Research Interests
Biomass to low-cost and clean sugar
Biomass to high-yield and high-titer ethanol
Biomass to advanced fuel
Biomass to value-added chemicals and materials
Areas of Expertise
Pretreatment and enzymatic hydrolysis
Sugar production via acid pretreatment
Furfural and HMF production via acid pretreatment
Alkaline pretreatment (deacetylation)
Mechanical refining
High-solids enzymatic hydrolysis
Kinetics and reaction mechanisms
Physical and chemical characterization
Pulping
Pulping chemical recovery
Experiment design and optimization
Reactor scale-up and validation
Laboratory and equipment design and construction
Aspen Plus process simulation and techno-economic analysis
Process design
Education
Ph.D., Chemical Engineering, University of Maine
M.S., Chemical Engineering, University of Maine
B.S., Chemical Engineering in Polymer Science and Technology, Nanjing University of Science and Technology
Featured Work
A Highly Efficient Dilute Alkali Deacetylation and Mechanical (Disc) Refining Process for the Conversion of Renewable Biomass to Lower Cost Sugars, Biotechnology for Biofuels (2014)
The Impacts of Deacetylation Prior to Dilute Acid Pretreatment on the Bioethanol Process, Biotechnology for Biofuels (2012)
Improved Xylan Hydrolysis of Corn Stover by Deacetylation with High Solids Dilute Acid Pretreatment, Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research (2012)
Comparison of Different Mechanical Refining Technologies on the Enzymatic Digestibility of Low Severity Acid Pretreated Corn Stover, Bioresource Technology (2013)
Additional Publications
Improved Ethanol Yield and Reduced MESP by Modifying Low Severity Dilute Acid Pretreatment with Deacetylation and Mechanical Refining: 1) Experimental, Biotechnology for Biofuels (2012)
Improved Ethanol Yield and Reduced MESP by Modifying Low Severity Dilute Acid Pretreatment with Deacetylation and Mechanical Refining: 2) Techno-Economic Analysis, Biotechnology for Biofuels (2012)
Kinetics and Mechanism of Autohydrolysis of Hardwoods, Bioresource Technology (2010)
Effect of Mechanical Disruption on the Effectiveness of Three Reactors Used for Dilute Acid Pretreatment of Corn Stover Part 1: Chemical and Physical Substrate Analysis, Biotechnology for Biofuels (2014)
Noble-Metal Catalyzed Hydrodeoxygenation of Biomass-Derived Lignin to Aromatic Hydrocarbons, Green Chemistry (2014)
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