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)