PRODUCTION - Engineers are involved at all stages of feedstock production, from design of genetic improvements through feedstock production, harvest, transport, storage, preprocessing, conversion and finally its distribution to final customer. Whether the biomass originates from microbes, algae, plants or animals, engineers are the implementers, equipment designers, and process optimizers that enable high production at minimum cost and environmental impact. The focus of this topic is engineering fundamentals applied to production of biobased feedstock for biofuels and bioproducts.
ENVIRONMENT - Environmental protection and compliance with environmental regulations are vital to sustainability of the businesses that participate in the bioenergy industry. Analytical tools, data and best design practices are needed to inform engineers who design equipment, facilities, and distribution to ensure environmental compliance for long time sustainability of the projects. Sensors and instrumentation for measurement and reporting of environmental parameters are vital to ensuring compliance with regulatory constraints as well as operations objectives. The focus of this topic is to spell out the current regulations on environmental compliance and to identify research needs to develop systems that would ensure the environmental sustainability of the emerging bioindustry.
FACILITY DESIGN & CONSTRUCTION - Design and construction of bioenergy production, processing and storage facilities require special knowledge of the properties of biomaterials, mass balances, effluents, and other parameters that make the difference between smooth or difficult start-up and operation. Process and worker safety depends upon deep understanding of biological processes, decay mechanisms and products, thermal and biochemical changes, and a host of other critical engineering insights. The focus of this topic will be on design and construction methods, on biomaterial properties data, and identification of knowledge gaps in this area.
ECONOMIC - Whether the bioenergy products are solid fuels, heat and power, biocrude, liquid transportation fuels, or industrial intermediates, the cost of everything and every unit operation contributes to the ultimate cost of the product. Engineering tradeoffs throughout the design of equipment systems, processes and facilities depend on good understanding of bioenergy economics. Feedstock logistics and delivery from dispersed sources to a multitude of users benefits from engineering models and optimization methods. The focus of this topic is to discuss latest data on feedstock costs and various pathways to reduce the costs of biomass feedstock to levels competitive with fossil feedstocks.
OPERATIONS - Engineering of control systems, sensors, decision support methods and management protocols are important for smooth and high quality production of precision feedstocks, intermediate products, products and coproducts. Lessons learned from the design, commissioning and operation of existing bioenergy facilities can inform engineers designing new facilities and advising operating facilities. Cellulosic biofuels and oils from biomass are emerging technologies that challenge engineering design and facility operations. The focus of this topic is to learn from the existing successful bioindustries in order to mitigate the risks in the emerging biorefineries.
OTHER - Important engineering knowledge and advancements are welcomed from all those who do not see an obvious fit with the above topics.
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