Chemicals from Biomass? A major theme of 21st Century industrial development will be replacement of fossil resources by renewable resources in the production of fuels and chemicals. Due to their massive scale and cost, the…
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Waste-to-Energy Technology Expert
What do waste-to-energy experts do? The “waste-to-energy” area includes a variety of technologies consisting of several different thermochemical or biological methods of generating energy from waste materials. Popular commercial applications include combustion and anaerobic digestion…
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Organic Acids: Key Facilitators of the Bio-economy
Organic Acids: Key Facilitators of the Bio-economy? Recent declines in oil prices and the failure of start-up biofuel processes to meet production cost targets have increased the interest in producing value added chemicals from biomass…
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Early-stage, Breakthrough Technologies: Biofuels, 10 of the Best
The concept of early stage, breakthrough biofuels technologies is a bit of an oxymoron. At an early stage how does one determine if it something is a “breakthrough” biofuels technology? This article, first published in…
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Combined Heat and Power
When we talk about a “combined heat & power” (CHP), often referred to as “Cogeneration” or “Cogen”, we are describing the practice of using fuel (or nuclear energy) to heat up a liquid, usually water,…
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Biotechnology Evaluation Experts
What do biotechnology experts or consultants do? Biotechnology is the use of some biological processes for industrial or other purposes, like the genetic manipulation of microorganisms for the production of antibiotics, hormones, etc. There are…
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Biomass Solids Agitation via Turbine
What percent of biomass solids can be successfully agitated with a turbine agitator? In the early days of the development of biomass hydrolysis reactors, it was common to use rotating barrels (similar to continuous solids dryers),…
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Hydroprocessing Experts
What does a hydroprocessing expert or hydroprocessing consultant do? Hydroprocessing refers to any of several chemical engineering processes including hydrogenation, hydrocracking, and hydrotreating, especially as part of biofuels or oil refining. Hydroprocessing experts can design…
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Pilot Plant Experts
What do pilot plant experts do? Pilot plant experts work closely with research scientists to scale chemical and biological processes. They are familiar with the four scales associated with process development – lab, pilot, demonstration,…
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Hydrothermal Carbonization
What is hydrothermal carbonization and what does a hydrothermal carbonization expert do? Hydrothermal Carbonization (HTC) is a process that is capable of converting organic matter into carbon-rich substances in the presence of water, at temperatures…
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