Friday, August 19, at 10 a.m. in Wegner G70
The Gene and Linda Voiland School of Chemical Engineering is presenting a seminar by Dr. Shicheng Zhang, from the Department of Environmental Science and Technology at Fudan University in China.
Hydrothermal Conversion of Biomass Waste into Bio-based Chemicals and Materials
Hydrothermal conversion of biomass waste for valuable chemicals and materials is a promising environment friendly option for biomass resource utilization. Based on the concept of biorefinery applying hydrothermal process, the production of bio-oil, bio-based chemicals and hydrochar is likely to achieve an integrated utilization of biomass waste and for environmental management simultaneously. One research field of Dr. Shicheng Zhang’s group at Fudan Unviersity is hydrothermal conversiton of biomass. In this talk, Dr. Zhang will give a introduction of the research in his group. Hydrothermal process degrades and converts biomass waste into bio-oil with high energy content. The process is influenced by a serial factors including temperature, pressure, residence time, concentration and catalyst. The compositions and properties of bio-oil obtained respectively from lignocellulosic biomass and wet biomass (e.g. algae) are highly related to their main components. The bio-based chemicals such as sugars (e.g. glucose, xylose), HMF, organic acids (e.g. lactic acid, acetic acid, levulinic acid, amino acids) and phenolics can be recovered from the aqueous fraction as well as extraction and separation from the bio-oil. Besides, the residue hydrochar is a promising material especially on the application for environmental management.
