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8:00am Registration

9:00 Welcome by Chairperson

9:45 The Bridge Technology from First to Second Generation Biofuels
Shi-Zhong Li, Ph.D., Professor of Bioenergy, Institute of New Energy Technology, Tsinghua University
I use sweet sorghum stalk as an alternative to corn to produce ethanol via Advanced Solid State Fermentation. The fermentation time is 40 hours with an ethanol yield of more than 94% of theoretical, while the corn ethanol fermentation time is 55 hours with 91.5% of ethanol production yield. The novel production process does not use fossil fuel or additional water, which will achieve sustainable development.

10:15 Networking Coffee Break, Poster and Exhibit Viewing

10:45 Tropical Sugar Beet: An On-Coming Revolution in Ethanol 
Dilip Gokhale, Global Head, Biofuels Development, Business Development, Syngenta International AG, Switzerland
Through breeding and trials that were started in 1995, Syngenta has developed sugar beet genotypes that perform well under tropical, hot and arid climate conditions and are best adapted to areas with 600-800 mm annual rainfall. Root yields of 70-100 t/ha develop in 5-6 months with sugar content ranging from 17-21 %. Marginal lands with high alkalinity or salinity levels are suitable for this crop and show hardly any yield depressing effect. As feedstock for ethanol or sugar, sugar beet shows the highest efficiency and allows for 7000-10000 l/ha ethanol or 11-15 t/ha of sugar in 6 months. Farm economy is improved, as an additional cash crop can be grown during the second half of the year. As rotational crop, sugar beet improves biodiversity and sets the farm economy on a broader base. Under tropical climate conditions, Tropical Sugar Beet can be grown year round, thus supplying the factory continuously with feedstock for sugar or ethanol production.

11:15 Strategy For Deconstruction Of Biomass For Biofuels Production 
Masood Hadi, Ph.D., BioSystems Research Department, Sandia National Labs; Joint BioEnergy Institute, Emeryville, CA
Energy crops and agriculture waste are preferred long-term solutions for renewable, cheap and globally available biofuels. The cellulosic and hemicellulosic biomasses are carbohydrate polymers that make up the walls of plant cells and are the most abundant naturally occurring organic compounds on earth. Engineering plants that self-produce a suite of cellulase enzymes compartmentalized to a specific location in the cell allows for cleaving the linkages between lignin and cellulosic fibers. With the successful integration of these enzymes, biomass deconstruction can be integrated into a one-step process thereby increasing efficiency and reducing costs by eliminating the need for adding exogenously produced enzymes. We discuss our initial results and their applications in the field.

11:45 Technology Focus (Sponsorship Available)

12:15pm Technology Luncheon Workshop (Sponsorships Available) or Lunch on Your Own

2:00 Chairperson’s Remarks

2:05 Fuel Ethanol Production from Agricultural Residues and Processing Byproducts
Badal C. Saha, Ph.D., Research Chemist/Lead Scientist, Fermentation Biotechnology Research Unit, USDA-ARS/NCAUR 
In 2007, the production of fuel ethanol from corn starch reached 6.5 billion gallons in the U.S.A. Various crop residues such as corn stover, wheat straw, and barley straw, and crop processing byproducts such as corn fiber and rice hulls can serve as low-cost lignocellulosic feedstocks for conversion to fuel ethanol. In this presentation, current state of technology development for conversion of these crop residues and processing byproducts to fuel ethanol will be reviewed. The problems and prospects of developing an integrated bioprocess technology for conversion of any lignocellulosic biomass to fuel ethanol will be highlighted. 

2:35 Saccharomyces cerevisiae Engineered for Anaerobic Conversion of Pretreated Lignocellulosic Sugars to Ethanol
Stephen Hughes, Ph.D., NCAUR, USDA
Advanced high-throughput screening has resulted in the discovery of several yeast strains that are capable of fully utilizing pentose as well as hexose sugars anaerobically. This is the first report describing the development of these strains. The paradigm for use of the new strains in lignocellulosic ethanol production will be discussed, including the regulatory considerations associated with these genetically engineered Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains.

3:05 New Technologies for Producing Ethanol from Cellulosic Feedstocks 
Steven Hutcheson, Ph.D., CEO and President, Zymetis, Inc.
The challenge of cellulosic ethanol production is converting high % solid mixtures to their constituent sugars. Zymetis has developed novel enzyme technologies for the commercial production of cellulosic ethanol, an alternative biofuel. The Ethazyme” product lines are enzyme mixtures that act in concert to release sugars from biomass. Ethazyme” contains some of the fastest-working sugar-releasing enzymes known, thus requiring less of the enzymes to process biomass and create ethanol. The cost of production of these enzymes has the potential to be significantly less than any current method. These enzymes are fully functional under the anticipated industrial conditions, such as high salt and temperature. Ethazyme is able to rapidly release sugars from all known sugar-containing polymers found in biomass. Applications to corn fiber conversion and waste cellulose processing will be discussed.

3:35 Networking Refreshment Break, Poster and Exhibit Viewing

4:05 A Technique of Insertion of Multigene Clusters into Yeast for Ethanol Production from Cellulosic Waste from Grain Crops
David Pan, Ph.D., Researcher, Center for Animal Research Resource, The University of Wisconsin Medical School
The biodegradation of plant materials; e.g; stover, straw and hull from grain crops through biochemical reactions had been known for some time, and now it is highly speculated that these materials can be economically converted into a carbon source for fermentation of ethanol in very near future. The present study reports a new technique that can be used to insert multigene clusters from plants into yeast and bacteria for the production of plant components such as taxol, plant alkaloids, plant rubber components etc. It is anticipated that this technique can also be used to insert multigene clusters that are responsible for the conversion of these materials into monosaccharides, and then used for the production of ethanol directly. There are about 1.5 billion tons of the cheapest materials now available in world wide. If the materials can be used for the production of ethanol via our technique, we will have a strong impact on the “Energy crisis” and “Environmental issues” that we face.

4:35 Simultaneous Saccharification and Fermentation: Issues and Opportunities
William Gibbons, Ph.D., Associate Director, Center for Bioprocessing Research and Development, Professor of Microbiology, South Dakota State University, Brookings, SD
Biomass-based ethanol production faces significant challenges that corn-based ethanol did not have to overcome. In the conversion process, chief roadblocks include: effective pre-treatment strategies, achieving efficient and inexpensive saccharification, obtaining complete fermentation of all sugars, and maximizing ethanol yield and titer. Simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) provides the opportunity to prevent feedback inhibition of hydrolytic enzymes by pulling the reaction to ethanol. Unfortunately, traditional brewing yeast is unable to ferment pentose sugars, and cannot operate at the optimal hydrolysis temperature. The low bulk density of biomass feedstocks also limits the dry matter content of process fluids, and hence final ethanol titers. Ongoing research efforts are aimed at developing thermotolerant yeast able to ferment mixed sugars. A related project seeks to develop bioreactors able to handle higher solids loading. Preliminary findings and research plans will be discussed.

5:05 Prairie Cordgrass: A Second Generation Biomass Crop
Jose L. Gonzalez, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Seed Molecular Biology, Department of Plant Sciences, South Dakota State University
Prairie cordgrass is a tall (180-250 cm) robust rhizomatous perennial grass native to the prairies of North America; grows well in a wide range of conditions, including wet and dry marginal lands, as well as salty soils. Natural populations of PCG can be found as far north as 60˚N, making this species ideal for cultivation in the Great Plains of North America. Prairie cordgrass is a C4 species with a wide ecological amplitude especially acclimated to low temperatures that allows for early growth in the spring. This ability to initiate vegetative growth in early April represents a physiological advantage over other C4 species such as corn (Zea mays) and switchgrass (Panicum virgatum), contributing to a longer growing season, and therefore producing more biomass per hectare.

5:35 Networking Reception in the Exhibit Hall

6:35 Close of Day

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