Biofuels and Bioproducts to Enhance the Ecological, Social and Economic Sustainability

Modern civilization would not be sustainable without sufficient energy and a clean environment. However, the fossil fuel resources are depleting and the environmental pollution associated with the consumption of fossil fuel is deteriorating. Therefore, it is important to develop clean and renewable energy resources to replace fossil fuels. The development of biorefineries to produce biofuels and chemicals is one of the most feasible solutions to address the above concerns because biomass is produced through photosynthesis by using sunlight and carbon dioxide. The consumption of biofuels and biochemicals is essentially carbon neutral. Dr. Zheng is interested in the development of advanced biotechnologies and bioprocesses for converting biomass into renewable biofuels and bio-based products while protecting the environment and conserving our natural resources. The biomass includes dedicated crops, algae, agricultural residuals, food processing wastes, and municipal solid waste. Dr. Zheng’s research focus is on feedstock handling (e.g., storage and pretreatment) and bioprocess engineering to produce multiple biofuels (i.e., biogas, biodiesel, bioethanol, and liquid hydrocarbon) and bio-products (i.e., bio-based adhesive, unsaturated fatty acids, antioxidant, biocement, and film). In order to address the challenges of bioconversion of biomass, especially lignocellulosic biomass, Dr. Zheng is also interested in the integration of chemical catalysis with bioprocesses to improve the efficiency of biomass conversion and reduce the cost. Dr. Zheng’s seminar covers his current research in the areas of: (1) Anaerobic digestion for biogas production; (2) Algae-based fuels, enzymes and high-value bioproducts; (3) Enzymatic catalysis and microbial fermentation; (4) Lignocellulosic biomass pretreatment.