Invited by National Engineering Research Center of Engineering Plastics, Prof. J.Y. Zhu from USDA Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory visited TIPC,CAS on August 28 and gave a lecture entitled Recent Progress in Woody Biomass Conversion to Biofuel and Nanocelluloses.

The concept of producing biofuel, bioproducts, and chemicals through a biorefinery using lignocelluloses has been around for about a century. However, current technologies for commercial scale production are not economically viable. In the lecture, Prof. J.Y. Zhu presented the status SPORL process for bio-jet fuel production from forest residues. He also outlined several fundamental studies: 1) the combined hydrolysis factor (CHF) for pretreatment to reduce inhibitor formation and process scale-up; 2) the roles of substrate related parameters such as, particle size, lignin and hemicellulose removal on enzymatic saccharification;3) cellulase and lignocellulose binding modeling and binding reversibility for enzyme recycling;4) our understanding and a simple effective strategy through pH-induced lignin surface modification to reduce nonproductive cellulase binding to lignin to significantly enhance enzymatic saccharification of lignocelluloses. Finally,he also discussed their recent progress in nanocellulose research and the future of nanocellulose based bioproducts.

J.Y. Zhu joined Forest Products Laboratory as a Project Leader in 2003 after spending 10 years as a faculty member at the Institute of Paper Science and Technology, Atlanta, GA. His main research area included woody biomass utilization for fiber, sugar/biofuel, and cellulose nanomaterials. He has published 140 referred journal papers with total over 2,600 citations of his work. He is also a co-inventor of 17 patents including 5 U.S. patent applications. His research in forest biorefinery was selected (from a US nationwide competition) as Exemplary Research and Development in Agriculture, Food, Nutrition, and Natural Resources presented at the Round Table in Washington, D.C. in 2011at the American Association for Advancement Sciences (AAAS). Dr. Zhu currently holds an Adjunct Professorship at the Department of Biological Systems Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Dr. Zhu serves on the editorial boards of several technical journals, including TAPPI Journal (also a Technical Editor), BioEnergy Research (also an Associate Editor), China Pulp and Paper, BioResources, and the Journal of Biobased Materials and Bioenergy. Dr. Zhu is an elected fellow of the International Academy of Wood Science (IAWS). He is also the Secretary of Forest Plant and Bioproducts Division of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE).