Development of Cellulosic Biofuels

Chris Somerville [Director of the EBI, UC Berkeley]
Abstract:

The earth receives approximately 4000 times as much energy from the sun each year as the total projected human energy use in 2050. Because plants can be deployed on a large scale to capture and store solar energy, I am interested in exploring the degree to which it may become possible to use photosynthesis for sustainable production of renewable carbon-neutral energy. In considering this possibility, the Secretary of Energy of the US has called for the replacement of 30% of the liquid fuels used in the US with biofuels by 2030. I will outline some of the technical issues that must be addressed in order to understand if it is possible to reach this and related goals. I will also discuss some of the areas in which I envision significant technical advances may enable evolution of the biofuels industry.




Biography:

Chris Somerville is the Director of the new Energy Biosciences Institute at UC Berkeley,University of Illinois and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and a professor of Plant and Microbial Biology at UC Berkeley. He has published more than 200 scientific papers and patents in plant and microbial genetics, genomics, biochemistry, and biotechnology.His current research is focused on the characterization of proteins, such as cellulose synthase, implicated in plant cell wall synthesis and modification. Somerville has served as a member of the scientific advisory boards of numerous academic institutions, corporations, and private foundations in Europe and North America. He is a member of the US National Academy of Sciences, The Royal Society of London and the Royal Society of Canada and has received numerous scientific awards.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• CITRIS
• UCBerkeley
• Science
• Cellulosic
• Biofuels
• Chris
• Somerville

[godfather755]

This is my favourite area of chemical engineering! I love green technology and alternative methods of energy renewal :P

[BuyUSAsEthanolKilOil]

this is such a great technology.... their is a company called "the alternative energy technology center (AETE)... they are the first once to make a plant using multiple inputs of biomass...

their stock has suffered due to a SPAM incident.... americans need to start voting with their money... this is a great company... revolutionary tech! and their stock is at .40 a share!!! also look at meridian biosciences vivo... companies that could change the world!!!

[MsKolie]

inspring talk and definately great literature review

[chroniclerofthe70s]

@godfather755 My inclusion of how and why was in response to your statement . You state the reason for modern plastics ability to conduct electricity is due to added materials which are electrically conductive. This is false. The addition of non-metal or metal atoms to plastics is to rearrange the electronic configuration of either the valence band or conductive band by generating mobile positive point charges ( holes ) or negative point charges.

[chroniclerofthe70s]

@godfather755 Actually, my statement was in response to your comment stating that traditional plastics cannot conduct electricity. My question was meant to imply whether a traditional plastic has the potential to conduct electricity. I asked this to make the point that fundamental chemistry could theoretically envision a conductive organic plastic if the proper electronic configuration could be achieved.

[godfather755]

@chroniclerofthe70s your question was whether plastic can conduct electricity or not. Not how and why it is conducts electricity. The result is that some plastics can and some plastics cannot conduct electricity.

[godfather755]

@chroniclerofthe70s I was thinking of making reference to fluid mechanics but as you can see there is no space to write everything. I mentioned bioreactors why should I talk about the importance of fluid mechanics anyway? Well I did my first degree at UCL in UK we had two Chemistry courses in my whole degree. Then I did masters at imperial college in chem eng with biotech. No chemistry courses there either.

[chroniclerofthe70s]

@godfather755 Engineers had metal processing technologies for more than 1000 years and yet technological advances proceeded relatively slow. The introduction of the scientific method and fundamental scientific knowledge formed the foundation of the industrial revolution of the 19th century. Maxwell's mathematical work on electricity and magnetism allowed the development of the communications industry. Mathematics of packet switching allowed the development of the internet.



[chroniclerofthe70s]

@godfather755 Your comments are puzzling. Most chemical engineering degree plans are very similar to chemistry degree plans up to the junior year. At senior year, both chemical engineering students and chemistry students take P-Chem and Inorganic synthesis. Except chemical engineers start taking industrial process courses and advanced fluid mechanics. Non of your comments made references to fluid mechanics or the Reynold's number which is important for bioreactor design due to sheer stress.

[chroniclerofthe70s]

@godfather755 Actually my question is not misleading. What makes a chemical solid electrically conductive is the energy gap between its atom's valence band and higher conductive band. In most organic compounds including organic plastics, the energy gap is too large. The organic molecule Pentacene can conduct electricity due to it's delocalized electrons resulting from it's double bonds within it's ring structures. Electrically conductive polyacetylene plastic was first synthesized in 1977.

[godfather755]

@chroniclerofthe70s So you believe that the world would be the same as it is now without engineering?