Development of catalysts and catalytic processes for biomass-to-fuels
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Development of catalysts and catalytic processes for biomass-to-fuels
Wed, 10/02/2016 - 15:15 to 16:15
Location:
Speaker:
Professor Ying Zheng
Affiliation:
University of Edinburgh
Synopsis:
The combination of escalating demand for crude oil and approaching global maximum extraction, plus the need to manage greenhouse gas emissions, make the development of sustainable energy sources critical. Renewable diesel/gasoline fuels are the transportation fuels of future. Ambitious biofuel support policies have recently been adopted by Canada, United States (with 60 billion litres of biofuel blended by 2022) and the European Union (with 10% renewable energy in the transport sector by 2020). Plant oil and biomass-derived biofuel are a mixture of complex oxygenates that need to be upgraded before it can be used directly as fuel or blended to Petroleum diesel/gasoline. Integrated catalytic processes and inexpensive catalysts were designed to efficiently eliminate oxygen from biofuels to produce ‘green’ fuels that are fully compatible with petro-diesel/gasoline.
Biography:
Professor Ying Zheng is the recently appointed Chair of Chemical Reaction/Catalysis Engineering at the University of Edinburgh. She was elected to Fellow of the Chemical Institute of Canada (CIC) and Member of the Royal Society of Canada and in 2014. Her research interests focus on the development of catalytic processes for waste-to-energy/value-added products. She has solid publication record and holds five patents, two of which have been licensed. Her contribution to Chemical Engineering has also been recognised by several awards, including the 2010 Syncrude Canada Innovation Award, Imperial Oil University Research Award (2009), and the UNB Research Scholar (2009). Zheng has also been actively involved in professional activities. She has served on awards and grant selection committees; as the secretary/treasurer for the Catalysis Division of CIC; and was the technical programme chair for the 2013 CSChE meeting.