for either transportation or heating fuel. This technology provides a potential solution for waste disposal in olive oil industry while simultaneously generating fuel and can also serve as vehicle for greenhouse gas reduction.

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Simmons joined Sandia National Laboratories (Livermore, CA) in 2001 as a Senior Member of the Technical Staff after receiving his Ph.D. from Tulane University. In 2007, he was one of the principal co-investigators of the Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI, www.jbei.org), a ten year, $259M DOE funded project tasked with the development and realization of next-generation biofuels produced from non-food crops. He is currently serving as the Chief Science and Technology Officer and the Vice-President of the Deconstruction Division at JBEI, where he leads a team of 41 researchers working on advanced methods of liberating fermentable sugars from lignocellulosic biomass. He is also the Senior Manager of the Advanced Biomanufacturing Group at Sandia and serves as the Laboratory Relationship Manager for the Biomass Program. He has over 250 publications, book chapters, and patents. His work has been featured in the New York Times, BBC, the Wall Street Journal, the San Francisco Chronicle, Fast Company, and the KQED televised science program Quest.

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Ionic liquids (ILs), solvents composed entirely of paired ions, have been used in a wide variety of process chemistry and renewable energy applications. Imidazolium-based ILs show remarkable abilities to dissolve biomass, and are thus an ideal media for biomass pretreatment and depolymerization[1]. Although very efficient, imidazolium cations are currently expensive and therefore their large scale use and industrial deployment, e.g. in biorefineries, is limited[2]. In an attempt to replace imidazolium-based ILs with ILs derived from renewable sources that retain their efficiency for biomass pretreatment, we synthesized a series of tertiary amine based ILs from aromatic aldehydes derived from lignin and hemicellulose, the major byproducts of lignocellulosic biofuel production. A comprehensive analysis of extractable cell wall carbohydrates and sugar yields from switchgrass and switchgrass pretreated with tertiary amine based ILs derived from vanillin ([Van][H2PO4]), p-anisaldehyde ([p-AnisEt2NH][H2PO4]) and furfural ([FurEt2NH][H2PO4]) confirmed their effectiveness for biomass pretreatment. The amounts of sugar released by enzymatic hydrolysis of the cellulose present in switchgrass was comparable to that obtained after pretreatment with 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate ([C2C1Im][OAc]). Enzymatic saccharification with [FurEt2NH][H2PO4] and [p-AnisEt2NH][H2PO4] provided 90% and 96% of total possible glucose and 70% and 76% of total possible xylose, respectively, after biomass pretreatment[3]. Our concept of deriving ILs from lignocellulosic biomass shows significant potential for the realization of a “closed-loop” process for future lignocellulosic biorefineries, and has far-reaching economic impacts for other IL based process technology currently using ILs synthesized from non-renewable sources.

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Marc Pomeroy completed his Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry from Colroado State University in 1992. He has since worked as an analytical chemist and technician for the US Antarctic Program as well as in the pharameutical and scientific instrument industries. He is currently an analytical chemist supporting the Thermochemical Process Development Unit for Pilot Scale Biomass Conversions at the US Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

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The Thermochemical Process Development Unit (TCPDU) at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) is a highly instrumented half-ton/day pilot scale plant capable of demonstrating industrially relevant thermochemical technologies from lignocellulosic biomass, including gasification. Biomass derived gasification products are a very complex mixture of chemical components that typically contain Sulfur and Nitrogen species that can act as catalysis poisons for tar reforming or synthesis catalysts. Real-time hot online sampling techniques, such as Molecular Beam Mass Spectrometry (MBMS), and Gas Chromatographs with Sulfur and Nitrogen specific detectors can provide real-time analysis providing operational indicators for performance. Sampling trypically requires coated sampling lines to minimize trace sulfur interactions with steel surfaces. Sample line Residence time within the sampling lines must be kept to a minimum to reduce further reaction chemistries. Solids from ash and char contribute to plugging and must be filtered at temperature. Experience at NREL has shown several key factors to consider when designing and installing an analytical sampling system for biomass gasification products. They include minimizing sampling distance, effective filtering as close to source as possible, proper line sizing, proper line materials or coatings even heating of all components, minimizing pressure drops, and additional filtering or traps after pressure drops.

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Tatsuo Omata has completed his PhD at the age of 27 years from University of Tokyo. He is the professor of Nagoya University. He has been working on CO2 and nitrate assimilation of cyanobacteria and published more than 80 papers in reputed journals.

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Photosynthetic microorganisms are thought to be good materials for biofuel production, but the productivity of algae-based biofuel production is too low to be sustainable. The intrinsic problem is the low product yields on a per-cell basis; Although green algae can accumulate TAG to a level as high as ~50% of cell dry mass (i.e., product-to-cell ratio = 1), simple calculations revealed that a much higher product-to-cell ratio (> 4) is required for environmentally sustainable production. To achieve this, the strategy of “milking” cells needs to be adopted. It requires: 1) high rate of production of a fuel-related compound; 2) limitation of cell growth without inhibiting photosynthesis; and 3) rapid excretion of the product into the medium. None of these is, however, compatible with the nature of photosynthetic microorganisms. Our goal is to achieve milking of cyanobacterial cells for production of free fatty acids (FFAs), using genetically engineered Synechococcus elongatus PCC7942. We chose this strain because it was found to have an unusually high capacity of FFA synthesis, fulfilling the requirement 1) shown above. The cells are, however, severely suffering from over-accumulation of FFA in the cell. We are growing the cells under nitrate-limited conditions to fulfill the requirement 2), and trying to enhance active and passive FFA transport across the cell envelope to fulfill the requirement 3). The latest results of our effeorts will be presented and evaluated in relation to the target values set for the product-to-cell ratio and the rate of production.

Biography:

Pinakeswar Mahanta is a professor in the department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Guwahati. His major area of research is on thermodynamics, heat transfer and renewable energy. He has established an international platform for research in the area of bio-energy with University of Nottingham, University of Birmingham, and Loughborough University, UK. Similarly, he has established collaboration in the field of clean coal technology with University of Cranfield, UK and UCL, Belguim. He has published more than 60 papers in internationally reputed peer reviewed journals and supervised 9 PhDs. Currently, he holds the position of the Dean of faculty Affairs at IIT Guwahati.

Abstract:

Coal is the main commercial energy fuel in India, amounting to 61% of installed electrical capacity as of 31st march, 2016. However, apart from the issue of being a fossil fuel with limited resource, Indian coal is of low quality, high ash content and low calorific value and so, it cannot be utilized efficiently. Another major concern associated with the usage of coal is the emissions. Recent research has proven that adoption of co-gasification technology (using mixed feed of biomass and coal) for power generation will help overcome these challenges. Co-gasification in fluidized bed gasifier provides excellent mixing and gas solid interaction that enhance the chemical reaction rate and conversion efficiency. The most attractive benefit of co-gasification is the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, environmental pollution and effective utilization of low grade coal. At IIT Guwahati three types of locally and abundantly available agricultural waste biomasses viz; saw dust, rice husk and bamboo dust, have been selected for co-gasification in circulating fluidized bed gasifier. It has been observed that the biomass characterization and percentage of biomass blends with coal is very important as it is directly related to the fuel gas composition. Co-gasification process not only produces a low carbon footprint on the environment, but also improves the H2/CO ratio in the produced syngas, which is required for liquid fuel synthesis. The inorganic matter present in biomass catalyzes the gasification of coal. Additionally, recent research investigations reported superior gas quality by using coal-biomass blends at different operating condition of temperatures.

Biography:

Rajiv Chandra Rajak, currently pursuing PhD under the guidance of Prof. Rintu Banerjee from Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, India. Mr. Rajak is working in the area of Biomass Deconstruction using biological catalsyt and its role in reducing sugar production. As an outcome of his research activities, he has published 3 research articles in peer reviewed international journals and a patent on biomass delignification. He was also awarded with the best poster award at Asian Congress In Biotechnology-2013, New Delhi, India.

Abstract:

There is a growing interest worldwide in utilization of bioresources through biobased processes leading to channeling considerable effort towards development of new and efficient technologies. Enzymes produced from microorganism’s acts as a green route for lignocellulosic biomass pretreatment. Saacharum spontaneum or Kans grass is a potential lignocellulosic rich in cellulose (38.70 %), hemicelluloses (29.00 %), and lignin (17.46 %). To utilize the major proportion of the carbohydrates such as cellulose and hemicelluloses to produce reducing sugar, degradation of lignin is an important prerequisite in bioethanol production process. In the present work, an enzymatic pretreatment process for lignin degradation or delignification has been optimized through response surface methodology (RSM) based on central composite design (CCD). The maximum delignification recorded was 81.67 % at 6 h upon monitoring the lignin content of 17.46 %. The effectiveness of the enzymatic pretreatment process was investigated through various microscopic and spectroscopic tools as well through porosity analysis that evidenced the specific action of enzyme on lignin. Moreover, the efficacy of enzymatic pretreatment process on enzymatic hydrolysis was studied through optimization based on central composite design. The maximum reducing sugar obtained was 500.30 mg/g at 5.30 h of incubation time which indeed supports the potential of enzymatic mode of biomass pretreatment.

Biography:

Anjani Devi.Chintagunta is pursuing her PhD under the guidance of Prof. Rintu Banerjee from Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur. She completed her Master's from JNTU, Kakinada. She have published two papers in peer reviewed national/international journals, two patents (filed) and attended two International conferences. She has achieved best paper presentation award in National symposium on Innovative and Modern Technologies for Agricultural Productivity, Food Security and Environmental Management held at Manglore, Karnataka in 2011.

Abstract:

Indiscriminate disposal of the solid waste generated from various agricultural practices and agro based industries causes detrimental effects in the environment. Utilisation of the waste biomass for the production of value added products through biotechnological intervention not only helps to combat environmental pollution but also adds to the economy. Hence, the present work focuses on integrated production of bioethanol and biomanure from pineapple leaf waste for its complete utilisation leading to zero waste generation. Bioethanol production from pineapple leaf waste was carried out through simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) by employing cellulolytic enzyme from Trichoderma reesei Rut-C30 and Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The SSF of pineapple leaf waste resulted in bioethanol production of 7.01% (v/v). The residue obtained after bioethanol production was inoculated with five different strains of blue-green algae and their concoction for nitrogen (N), phosphorous (P) and potassium (K) enrichment. Among them, Fischerella muscicola was found to enrich N, P and K content of the residue by nearly 6.84, 8.78 and 14.17 fold than that of the initial content, ultimately leading to improved NPK ratio of approximately 3.5:1:2. The efficient conversion of pineapple leaf waste to bioethanol and enrichment of residue obtained after SSF for its application as biomanure envisages environmental sustainability.

Biography:

Ch. V. N. Sowjanya has completed my M.Tech in COMPUTER AIDED CHEMICAL ENGINEERING at the age of 24 years from Andhra University. Presently,I am working as Lecturer in Department of Chemical Engineering in S V University Collge of Engineering (A), Tirupati. I have 3 publications in reputed international journals and more than 32 papers in International Conferences. Now, As my own interest I am working with modeling and simulation for various probelms in energy using MATLAB as well as designing them with the help of ASPEN PLUS apart from my academic work.

Abstract:

The present investigation attempted to analyze the Biosorption behavior of novel biosorbent, Amphiroa flagillisma brown algae powder, for removal of Cr+3 from solution against the function of initial metal ion concentration, pH, temperature, sorbent dosage and biomass particle size. The maximum Biosorption was found to be ¬¬¬98.51% at pH 4.7and Biosorption capacity (qe) of Cr+3 is 11.04 mg/g. The Langmuir, Tempkin and Freundlich equilibrium adsorption isotherms were studied and observed that Langmuir model is best fitted than the other model with correlation co-efficient of 1.0. Kinetic studies indicated that the Biosorption process of Cr+3 well followed the pseudo second order model with R2=1.0. The process is exothermic and, spontaneous nature of the process. The chemical functional groups –OH, CH2 stretching vibrations, C=O of alcohol, C=O of amide, P=O stretching vibrations, -CH, were involved in the process. The XRD pattern of the Amphiroa flagillisma brown algae powder was found to be mostly amorphous in nature. The SEM studies showed Cr+3 biosorption on selective grains of the biosorbent. It was concluded that Amphiroa flagillisma brown algae powder can be used as an effective, low cost, and environmentally friendly biosorbent for the removal of Cr+3 from aqueous solution.

Biography:

Kumaran Palanisamy a graduate mechanical engineer from Purdue University is a senior lecturer at Universiti Tenaga Nasional (UNITEN). He pursued his PhD studies at UNITEN, aimed at developing biodiesel fuel derived from waste cooking oil for power generation gas turbine application He has 10 years working experience in electric power generation in a multinational electricity utility corporation in Malaysia, Tenaga Nasional Berhad. Recently, he has been appointed as principle researcher at Center for Renewable Energy at UNITEN and actively pursuing research on harnessing biogas energy potential from waste in particular, sewage and palm oil mill sludge.

Abstract:

Malaysia has been experiencing rapid growth in population, industrialization and urbanization. Currently, the population is about 30.1 million and more than 70% of this was reported to be living in the urban areas. This rapid development has resulted in generation of greater amount of wastes. With the current population growth, it is approximated that the load of municipal solid waste (MSW) generated by the year 2020 will be 49,000 tons/day or more than 12 million tons/year whereby almost 29.0% are food and organic wastes. More than 90.0% of the solid wastes are disposed at landfills, which most of them are saturated and overloaded, but, due to the scarcity of land and public complaints, making the building of new landfill almost impossible, hence the disposal of MSW is a big problem and is one of the major environmental issues faced by country. Meanwhile, in the sewerage industry, sludge that is high in embedded energy is generated and it can be used to produce methane through anaerobic digestion especially in the modern mechanized sewage treatment plant (STP). However, the secondary thickened sludge (STS) is a poor substrate for anaerobic digestion. Hence, co-digestion is an environment and ecological friendly way to dispose the food wastes and to overcome the low biodegradability of STS. Besides that, it can be used to produce renewable energy which could reduce the dependency of fossil fuel for power generation in the country. Moreover, it also can deliver beneficial synergies for the sewage industry and the MSW industry. This work elucidates the preliminary investigation of the potentials of co-digestion of STS and food waste and its effect on biodegradability and methane yield, which proposes a sustainable management of solid waste generated in urban areas while harnessing the resources to generate green electricity.

Biography:

Sameh Samir Ali has completed his PhD in 2013 from Tanta University and currenly he is a postdoctoral position at Biofuels Institute, Environmental Science and Engineering. He is a member in Egyptian Botanical Society, Egyptian Society of Experimental Biology, Egyptian Academic Society for Environmental Development and African Association for Sustainable Development. He has four awarded research grants from 2014 till now. His research interests in screening and characterizing novel yeasts from gut symbionts of wood-feeding insects, bioconversion of lignocellulosic biomass resources for various value-added fuels and chemicals, advanced technology development for microbial fuel cells (MFC) in addition to medical microbiology.

Abstract:

lignocellulosic ethanol has the potential to meet most global transportation fuel needs with lower agricultural input and lower net CO2 emissions than fossil fuels, and its replacement of first-generation bioenergy will resolve the conflict between energy demand and food supply. Degradation of lignocellulosic biomass in nature is generally considered to be a microbial deconstruction process carried out by a variety of microorganisms or microbial communities, including bacteria and fungi. The three major components of lignocellulose, cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin, all require separate classes of enzymes to cleave their polymeric forms into shorter chains or monomers for further conversion processes. Individual microorganisms capable of degrading plant-cell-wall polymers (usually cellulose and hemicellulose) followed by conversion of those polymers into a single product are desirable for industrial processes. Lignin can constitute a significant percentage of plant biomass on a weight basis and is a complex polymer of phenyl propane units cross-linked to each other with different chemical bonds. Some individual organisms, predominantly the rot fungi, produce enzymes to deconstruct the lignin fraction. Conclusions: Physical pretreatment followed fungal bio-pretreatment for lignocellulosic biomass degradation were efficient in the improvement of biogas and methane production. Some challenges as the slow process of delignification and loss of carbohydrates for commercial applications of fungal pre-treatment still need to be examined. A bright future in fungal lignocellulosic biomass pre-treatment for subsequent hydrolysis for efficient improve biofuel industry will be expected.

Biography:

Kumaran Palanisamy a graduate mechanical engineer from Purdue University is a senior lecturer at Universiti Tenaga Nasional (UNITEN). He pursued his PhD studies at UNITEN, aimed at developing biodiesel fuel derived from waste cooking oil for power generation gas turbine application He has 10 years working experience in electric power generation in a multinational electricity utility corporation in Malaysia, Tenaga Nasional Berhad. Recently, he has been appointed as principle researcher at Center for Renewable Energy at UNITEN and actively pursuing research on harnessing biodiesel form waste cooking oil and also biogas energy potential from waste in particular, sewage and palm oil mill sludge.

Abstract:

Depletion of fossil fuel, environmental quality deterioration due to increasing fossil fuel utilisation and the soaring price of fossil fuel products have prompted intensified research efforts on alternative renewable sources of energy. Among the sources biodiesel is the most pursued and promoted around the world. Several researches which have been done to evaluate the potential of biodiesel (First Generation Biodiesel – FGB) as an alternative fuel for gas turbine application found that biodiesel has few property drawbacks in terms of surface tension, viscosity and density which leads to inferior performance compared to diesel. A novel method of improving the biodiesel properties to be suitable for gas turbine application has been developed. The improved biodiesel is called Second Generation Biodiesel (SGB). This paper reports performance and emission of SGB for electrical power generation gas turbine application. The performance tests, in a 30kW Capstone micro gas turbine up to 20% blend of second generation biodiesel (SGB) with distillate diesel, have shown improved thermal efficiency by 1% compared with first generation biodiesel (FGB) and distillate diesel. The emissions test during the micro gas turbine operation also has shown significant decrease especially in NOx emission compared to FGB and distillate diesel.

Biography:

Nivedita Sharma is a Professor in Microbiology at the University of Horticulture and Forestry, Solan, India. Her research interests are in the areas of biofuel/enzyme technology. She has more than 20 years of experience in the field of bioconversion/processing of lignocellulosic biomass. She has published more than 120 papers in reputed National/International journals. She is involved with many projects related to bioenergy.

Abstract:

In the modern world all developed and developing nations are committed to opt for clean and green fuel technologies to lower down pollution load and keep this world a safer place to live in. One of the promising approach heading in this direction is to switch over to bioenergy mode of transportation to significantly lower down vehicle exhaust and simultaneously to replace ever receding conventional liquid petroleum at least partially if not completely. Forest lignocellulosic biomass comprising of soft and hardwood species holds tremendous potential for bioethanol production. Soft and hardwood forest biomass overall contains 50 to 80% of carbohydrates and rest is lignin. Both types of woods vary considerably in their cellulose, hemicelluloses and lignin composition and thus need a special focus on their structural analysis followed by standardization of pretreatment process. As pretreatment happens to be the key parameter for bioconversion of lignocellulosic materials, soft and hardwood have been found to behave entirely different as far as physicochemical pretreatment is concerned followed by degradation to yield fermentable sugars by depolymerising enzymes. Similarly to enhance ethanol production efficiency, pretreated and hydrolyzed hard wood and soft wood require specific strategies to maximize the ethanol yield.and different process parameters of fermentation. The commercial feasibility of forest biomass for future bioenergy production is very strong provided a specific multi step process is optimized for soft and hard wood keeping in view their structural differences . In the present study a precise roadmap has been laid to differentiate between hard wood and soft wood for their respective bioconversion to achieve maximum ethanol recovery.

Biography:

Kanthasamy.P has completed his UG in Mechanical Engineering from the Institution of Engineers (India) in the year 2000 and MS (Manufacturing Management) in 2005 from Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS), Pilani, Rajasthan , India. He has also qualified as Certified Energy Auditor (CEA) from Bureau of Energy Efficiency, Ministry of Power, Government of India. He is working as Principal Technical Officer in the CSIR-Central Leather Research Institute, Cheenai, India. He has published several papers and working in the area of renewable energy and environment. He has 33 years of experience in the mechanical engineering field.

Abstract:

The incomplete combustion that occurs in gasoline or diesel engines, lead to enormous rejection of atmospheric pollutants such as soot particles, CO, NOX, and SO2. These toxic gases contribute to the formation of greenhouse effect. Reducing these GHG emissions are very important in preventing their climate change and hazardous effects on environment and health. Usage of the biodiesel blend as an alternate fuel will reduce the level of emission and helps to build up eco-friendly environment. The present study attempted to produce bio-diesel from fatty leather liquid and solid wastes such as wet back, chamois wash water, degreasing water and evaluated the combustion, performance and emission characteristics using a single cylinder, air cooled, direct injection compression ignition engine. The mixture of leather solid wastes and effluents were heated upto 100 °C and fat content present in the aliquot was extracted. The extracted fat was used in the acid base trans-esterification and the biodiesel was produced. The bio-diesel yield was found to be 0.08L/L of chamois leather processing waste and 0.15kg/kg of pickled fleshing. It was noticed that the addition of biodiesel into the petroleum diesel fuel reduced the Specific energy consumption at no load, part load and 75 % load, but there is no significant difference at full load condition. There is significant rise on heat release rate of B10, B20 and B50 at no load. For B10, B20 and B40 there is significant rise on rate of heat release at 25 % load. There is significant rise on heat release rate for B10, B20 and B50 at part load condition. Similarly for B10, B50 and B20 at 75 % load and B50, B10, and B20 at full load condition than the petroleum diesel fuel. There was a considerable increase in thermal efficiency of biodiesel blends than diesel fuel due to the presence of oxygen in biodiesel. It was also observed that for all blends there is increase in NOx emission at 25 % load and slight variation for the remaining loads. When compared to conventional diesel fuel the CO2 emission increased for all biodiesel blends at all loads. Due to the oxygen content present in the biodiesel the combustion was improved and the emission was reduced. There was a significant reduction in both the CO and HC at all load conditions.

Biography:

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Abstract:

The biomethanisation process alone for solid waste management becomes less energy efficient with high residual waste generation and less calorific value for methane (42kJ/gm) than the Hydrogen (122kJ/gm). Therefore, the anaerobic sequential production of hydrogen followed by methane maximise the energy recovery with an intensive bioprocess optimisation. One such approach of potential importance is the production of hydrogen and methane from sewage sludge co-digested with kitchen waste. This paper focuses on generation of hydrogen and methane through bio-process optimisation using different pH , and oxidation reduction potential (ORP). The sewage sludge sample mixed with minced kitchen waste was optimised using different pH between 4.5 and 7.5. The optimised pH was further regulated with ORP between -100mV to – 400mV. The maxima hydrogen production was occurred at a pH of 5.5 and the ORP of -380 mV, whereas the methane maxima was noticed in the pH of 6.8 and the ORP of -210mV. This was consistent with predominant rods shaped microorganisms in hydrogen maxima while the cocci shaped organisms at methane maxima correlated with the results reported elsewhere. The study demonstrated the specific hydrogen yield potential of 0.3 Nm.L/g of VS removed (VSr) and the specific methane yield potential of 0.6 Nm L/gm of VSr against the control specific hydrogen and methane yield potential of 0.05 Nm.L/gm VSr and 0.3 Nm.L/gm VSr . Hence, the study demonstrated that the minced kitchen waste co-digested with STP sludge becomes an energy efficient solid waste management option as a sequential production of hydrogen and methane using two stage hydrogeniser followed by methaniser ameliorating the existing two stage anaerobic hydrolyser followed by methaniser.

Biography:

Sandra D. Eksioglu is an Associate Professor of Industrial Engineering at Clemson University. Her research focus has been on the theory and application of operations research tools to problems that arise in the areas of transportation, logistics, and supply chain. She works on developing mathematical models and solution algorithms that help design and manage large scale and complex supply-chains. In particular, she is interested in the application of these tools to the bioenergy supply chain. She received the Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award from the National Science Foundation in 2011 for her work on biofuels supply chain. She has co-authored over 70 refereed publications.

Abstract:

In the recent years we have seen an increasing interest in many areas of research related to bioenergy. This interest has been motivated by the potential that exist to make bioenergy a future power sources in the USA and world. Despite the increasing interest, the economic viability of bioenergy and its future has been challenged for a number of reasons. For example, all the types of bioenergy will continue to face biomass feedstock transportation and other logistics challenges which have imposed limitations on the production capacities of biofuel plants. This presentation summarizes mathematical models which support large-scale biomass transportation and consequently large-scale production of bioenergy. These models are extensions of the multi-facility supply chain design problem. One of the extensions that will be discussed in this talk is a two-stage stochastic programming model which is used to capture uncertainties of biomass supply and biomass conversion. On-going concerns about bioenergy are focused not only on its economic viability, but also, on its carbon footprint. This is because the steps involved in production and transportation of biomass are energy intensive. Thus, some of the models which will be presented do focus on minimizing costs and carbon footprint due to transportation activities in the supply chain. These models are tested via a number of case studies developed using data from the Southeast region of USA. Numerical results will be presented.

Biography:

Sergio Rivero has completed his MSc. In Energy and Environmental Management from the University of Twente in the Netherlands. He currently holds a position as technical consultant at the Bioenergy and Food Security (BEFS) project from the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO). Previous work experience includes working on renewable energy related projects with institutions such as GIZ (EnDev project) and The Nature Conservancy.

Abstract:

Energy playing an essential role in society is central to development and enables modern life. At present, the energy sector heavily relies on fossil fuel supply and is the source of two-thirds of global greenhouse gas emissions. Consequently, energy policy decisions in countries will play an important role in the future. As part of an alternative energy mix, bioenergy could play a role in countries complementing current energy production in order to reduce fossil fuel dependence and increase energy sovereignty. Bioenergy and Food Security (BEFS) approach developed by FAO allows a multidisciplinary assessment of bioenergy production considering food security aspects, natural resources availability and techno-economic feasibility. By applying this approach in a country, it is possible to recognize opportunities for bioenergy production using biomass available that have been identified as available not affecting the national food security. Moreover, BEFS is able to analyze the techno-economic feasibility of different bioenergy technologies under the specific context of the country. Thus, it is possible to detect key elements such as specific profitable production conditions in the country, minimum profitable plant sizes, and price ceiling for feedstock. In this work, examples of how BEFS approach has been applied in Turkey and Egypt are presented. These examples illustrate the overall BEFS process and show how bioenergy can be used as alternative to take advantage of biomass residues to mitigate environmental impacts, as profitable option to meet national energy targets or as alternatives to promote rural development.

Biography:

Kumaran Palanisamy, a graduate mechanical engineer from Purdue University is a Senior Lecturer at Universiti Tenaga Nasional (UNITEN). He pursued his PhD studies at UNITEN, aimed at developing biodiesel fuel derived from waste cooking oil for power generation gas turbine application. He has 10 years working experience in electric power generation in a multinational electricity utility corporation in Malaysia, Tenaga Nasional Berhad. Recently, he has been appointed as Principle Researcher at Center for Renewable Energy at UNITEN and actively pursuing research on harnessing biogas energy potential from waste in particular, sewage and palm oil mill sludge.

Abstract:

Malaysia has been experiencing rapid growth in population, industrialization and urbanization. Currently, the population is about 30.1 million and more than 70% of this was reported to be living in the urban areas. This rapid development has resulted in generation of greater amount of wastes. With the current population growth, it is approximated that the load of municipal solid waste (MSW) generated by the year 2020 will be 49,000 tons/day or more than 12 million tons/year whereby almost 29.0% are food and organic wastes. More than 90.0% of the solid wastes are disposed at landfills, which most of them are saturated and overloaded, but, due to the scarcity of land and public complaints, making building of new landfill almost impossible, hence the disposal of MSW is a big problem and is one of the major environmental issues faced by country. Meanwhile, in the sewerage industry, sludge that is high in embedded energy is generated and it can be used to produce methane through anaerobic digestion especially in the modern mechanized sewage treatment plant (STP). However, the secondary thickened sludge (STS) is a poor substrate for anaerobic digestion. Hence, co-digestion is an environment and ecological friendly way to dispose the food wastes and to overcome low biodegradability of STS. Besides that, it can be used to produce renewable energy which could reduce the dependency of fossil fuel for power generation in the country. Moreover, it also can deliver beneficial synergies for the sewage industry and the MSW industry. This work elucidates the preliminary investigation of the potentials of co-digestion of STS and food waste and its effect on biodegradability and methane yield, which proposes a sustainable management of solid waste generated in urban areas while harnessing the resources to generate green electricity.

Biography:

C. Prem Ananth Surendran, a part time Ph.D Scholar in the Bio-energy Research group of Environmental Technology Department in Central Leather Research Institute (CSIR), Adyar, Chennai, working as a full time Deputy Planner in the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) Government of Tamil Nadu. He has completed his Master’s in Engineering (M E) degree in Urban Engineering, from Department of Civil Engineering, Anna University, Chennai.. He has played a key role in developing and planning smart and green cities in Govt. of Tamil Nadu.

Abstract:

The present case study demonstrated the performance of large scale biogas plant for wholesale vegetable complex waste (30 tonnes per day) using biogas induced mixing arrangement (BIMA) digester for biogas and power generation. The BIMA digester located in Koyambedu, Chennai (India) is one of the unique facility in India producing biogas and power using wholesale vegetable complex waste, operated successfully for the past eight years. The vegetable complex waste contains predominantly banana stem, cauli flower, cabbage etc., dumped onsite threatened huge health related, ground waster related issues in and around the market complex. Alternatively, the same was collected and transported to the biogas plant, minced and fed into the BIMA digester produced biogas and power. The average Total solids (TS) and volatile solids (VS/TS) in the minced mixed feed stock material was found to be 21%, and 75% respectively which was amenable for biogas production. The designed OLR, HRT, biogas and power potential was 1.20 Nm m3/day, 25 days, 2500 m3/day and 5250 kwh/day respectively. The daily average biogas and power generated during the entire study period was 1250 m3/day and 3150 kwh/day. The specific biogas and electricity yield per kg of biodegradable waste and per m3 of biogas was found to be 0.80 Nm m3/kg of VS removed and 1.85 kWh/m3 of biogas at 60% CH4 with an average calorific value of 5400 K.calories/Nm3 of biogas. The detailed operational strategy adopted to maximize biogas and power yield using wholesale vegetable complex waste are being presented.

Biography:

Kumaran Palanisamy, a graduate mechanical engineer from Purdue University is a Senior Lecturer at Universiti Tenaga Nasional (UNITEN). He pursued his PhD studies at UNITEN, aimed at developing biodiesel fuel derived from waste cooking oil for power generation gas turbine application. He has 10 years working experience in electric power generation in a multinational electricity utility corporation in Malaysia, Tenaga Nasional Berhad. Recently, he has been appointed as Principle Researcher at Center for Renewable Energy at UNITEN and actively pursuing research on harnessing biogas energy potential from waste in particular, sewage and palm oil mill sludge.

Abstract:

Depletion of fossil fuel, environmental quality deterioration due to increasing fossil fuel utilisation and the soaring price of fossil fuel products have prompted intensified research efforts on alternative renewable sources of energy. Among the sources, biodiesel is the most pursued and promoted around the world. Several researches which have been done to evaluate the potential of biodiesel (First Generation Biodiesel – FGB) as an alternative fuel for gas turbine application found that biodiesel has few property drawbacks in terms of surface tension, viscosity and density which leads to inferior performance compared to diesel. A novel method of improving the biodiesel properties to be suitable for gas turbine application has been developed. The improved biodiesel is called Second Generation Biodiesel (SGB). This paper reports performance and emission of SGB for electrical power generation gas turbine application. The performance tests, in a 30 kW Capstone micro gas turbine up to 20% blend of second generation biodiesel (SGB) with distillate diesel, have shown improved thermal efficiency by 1% compared with first generation biodiesel (FGB) and distillate diesel. The emissions test during the micro gas turbine operation also has shown significant decrease especially in NOx emission compared to FGB and distillate diesel.

Biography:

Matindi Robert is a final year Doctoral Candidate at Queensland University of Technology, with Master of Science (Supply Chain Management) and Bachelor of Science (Industrial Chemistry/Engineering) Degree from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture & Technology and University of Nairobi respectively. He did his Postdoctoral studies from Stanford University School of Medicine. He is a Co-director of a 40 MW Private Power Plant in Kenya.

Abstract:

Key limitations of previous studies undertaken to assess the impact of bioenergy on greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation (and energy security) is that the predictions are largely decoupled from any financial drivers. Financial drivers are dealt with implicitly and somewhat artificially by imposing limits on the fraction of available biomass resource diverted to biofuels and dictating which, when and at what rate bioenergy feedstocks are consumed. This would seem a significant weakness in such analyses given that the mitigations of GHG emissions will almost certainly be implemented through market mechanisms to ensure the associated costs are minimised. This paper therefore addresses a novel methodology of using predominantly cost based decision tree to predict the rate of uptake of specific technologies ,and optimising biomass supply chain process as a means of increasing biomass availability, the two main uncertainities impedingcommercial viability of any bioenergy project.

Biography:

Abdeen Mustafa Omer (BSc, MSc, PhD) is an Associate Researcher at Energy Research Institute (ERI). He obtained both his PhD degree in the Built Environment and Master of Philosophy degree in Renewable Energy Technologies from the University of Nottingham. He is qualified Mechanical Engineer with a proven track record within the water industry and renewable energy technologies. He has been graduated from University of El Menoufia, Egypt, BSc in Mechanical Engineering. His previous experience involved being a member of the research team at the National Council for Research/Energy Research Institute in Sudan and working director of research and development for National Water Equipment Manufacturing Co. Ltd., Sudan. He has been listed in the book WHO’S WHO in the World 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2010. He has published over 300 papers in peer-reviewed journals, 200 review articles, 7 books and 150 chapters in books.

Abstract:

The demand for energy continued to outstrip supply and necessitated the development of biomass option. Residues were the most popular forms of renewable energy and currently biofuel production became much promising. Agricultural wastes contained high moisture content and could be decomposed easily by microbes. Agricultural wastes were abundantly available globally and could be converted to energy and useful chemicals by a number of microorganisms. Compost or bio-fertiliser could be produced with the inoculation of appropriated thermophilic microbes which increased the decomposition rate, shortened the maturity period and improved the compost (or bio-fertiliser) quality. The objective of the present research was to promote the biomass technology and involved adaptive research, demonstration and dissemination of results. With a view to fulfill the objective, a massive field survey was conducted to assess the availability of raw materials as well as the present situation of biomass technologies. In the present communication, an attempt had also been made to present an overview of present and future use of biomass as an industrial feedstock for production of fuels, chemicals and other materials. We may conclude from the review paper that biomass technology must be encouraged, promoted, invested, implemented, and demonstrated, not only in urban areas but also in remote rural areas.

Biography:

Sameh Samir Ali has completed his PhD in 2013 from Tanta University and currenly he is a postdoctoral position at Biofuels Institute, Environmental Science and Engineering. He is a member in Egyptian Botanical Society, Egyptian Society of Experimental Biology, Egyptian Academic Society for Environmental Development and African Association for Sustainable Development. He has four awarded research grants from 2014 till now. His research interests in screening and characterizing novel yeasts from gut symbionts of wood-feeding insects, bioconversion of lignocellulosic biomass resources for various value-added fuels and chemicals, advanced technology development for microbial fuel cells (MFC) in addition to medical microbiology.

Abstract:

In order to reduce conventional energy sources dependence, biofuels derived from renewable sources have received extensive interest. Water hyacinth is a promising source in the production of clean renewable energy. In this study, water hyacinth as a promising potential energy crop and its role in alleviating salinity stress of Lupinus termis were studied. The physicochemical parameters of water hyacinth and the conventional feedstock (cow dung) were analyzed for nutrients and minerals content. Maximum cumulative biogas and methane production were recorded for water hyacinth compost. Salinity stress led to a highly significant decrease in all growth criteria of Lupinus termis. The application of water hyacinth compost to the soil resulted in a highly significant stimulation in the Lupinus termis growth parameters. Photosynthetic pigments showed that salinity level led to a highly significant decrease in chl.a and chl.b of Lupinus termis. The effect of water hyacinth compost on the photosynthetic pigment content was reflected in a highly significant increase in chl.a and chl.b with a highly significant decrease in carotenoids content at seedling stage. There was an increase in the activities of catalase and peroxidase at this seedling stage under salinity stress. Moreover, a highly significant increase in the ascorbate content was detected by high salinity. Finally, transmission electron micrograph (TEM) changes in the ultrastructure of leaves of 30- days old plantlets of Lupinus termis were studied. This study suggested that water hyacinth not only promising biofuel source but also enhances the growth parameters and alleviate salinity stress of Lupinus termis.

Biography:

Marius Zubel has finished his Master’s in Automotive and Combustion Engine Technology at the Technical University (TU) of Munich in 2014. Since 2015 he is enrolled at RWTH Aachen University as a PhD student at the institute for combustion engines (VKA). His research is focused on combustion development within the TMFB using a single cylinder diesel engine.

Abstract:

Alternative fuels have become of great importance for sustainable individual transpotation since the emissions of greenhous gases from the transport sector represent a great threat for the environment. Furthermore, the harmful emissions from combustion engines, like soot and nitrous oxides (NOX), are strongly regulated. Therefore, the Cluster of Excellence “Tailor–made Fuels from Biomass” (TMFB) was established at RWTH Aachen university. The goal of TMFB is to establish the fuel design process for modern combustion development of engines. The establishment of this fuel design process is a loop, beginning with the developedment of different methods to identify promising fuel candidates, derived from lignocellulosic biomass. Afterwards the production pathways of these fuel candidates are developed and their efficiency is assessed. To close the loop, the most promising fuel candidates are passed to intensive fuel screening and investigations in combustion engines and the results are fed back into the model development. In this paper the fuel design process is explained by taking the example of 1–octanol, which is a promising fuel candidate for compression ignition (CI) engines. The starting point of the synthesis of 1-octanol are platform chemicals, namely furfural and acetone, which can be obtained using D–xylose, obtained from lignocellulosic biomass, together with sulfiric acid. 1–Octanol is then derived from these platform chemicals using a bifunctional catalyst, developed within the TMFB, with yields of 60 %. Due to this promising production route, 1–octanol is investigated in a CI engine. The engine results proved a very drastical reduction of engine–out soot and NOX emissions when compared to conventional EN590 Diesel fuel.

Biography:

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Abstract:

Energy plays an essential role in society is central to development and enables modern life. At present, the energy sector heavily relies on fossil fuel supply and is the source of two-thirds of global greenhouse gas emissions. Consequently, energy policy decisions in countries will play an important role in the future. As part of an alternative energy mix, bioenergy could play a role in countries complementing current energy production in order to reduce fossil fuel dependence and increase energy sovereignty. Bioenergy and Food Security (BEFS) approach developed by FAO allows a multidisciplinary assessment of bioenergy production considering food security aspects, natural resources availability and techno-economic feasibility. By applying this approach in a country, it is possible to recognize opportunities for bioenergy production using biomass available that have been identified as available not affecting the national food security. Moreover, BEFS is able to analyze the techno-economic feasibility of different bioenergy technologies under the specific context of the country. Thus, it is possible to detect key elements such as specific profitable production conditions in the country, minimum profitable plant sizes, and price ceiling for feedstock. In this work, examples of how BEFS approach has been applied Turkey and Egypt are presented. These examples illustrates the overall BEFS process and shows how bioenergy can be used as alternative to take advantage of biomass residues to mitigate environmental impacts, as profitable option to meet national energy targets or as alternatives to promote rural development.