Invited Speakers

 

This Workshop on Hydrolysis Route for Cellulosic Ethanol from Sugarcane will have invited speakers talking about the following related subjects:

• Barriers to hydrolysis of cellulosic biomass;
• State of the art and new trends in biomass conversion to ethanol;
• Recent scientific contributions for non destructive deconstruction of polymer blocks of cellulose, hemicelulose and lignin materials;
• Enzymatic conversion of bagasse stock;
• Development of enzymes for hydrolysis of lignocellulosic biomass ;
• The contribution of molecular biology to the development of hydrolysis;
• Integration of hydrolysis processing of biomass into 1st generation ethanol production units;
• Evolution from agro industrial ethanol plants to integrated biorefineries producing fuel ethanol, electrical power, and green chemicals from ethanol, sugars, and lignin;
• Development of mathematical models to describe the biorefinery cycle;
• Sustainable practices in cellulosic biomass processing.

 

Guido Zacchi Institution: Department of Chemical Engineering - Lund University (Sweden) Presentation Title: Advances in 2G bioethanol production and possibilities for integration with 1G bioetahnol Presentation Summary: The key steps for successful production of ethanol from lignocellulosic materials are the conversion steps, i.e pretreatment, enzymatic hydrolysis and fermentation (or SSF) of all sugars. It is also crucial to have a highly integrated process working at high consistency to minimize the energy demand in the downstream processing, e.g. distillation and evaporation. Also external integration, e.g. with heat and power production and 1st generation ethanol production, are interesting options as this leads to higher ethanol yield, lower energy demand and lower production cost than by using a stand-alone second-generation ethanol production plant. Zacchi’s presentation will address these issues based on results obtained at Lund University. Current research interests: Production of ethanol from biomass, new products from renewable materials, process development unit for ethanol production (PDU), enzymes for cellulose hydrolysis, biological hydrogen production from biomass. E-mail: guido.zacchi@chemeng.lth.se Web site: www.chemeng.lth.se/DisplayHomePage.jsp?UserID=GuidoZ&lang=english Short Resume: Guido Zacchi is since 1989 full professor in chemical engineering at Lund University, and has hold appointments as Dean of research for Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, member of the Board for Lund Institute of Technology, Head of the Chemical engineering department. The research has been directed to the field of biochemical engineering with projects in production of ethanol from lignocellulosic materials, production of polymers from renewable raw materials and process simulation as the main topics. His research group has also a national process development unit for investigation of ethanol production from lignocellulose. Zacchi has supervised about 30 PhD students and more than 60 Master students. He has published about 150 scientific papers in international journals with peer review and holds 3 patents.

Bin Yang Institution: Center for Environmental Research and Technology (CE-CERT) – University of California (USA) Presentation Title: Progress and Outlook for Low Cost Pretreatment of Cellulosic Biomass to Biological Production of Fuels and Chemicals. Presentation Summary: Biological conversion of cellulosic biomass can take advantage of the power of biotechnology for leap forward advances to low cost biofuels, and ethanol is a particularly appropriate product for application of this technology to this resource. However, although biotechnology presents unparalleled opportunities to lower both feedstock and conversion costs,  pretreatment of naturally resistant cellulosic materials is essential to high yields from biological operations, and this operation is projected to be the most expensive single processing step, accounting for about 20% of the total.  Furthermore, selection of a pretreatment is challenging in that it must account for sugar release patterns, solid concentrations, and compatibility with the overall process, feedstock, enzymes, and microorganisms to be applied. A necessary but not sufficient condition is that pretreatment must ensure high overall total sugar yields that are vital to the economic viability, and feedstock species, sites, ages, and harvest times can be important considerations in this regard.  A number of different pretreatments involving biological, chemical, physical, and thermal approaches have been investigated over the years, but those that employ chemicals are typically considered to provide the high yields and low costs vital to economic success.  A key goal now should be to dramatically improve our understanding of pretreatment systems and provide a foundation for substantially reducing costs and accelerating commercial applications. On this basis, a concerted effort is proposed to better understand thermochemical and enzymatic hydrolysis mechanisms and their interplay. Presentation PDF File: (Click here to download) Current Research interests: Renewable energy technologies with particular emphasis on bioprocessing for sustainable production of biofules, materials and other value-added products from cellulosic biomass worldwide. E-mail: binyang@cert.ucr.edu Web site: www.cert.ucr.edu/personnel/person.asp?name=binyang Short Resume: Dr. Yang has 20 years of experience in biotechnology and renewable energy from biomass. He earned his B.S. ('86) in Microbiology and M.Sc. ('93) in Chemical Engineering from Northwestern University in China. He received his Ph.D. ('96) degree in Food Engineering from South China University of Technology. He was a Research Scientist in the Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth College. He held post doctoral positions at the HuaZhong Agriculture University (China) and the University of British Columbia (Canada). Dr. Yang’s research has authored more than 45 peer-reviewed papers and book chapters, made more than 50 presentations, written over 7 technical reports, and 3 patents.

Richard Murphy Institution: Department of Biological Sciences – Imperial College London - (UK) Presentation Title: Experiences with lignocellulose saccharification and ethanol production in the Porter Alliance Presentation Summary: The Porter Alliance is a multi-disciplinary grouping of mainly UK-based scientists and engineers who are working to understand and develop routes to sustainable biofuels. The spectrum of interests covers plant cell wall biology, plant breeding, crop modeling and nutrient dynamics, biomass harvesting and processing, biomass deconstruction, separation and conversion into biofuels and co-products, fuel characteristic, whole life-cycle assessments and sustainability analyses. This presentation will highlight aspects of the Porter Alliance’s work on lignocellulose processing and ethanol production (with examples from Miscanthus, willows, pine and other lignocellulosic feedstocks) and consider life cycle attributes of production systems that offer favourable GHG and other environmental outcomes. Current research interests: Biology and properties of wood and plant fibre materials, specially the following topics: 1) Fungi as decomposers of woody tissues. 2) Wood preservation fungicides. 3) Organization and development of plant cell walls. 4) Environmental impact assessment of wood/plant fibre and bio-energy products with LCA methods. E-mail: r.murphy@ic.ac.uk Web site: http://www.bio.ic.ac.uk/research/rjmurphy/murphy.htm Short Resume: Richard Murphy is a Reader in Plant Science at Imperial College London, UK. His lab investigates plant cell wall structure and development and the utilisation of plants for energy and materials. Specialist interests include the microbial decomposition of wood and other ligno-cellulosics such as bamboo, coir, hemp, the physiology and ecology of wood decay fungi and the preservation of wood. He has had a special interest in the anatomy of culm development in bamboos since the late 1980s and his group has characterised the development of cell wall architecture and continued fibre wall thickening and lignification in Guadua bamboo with colleagues at University of Periera, Colombia (EU Project Guadua Bamboo). Environmental and sustainability analysis of wood and plant-based bio-energy, bio-fuel and material products such as wood- and fibre-based construction materials using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methods are another significant proportion of his group’s research activity. He is a member of the BBSRC Sustainable Bioenergy Centre launched in January 2009 and is Theme Leader for Cell Walls & Composition in the Porter Alliance.

 

Carlos Eduardo Vaz Rossell Institution: Centro de Ciência e Tecnologia do Bioetanol (CTBE) - Brazil Presentation Title: Pilot Plant for Processes Development (PPDP) of CTBE Presentation Sumary: Enzymatic hydrolysis of lignocellulosic materials has been regarded as the most promising technological route for bioethanol production from sugar cane biomass. The Pilot Plant for Process Development  is being established to overcome the process’ bottlenecks and to develop an economical and scalable enzymatic hydrolysis route. It will be operated in conjunction with the Laboratory for Process Development (LPD) and the Virtual Biorefinery, two other main CTBE branches. As a part of a  national laboratory the PPDP will be available to research groups active in the field and to the productive sector. Presentation PDF File: (Click here to download) E-mail: crossell@bioetanol.org.br Web Site: www.bioetanol.org.br

  

Antonio Bonomi Institution: Centro de Ciência e Tecnologia do Bioetanol (CTBE) - Brazil Presentation Title: Measuring success of a new ethanol technology: sustainability assessment of PPDP results Presentation Sumary: Ethanol production from sugarcane in Brazil has many economic and environmental advantages regarding biofuels produced from other raw material and in other countries. However, developments in this industry are essential (e.g., ethanol production through hydrolysis of sugarcane bagasse and trash) both to keep production costs at a low level and to improve sustainability. In order to measure the stage of development and the level of success attained by a new ethanol production technology a “virtual biorefinery” will be constructed applying mathematical modeling and simulation tools to evaluate the economical and environmental impacts of the bioethanol produced from sugarcane through the standard production chain (1st generation) and, for example, a proposed new technology developed to produce ethanol using lignocellulosic residues (2nd generation). Presentation PDF File: (Click here to download) E-mail: abonomi@bioetanol.org.br Web Site: www.bioetanol.org.br

Henrique Macedo Baudel Institution: Centro de Tecnologia Canavieira (CTC) and Universidade Federal de Pernambuco (UFPE) - Brazil Presentation Title: Development of hydrolysis routes for cellulosic ethanol from sugarcane bagasse and straw Presentation Summary: Sugarcane biomasses (bagasse and straw) generated by the sugar and ethanol agroindustrial activities have emerged as potentially low-cost and abundant renewable feedstocks for the production of cellulosic ethanol. Economically feasible utilisation of lignocellulosic biomasses requires its fractionation into major constituents. This technique requires the integration of physical-chemical treatments coupled with chemical or enzymatic hydrolysis processes to produce carbohydrates for bioconversion into ethanol via fermentation (SHF or SHF mode). This presentation deals with technical aspects related to the development of hydrolysis routes for cellulosic ethanol from sugarcane biomass.    E-mail: hbaudel@ctc.com.br Company, Department or Institution Website: www.ctcanavieira.com.br

Eloi de Souza Garcia Institution: Instituto Nacional de Metrologia, Normalização e Qualidade Industrial (Inmetro) - Brazil Presentation Title: Animal lignocellulosic digestion as a model for new technologies and standards in the enzymatic hydrolysis of sugarcane bagasse Presentation Sumary: The investigation of the physiology, biochemistry and cellular biology of lignocellulosic digestion in animals, including their gut microbiota, can reveal new enzymatic activities with biotechnological potential. We intend to reach a better understanding of the lignocellulosic degradation by animals and the potential of these agents for use in the production of ethanol from plant biomass (sugarcane bagasse, etc.). It is important to get a global knowledge of the whole process in nature to improve its use in economical applications and in this context animals are completely unexplored models. Presentation PDF File: (Click here to download) E-mail: esgarcia@inmetro.gov.br Company, Department or Institution Website: www.inmetro.gov.br

Cristina Maria Monteiro Machado Institution: Embrapa Agroenergia Presentation Title: Embrapa's strategy for improvement of bioethanol production Presentation Summary: The strategic objective of Embrapa is to speed up the Brazilian international leadership in this new economic sector of Bioenergy. The country wants to consolidate its leadership in 1st generation biofuels and to develop the 2nd generation biofuels. The Embrapa’s “Ethanol from lignocellulosic materials” project has the following objectives: a) to characterize and select alternative sources of biomass (sugar cane, sweet sorghum, wood, grass) with better characteristics for the production of lignocellulosic ethanol; b) to prospect and select microorganisms for the production of hydrolytic enzymes and for the alcoholic fermentation of sugars with five and six carbons; c) to prospect, synthesize and characterize genes involved in the synthesis of enzymes that hydrolyze cell walls to increase their specific activity or aiming at the consolidation of the conversion processes;  and d) to develop more efficient conversion processes by using the improved raw materials, microorganisms and enzymes, for the sustainable production of ethanol from lignocellulosic materials. Presentation PDF File: (Click here to download) E-mail: cristina.machado@embrapa.br Company, Department or Institution Website: www.cnpae.embrapa.br

Lidia M. M. Santa Anna Institution: CENPES / Petrobras - Gerencia de Energias Renováveis Presentation Title: Experience Petrobras: Production of ethanol of lignocellulosic materials (biochemical route) Presentation Summary: The current dependence on oil for energy and production of numerous chemicals and products together with the climate changes caused by fossil fuels and the increasing cost of petroleum fuels have led the world oil companies to look for a potential solution to the ever-increasing energy demand. Renewable resources, particularly biomasses, are the most important candidates for substituting petroleum. Lignocellulosic residues are one of these materials and are in vast supply. It is estimated that, 1.3 billion tons of lignocellulosic residues are generated in world. Their hydrolysis yields fermentable sugars which can be used as chemical feedstocks and energy sources. Their huge potential has called the attention of world oil companies to look for technological developments in partnerships with universities, research centers and other companies to produce primary ethanol from lignocellulosic feedstocks. This work shows the technological route that the Petrobras is studying to development for the production of ethanol from lignocelullosic feedstocks. The biochemical route has been studied with Chemical School of Federal of Rio de Janeiro University and it involves an acid pretreatment, aiming at hydrolyzing the hemicellulose fraction, which is further fermented by a strain of Pichia stipitis. The leftover residue, containing cellulose, is enzymatically hydrolyzed and simultaneously fermented by a strain of Saccharomyces cerevisiae (Simultaneous Saccharification and Fermentation Process). The results of laboratory scale development led to a ratio of 220 liters of ethanol/ton of sugar cane bagasse with volumetric productivities of 0.8 g/L.h and 1.0 g/L.h for hemicellulose hydrolyzate fermentation and cellulose hydrolyzate fermentation, respectively. Currently, these tests are been carried out in CENPES pilot plant with perspective became this technology in industrial reality. E-mail: lidia@petrobras.com.br