Biorenewables Café

We are pleased to inform you that we are back this Fall and our next event will be on Tuesday, September 11. We will be moving our meetings to the Railway Club on 579 Dunsmuir St. from 6:00-8:00 pm. The talk will begin at 6:30 pm followed by a Q&A session and networking.

Dr. Richard Chandra, Research Associate in the Forest Products Biotechnology/Bioenergy research group at the UBC Faculty of Forestry will be speaking about bioconversion of biomass to fuels and chemicals. Abstract and title below:

 

Bio-fuels and Bio-products from Biomass: Breaking apart something that’s meant to stay together!

The major hurdle to overcome when trying to unlock the energy in leftover agricultural biomass and woody waste to supply our needs for renewable fuels and products is the inherent recalcitrance of the biomass itself.  Nature has interwoven the chemical components of biomass into a structure that resists breakdown by biochemical means, thus necessitating various processes called pretreatments. Pretreatments aim to cleanly separate these chemical components in a usable form and, in many cases are analogous to processes used in the pulp and paper industry.  This presentation will examine the biology, chemistry and physics responsible for the resistance of biomass to breakdown, while detailing the various pretreatment processes that are currently being examined at UBC which aim to maximize the value obtainable from biomass.

 

For more information about the Biorenewables Cafe, please join us on LinkedIn.

For more information about the Forest Products Biotechnology/Bioenergy Research Group please visit: http://www.bioenergy.ubc.ca/

Hope to see you there!