Biofuels and Bioenergy

Dr. Michele Aresta, Professor of Chemistry at the University of Bari-IT until 2012, held the Isaac Manasseh Meyer Chair Professorship 2013-2016 at the NUS Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Singapore and chairs the Scientific Committee of the Interuniversity Consortium on Chemical Reactivity and Catalysis-ICCDU, Italy. Since 2015 he is David Parkin Professor at the Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Bath, UK.

His main research interests are chemistry of small molecules, catalysis, carbon recycling, utilization of CO2 in the synthesis of chemicals, conversion of waste biomass into chemicals and fuels, photochemical reactions. He discovered the first transition metal complex bearing co-ordinated CO2 and demonstrated that the reduction of co-ordinated CO2 to CO was easily achieved at room temperature, while free gaseous CO2 requires either high temperature (>1000 K) or high energy radiations (< 160 nm). He is author of over 250 peer reviewed papers, among which the unique invited review article ”My Journey in the CO2-Chemistry Wonderland”, Coordination Chemical Reviews, 2016 in which he describes his history with CO2 reactions. He has authored numerous reviews articles and book chapters.

Run-Cang Sun, ligniocellulosic chemist, graduated from chemistry department, North-western University, Xian, China in 1982. Then he worked at North-western Forestry College until Sep. 1991. Between Oct. 1991 and Feb. 1993, he studied at Lund University, Sweden as a visiting scholar. From Mar. 1993 to Sep. 1996, Mr. Sun studied at The BioComposites Centre, University of Wales, Bangor, UK as a full time research PhD student. Since Oct. 1996, he worked at the University of Wales, Bangor, UK as a senior research scientist until end of 2007. He was awarded a distinguished Professor at State Key Laboratory of Pulp and Paper Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, China in 2000 by China Higher Education Committee, and was selected as the director of State Key Laboratory of Pulp and Paper Engineering in Aug. 2008 (2008.8-2015.5). In addition, Prof. Sun has also being working at the Beijing Key Laboratory of Lignocellulosic Chemistry as a director since Aug. 2006. He was a Dean at the College of Materials Science and Technology between Oct. 2011 and Sep. 2015, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing, China. Since 1993, he has being focused on the fractional isolation, structural characterization, and chemical modification of hemicelluloses, lignin, and cellulose from lignocelluloses for biomaterials, biofuels, and chemicals. He has published 726 SCI papers in peer reviewed international journals in English and 223 papers in international conferences (41 plenary or keynote reports, 25 invited reports, 46 oral presentations) as well as 127 papers in Chinese, which have been totally cited over 20,000 citations by others as of January 23, 2017 (his Google Scholar h-index of 70). He edited a book under the title of “Cereal Straw as a Resource for Sustainable Biomaterials and Biofuels: Chemistry, Extractives, Lignins, Hemicelluloses and Cellulose” 2009, Elsevier, London. As invited author, he has published 31 book chapters regarding utilization of lignocelluloses (in English) such as Encyclopaedia of Separation Science (2000 vol. 6, pp. 4568-4574, Academic Press, London). He has got 8 items of research awards and 77 patents. Prof. Sun is a Fellow of The Royal Society of Chemistry, UK and an Editor-in-Chief of “Industrial Crops and Products”，Associate Editor of “Carbohydrate Polymers”, “BioResources” Journal, “Journal of Biobased Materials and Bioenergy”, “The world Journal of Forestry”, and “Journal of the Faculty of Forestry Istanbul University (JFFIU)”. He is also a member of editorial board in “Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry”, “International Journal of Cellulose Chemistry and Technology”, “The Scientific World Journal”， Bioethanol Journal，Journal Energy Research and Applications， Bioresources and Bioprocessing，“Journal of Engineering”, Dataset Papers in Chemistry，Energy Review, and “The Open Agriculture Journal”，Material Science and Engineering，Journal of Chemical Technology and Applications，SF Journal of Material and Chemical Engineering，etc.

He has being focused on the fractional isolation, structural characterization, and chemical modification of hemicelluloses, lignin, and cellulose from lignocelluloses for biomaterials, biofuels, and chemicals

Dr Abbas Amini is an assistant professor at the Australian College of ACK and Western Sydney University, and the member of graduate supervisory board. After obtaining PhD, he conducted research with other Australian universities, as a postdoctoral research fellow at Monash and Deakin Universities, and as a senior research fellow at the University of Melbourne. His fine outcomes have been presented in high impact factor journals, e.g., Nature publication group, and a recent published book in 2016. Abbas is the editor of ten reputed journals, and the committee member of 20 international conferences.

Bionanotech

Ben Zhong Tang is Stephen K. C. Cheong Professor of Science and Chair Professor of Chemistry and Biomedical Engineering at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST). His research interests include macromolecular chemistry, materials science, and biomedical theranostics. He is spearheading the research on aggregation-induced emission (AIE), a topic ranked no. 2 in the areas of Chemistry and Materials Science by Thomson Reuters in its report on Research Fronts 2015.

His research interests include macromolecular chemistry, materials science, and biomedical theranostics

G.Q. Chen is a professor of systems ecology and sustainability science at Peking University, China and a Distinguished Adjunct Professor at King Abudulaziz University, Saudi Arabia. He has a wide spectrum of research interests including climate thermodynamics, computational fluid dynamics, heat and mass transfer, systems ecological modelling, ecological economics, global and regional studies, systems input-output technique. With distinguished contributions as marked by around 300 publications in prestigious journals, Prof. Chen has won a series of awards and honors, including Thomson Reuters Highly Cited Researchers Award, Thomson Reuters China Citation Laureate. He served as editor, associate editor or advisory member for 50 international journals.

He has a wide spectrum of research interests including climate thermodynamics, computational fluid dynamics, heat and mass transfer, systems ecological modelling, ecological economics, global and regional studies, systems input-output technique.

Gordon Huang is currently working as a professor in Environmental systems engineering at University of Regina, Canada. He is also a Canada Research Chair and Fellow at Canadian Academy of Engineering. He is a President of International Society for Environmental Information Sciences, Executive Director of Institute for Energy, Environment and Sustainability Communities. He completed his Ph.D. at McMaster University, Canada

Waste management, site remediation, and risk assessment, Simulation and optimization of hydrological and environmental systems, Modeling of energy and environmental management systems, Climate modeling, impact assessment, and adaptation planning

Dr. Miguel Nuno Miranda received the degree in Energetic Engineering (University Autonomous of Lisbon) in 1998 and the Ph.D. degree in Environmental Science (University of Aveiro) in 2009, Portugal. Dr. Miguel Miranda has authored more than 60 scientific works (including chapters, papers in international journals and book of proceedings, and poster presentations) and serves as Editorial Board Member of several scientific journals as well as Organizing Committee Member in International Conferences.

His main research interests include waste management through thermochemical conversion processes (pyrolysis, gasification and hydrothermal liquefaction), production of fuels and biofuels and solar energy concentration (SEC) solutions towards the production of solar fuels.

Khalil is a professor in the mechanical power department at Cairo University. He is the author and co-author of several international researches in HVAC field. Khalil is ASME, AIAA and ASHRAE active fellow and is an ASHRAE distinguished lecturer on two topics; Ventilation of tombs of valley of kings and design of air conditioning systems for surgical operating theatres. Khalil is also the chairman of National HVAC Committee in Egypt, member of the National Energy Code Committee of Egypt and the chair of HVAC sub-group. He is a registered HVAC consultant and the president of the Arab Air Conditioning Code Committee. Khalil is the Convenor of ISO TC205 WG2 (Design of Energy Efficient Buildings) and is an active member of ISO TC163 Committee. He is the Chairman of Consulting Engineering Bureau, CEB.

Combustion, Thermal Power and Heat Transfer, Fluid Dynamics, Air Conditioning, Turbulence, Boiler, Air Distribution, Energy Efficient Building, Power plant

Dr. Rintu Banerjee is presently holding the position of MNRE Chair Professorship in P. K. Sinha Centre for Bioenergy, IIT Kharagpur. She is an Enzymologist where she is studying its application in Food and Bioenergy sectors. Prof. Banerjee has visited different Institutions in India and abroad. She started her career with Non-Conventional Energy Production from biomass and subsequently switched over to enzymatic conversion of biomass to liquid fuel. Her contribution in the area of bioenergy is well recognized where she has developed a process on microbial conversion of lignite to biomethane and its value addition with some multinational industry which is under commercial consideration. In the area of liquid fuel, she and her team is actively working in the area of non-edible lignocellulosic bioethanol and oleaginous biodiesel production.

Microbial Biotechnology, Food and Environmental Biotechnology, Downstream Processing, Agricultural and Food Engineering

Dr Jaroslaw Krzywanski has received the Ph.D. degree in Environmental Engineering (Silesian University of Technology, Poland) in 1999 and D.Sc. degree in Mechanical Engineering (Doctor Habilitatus, Doctor of Sciences) in July 2015.

Combustion and Co-Combustion, Oxycombustion (Oxygen-Fired Combustion), Oxygen-Enriched Combustion, Chemical Looping Combustion (CLC), Chemical looping with Oxygen Uncoupling (CLOU), Gaseous pollutant emissions, Solid fuel combustion, Heat transfer, CFB, FB boilers, Artificial Neural Networks Modelling, Fuzzy Logic Modelling, Adsorption chillers.

Professor Fernandez-Lafuente works in biocatalysis with special expertise in relation to immobilization and optimization of stability of enzymes, Dr. Fernandez-Lafuente holds a degree in Biology from Universidad Complutense de Madrid, a Ph.D in Sciences from Universidad Autónoma de Madrid and a Post doctorate from University College London. He is presently the lead researcher responsible for the group "Optimization of bioprocesses and biocatalysis" at ICP-CSIC and have a position as Full Professor.

His research interests are in the development of strategies for the control of the interactions between solids and biomacromolecules, and that will be used in the preparation of biocatalysts and biosensors: enzyme purification, immobilization or stabilization. He has also experience in bioprocess design.

Maulin P. Shah, currently Chief Scientist & Head – Industrial Waste Water Research Lab, Division of Applied and Environmental Microbiology Lab at Enviro Technology Ltd., Ankleshwar, Gujarat, India, received his Ph.D. (2002-2005) in Environmental Microbiology from Sardar Patel University, Vallabh Vidyanagar, Gujarat. He has served as an Assistant Professor at Godhra, Gujarat University in 2001. He is a Microbial Biotechnologist with diverse research interest. A group of research scholars is working under his guidance on the areas ranging from Applied Microbiology, Environmental Biotechnology, Bioremediation, and Industrial Liquid Waste Management to solid state fermentation. My primary interest is the environment, the quality of our living resources and the ways that bacteria can help to manage and degrade toxic wastes and restore environmental health. Consequently, I am very interested in genetic adaptation processes in bacteria, the mechanisms by which they deal with toxic substances, how they react to pollution in general and how we can apply microbial processes in a useful way (like bacterial bioreporters). One of our major interests is to study how bacteria evolve and adapt to use organic pollutants as novel growth substrates. Bacteria with new degradation capabilities are often selected in polluted environments and have accumulated small (mutations) and large genetic changes (transpositions, recombination, and horizontally transferred elements). His work has been focused to assess the impact of industrial pollution on microbial diversity of wastewater following cultivation dependant and cultivation independent analysis. His major work involves isolation, screening, identification and Genetic Engineering of high impact of Microbes for the degradation of hazardous materials. He has more than 200 research publication in highly reputed national and international journals. He directs the Research program at Enviro Technology Ltd., Ankleshwar. He has guided more than 100 Post Graduate students in various disciplines of Life Science. He is an active Editorial Board Member in more than 150 highly reputed Journal’s in the field of Environmental & Biological Sciences. He was Founder Editor-in-Chief of International Journal of Environmental Bioremediation and Biodegradation (2012-2014) as well as Journal of Applied and Environmental Microbiology (2012-2014) (Science and Education Publishing, USA). He is also serving as a reviewer in various journals of national and international repute. Recently, he has been awarded as a Young Biotechnologist Medal by Biotechnological Society of Nepal”. He is Associate Editor in BMC Microbiology (Springer Nature), Advisory Board in CLEAN-Soil, Air, Water (Wiley), Editor in Current Pollution Reports (Springer Nature), Editor in Bulletin of Environmental Contamination & Toxicology (Springer Nature), Editor in Environmental Technology & Innovation-ELSEVIER, Editor in Current Microbiology-Springer Nature, Editor in Journal of Biotechnology & Biotechnological Equipment-Taylor & Francis, Editor in Ecotoxicology (Microbial Ecotoxicology)- Springer Nature.

GENERAL MICROBIOLOGY, APPLIED MICROBIOLOGY, ENVIRONMENTAL MICROBIOLOGY, WASTE WATER MICROBIOLOGY, FERMENTATION MICROBIOLOGY, MOLECUALR MICROBIOLOGY, BIOCHEMICAL ENGINEERING, MOLECULAR GENETICS, CELLULAR MICROBIOLOGY, BIO-REMEDIATION, BIO-DEGRADATION, ENVIRONMENTAL TOXICOLOGY

Dr. Meisam Tabatabaei is an Assist. Professor and the founding Leader of Biofuel Research Team (BRTeam). He is also an invited lecturer of Lebanese University, University Technology Mara (UiTM), and Tehran University. He holds a PhD in Environmental Biotechnology (2009). Meisam is the founding President of the Iranian Biofuels Society (IBS) under the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology, President of the Biofuels Committee in the Vice-Presidency for Science & Technology, and is also the President of the Liquid Biofuels Standards Committee at the National Standards Organization. He received the prestigious Golden Tablet of Appreciation award from the president of Iran in March 2012 for his scientific contributions. Dr. Tabatabaei`s research focus is biofuels production from waste resources, nanotechnology, and climate change. Other than being a regular reviewer for more than 70 international journals, he is currently serving as the founding Editor-in-Chief for the Canadian-based Biofuel Research Journal (BRJ); the only Open Access journal in the field of energy and biomass which follows a Completely Free-of-Charge Publication Policy. BRJ's content is indexed in SCOPUS and Thomson Reuters’s Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI). He is also the Editor of Energy Education Science and Technology, Bioethanol (De Gruyter) and served BioMed Research International as Lead Guest Editor. Dr. Tabatabaei has been working closely with the United Nation Development Program (SGP/GEF/UNDP) in his capacity as the founding coordinator of BRTeam’s extension branch; Extension Group of Environmentalists (EGE), within the framework of SGP/GEF sponsored projects for the promotion of waste-oriented biodiesel in Iran. He has co-authored more than 150 peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters and has achieved more than 10 patents (h-index: 25, i10-index: 64). Meisam has supervised more than 25 MSc and PhD students so far.

Biofuels, Biogas, Biodiesel, Metagenomics, Nanosystems

Dr. Said Elshahat Abdallah is working as a Professor of Agricultural Process Engineering, Department of Agricultural Engineering, Faculty of Agriculture, Kafrelsheikh University, Egypt. He was born on January 6, 1972. He obtained his Ph. D. degree in Technical Sciences in November 2005 from the Faculty of Design, Don State Technical University, Russia. He prepared many scientific literatures such as Engineering of Food Factories and Dairy Plants, Engineering Thermodynamics and Heat Transfer, introduction to agricultural process engineering, Instrumentation, Properties and Testing of Engineering Materials, Fitting of Curves and Differential Equations and Differentiation & Integration, etc… He published more than thirty research articles in international peer- reviewed journals. He supervised, has done and examined about twenty M. Sc. and Ph. D. dissertations. He participated in several either local or international conferences on the topics of Agricultural Process Engineering. He contributed in the attendance of many meetings, workshops and training courses. He was awarded: Food Engineer of the Year Award – 2010; Excellence Award in International Scientific Publication – 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017; Arab Papers Published on Agriculture – 2012; Egypt 25 Foundation Award – 2012; Who's Who in the World – 2013, 2014 and 2015; 2000 Outstanding Intellectuals of the 21st Century – 2013; Top 100 Engineers– 2013; International Biographical Center Man of The Year– 2013; Cambridge Certificate for Outstanding Engineering Achievement – 2013 and Cambridge Certificate for Outstanding EducationalAchievement – 2013. He served as: Editor-in-Chief; Associate Editor; Editorial Board Member; Food Expert; Reviewer, etc… in more than five hundred international peer-reviewed journals.

Agricultural Process Engineering; Postharvest Technology; Bioengineering; Food & Dairy Engineering; Agro-Industrial Waste Management; Process and Bioprocess Engineering; Thermal & Non-Thermal Process Engineering; Agricultural Production Engineering; Postharvest operations Engineering; Composting and Vermicomposting Process; Non-Conventional Forages Processing; Farm Wastes Bioconversion; By-Products Recycling Engineering.

Kaveh Ostad-Ali-Askari is a Ph.D. of Civil Engineering, Postdoctoral Student, Department of Water Resources Engineering, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Najafabad Branch, Islamic Azad University, Najafabad, Isfahan, Iran. He has contributed to more than 114 publications in Journals, Books, or as Technical Reports. Currently, he is as Faculty Member of Department of Civil Engineering, Islamic Azad University, Isfahan (Khorasgan) Branch, Iran. E-mail: Koa.askari@khuisf.ac.ir.

His interested topics including Groundwater Hydrology, Irrigation and Drainage Engineering, Sustainable Development and Environmental Assessment, Climate and Integrated and Sustainable Water Resource Management, Water System Engineering, Water Resources Planning, Artificial Neural Network and Genetic Algorithm.