NCERC at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville researcher Dr. Arun Athmanathan will present his findings on corn stover pretreatment methods at a U.S. Department of Energy conference this week in Washington, D.C.
“Arun’s selection for presentation at high-profile Department of Energy conference is a testament to the success of our postdoctoral fellowship program,” NCERC Director John Caupert said. “Thanks to the foresight and vision of SIUE and the Illinois Corn Marketing Board, our research team continues to deliver impactful research, compete for new grant-funded research opportunities, and share NCERC’s research findings with diverse audiences of industry, policy-makers and academia. We congratulate Arun on this professional achievement and look forward to his future successes.”
Athmanathan will present a poster titled “Assessing the Scale-Up Potential of Aqueous Ammonia Pretreatment of Maize Stover” at the DOE’s Biomass 2014: Growing the Future Bioeconomy conference July 29-30. The annual conference brings together government officials, federal lawmakers, industry leaders and experts from all areas of the bioenergy supply chain to discuss industry challenges and opportunities, including technology, pathway and public policy needs.
NCERC Research Director Dr. Sabrina Trupia and Athmanathan collaborated on the ongoing project to scale previously published pretreatment processes up from bench scale. The project is funded by the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity and the Illinois Corn Growers Association.
“The use of ammonia for cellulose pretreatment is highly promising due to its efficacy at lower temperatures, which could mean massive energy savings on a large scale,” Athamanathan said. “The work has unveiled interesting results and posed unexpected challenges. I very much look forward to discussing the same with fellow biomass researchers to see how we can extend upon it.”
Athmanathan joined the NCERC in January as a result of a joint initiative between the Illinois Corn Marketing Board and SIUE to launch a postdoctoral fellowship research program. Athmanathan’s broad range of experiences in the characterization and fermentation of many cellulosic and advanced feedstocks, including corn stover and sweet sorghum bagasse, as well as his studies under biofuels pioneers like Nathan Mosier, Mike Ladisch and Nancy Ho, have proven an excellent complement to the Center’s research division.
In October, Athmanathan will be a featured speaker during the National Advanced Biofuels Conference and Expo in Minneapolis. He will present “A Cost-Benefit Analysis of Biomass Particle Size Reduction in Cellulosic Ethanol Manufacturing.”
Photo: NCERC at SIUE researcher Dr. Arun Athmanathan.