Advanced Biofuels of the Future: Atom-Economical or Energy-Economical?

Professor Maravelias obtained his Diploma in Chemical Engineering from the National Technical University of Athens, an MSc from the London School of Economics (London, UK), and a PhD from Carnegie Mellon University. He joined the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2004, where he is currently the Paul A. Elfers and Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor. His research interests lie in the general area of process systems engineering and optimization. Specifically, he is studying production planning and scheduling, supply chain optimization, and chemical process synthesis with emphasis on renewable energy technologies.[Figure presented] Peyman Fasahati obtained his BSc and MSc from Sharif University of Technology in Iran, and a PhD in Chemical Engineering from Pukyong National University in 2015 in South Korea. He worked on process design, technoeconomic, and life cycle analysis of biofuels and biochemicals production from seaweed biomass. He was a postdoctoral associate at Michigan State University and Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center (GLBRC) from 2016 to 2017. Currently, he is a postdoctoral associate at University of Wisconsin-Madison and GLBRC working on process synthesis and analysis of biomass-to-biofuel processes.[Figure presented] Biofuels could contribute to the reduction of GHG emissions by displacing fossil fuels. However, limited resource availability warrants that optimal strategies for efficient utilization of biomass are exploited. This study analyzes the interplay among three critical factors toward biofuel development: (1) carbon efficiency, (2) conversion energy efficiency, and (3) biofuel quality. The study shows that these factors must be considered simultaneously when evaluating conversion technologies.