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Upcoming Webinars from
AIChE's Forest Bioproducts Division

The Forest Bioproducts Division has begun offering a series of Webinars on topics of interest to the Division. These Webinars will supplement the technical information we provide at the Annual Meeting and help us serve members throughout the year. We have two webinars planned for March 2010. Our next webinar features Dr. Paul Stuart, NSERC Environmental Design Engineering Chair, Department of Chemical Engineering, Ecole Polytechnique - Montreal. The title is "Biorefinery 101: Maximizing Benefits and Minimizing Risks Associated with Implementing the Forest Biorefinery." Should be another exciting one! You can register at https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/307990682.

Our second webinar in March is on March 18 at 2 pm Central Time, with Dr. Junyong Zhu of the Forest Products Lab in Madison telling us about significant work on an improved method for creating fuels from biomass using a sulfite pretreatment. You can register below or at https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/552717363.

The invitations, abtracts, and speaker bios are below. We hope you'll join us for these free services. The webinars will be recorded and made available for AIChE members in the future.

First Webinar: Dr. Stuart, March 11

Biorefinery 101: Maximizing Benefits and Minimizing Risks Associated with Implementing the Forest Biorefinery
Join us for a Webinar on March 11
Space is limited.
Reserve your Webinar seat now at:
https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/307990682
Biorefinery 101: Maximizing Benefits and Minimizing Risks
Associated with Implementing the Forest Biorefinery

Paul Stuart
NSERC Environmental Design Engineering Chair
Department of Chemical Engineering, Ecole Polytechnique - Montreal

Abstract
There is little argument over whether the North American forest industry is in crisis.  The corporate strategy for many forestry companies in recent years has centered on company mergers and continuous belt tightening.  Merger activity has undoubtedly been critical, however it is clear that alone, it is not enough – a new business model is essential. The North American forestry industry has begun to discuss the need for “transformative changes”, where one possibility for this change is the so-called forest biorefinery.  This presentation will outline an implementation strategy being considered by some forestry companies for producing “green” chemical products through the implementation of emerging biorefinery technologies, some of the risks facing these companies, and how they might systematically analyze opportunities using systems engineering techniques in order to mitigate the risk.  A systematic design strategy for the biorefinery is outlined, underlining an approach which emphasizes a long-term sustainable approach.
Title:   Biorefinery 101: Maximizing Benefits and Minimizing Risks Associated with Implementing the Forest Biorefinery
Date: Thursday, March 11, 2010
Time: 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM CST
After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar.
System Requirements
PC-based attendees
Required: Windows® 2000, XP Home, XP Pro, 2003 Server, Vista
Macintosh®-based attendees
Required: Mac OS® X 10.4 (Tiger®) or newer

Biosketch for Dr. Paul Stuart

Paul is a Professor in the Chemical Engineering Department at École Polytechnique of the University of Montréal, where he has been Chairholder of an NSERC Environmental Design Engineering Chair entitled Process Integration in the Pulp & Paper Industry (www.pulp-paper.ca) since 2000. Prior to joining academia, Paul worked in process design consulting as Company Associate and Manager of Process Engineering at Beak Consultants Limited, as Partner and Manager of Environmental Services at Simons Environmental Group, and as Director of Process and Environmental Engineering Group at H.A. Simons Limited in Montreal (later AMEC). Prior to working in the consulting field, he received his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from McGill University. Paul is a past President of the Canadian Society of Chemical Engineering (CSChE), past Vice-Chair of the Canadian Design Engineering Network (CDEN), serves on Canada’s National Advisory Board on Energy S&T (NABEST), and is Principal Consultant for his one-man consulting company, Processys Inc.

Second Webinar: Dr. Zhu, March 18

Advances in Biofuels from Forest Products: SPORL, a Sulfite Pretreatment Technology for Woody Biomass Conversion
Join us for a Webinar on March 18
Space is limited.
Reserve your Webinar seat now at:
https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/552717363
Advances in Biofuels from Forest Products: SPORL, a Sulfite Pretreatment Technology for Woody Biomass Conversion

Dr. Junyong Zhu
Scientific Team Leader
USDA Forest Products Laboratory
Madison, WI

Abstract
There is little argument over whether the North American forest industry is in crisis.  The corporate strategy for many forestry companies in recent years has centered on company mergers and continuous belt tightening.  Merger activity has undoubtedly been critical, however it is clear that alone, it is not enough -- a new business model is essential. The North American forestry industry has begun to discuss the need for "transformative changes", where one possibility for this change is the so-called forest biorefinery.  This presentation will outline an implementation strategy being considered by some forestry companies for producing "green" chemical products through the implementation of emerging biorefinery technologies, some of the risks facing these companies, and how they might systematically analyze opportunities using systems engineering techniques in order to mitigate the risk.  A systematic design strategy for the biorefinery is outlined, underlining an approach which emphasizes a long-term sustainable approach.
Title:   Advances in Biofuels from Forest Products: SPORL, a Sulfite Pretreatment Technology for Woody Biomass Conversion
Date: Thursday, March 18, 2010
Time: 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM CDT
After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar.
System Requirements
PC-based attendees
Required: Windows® 2000, XP Home, XP Pro, 2003 Server, Vista
Macintosh®-based attendees
Required: Mac OS® X 10.4 (Tiger®) or newer

Biosketch for Dr. J.Y. Zhu

Junyong Zhu, Ph.D
Scientific Team Leader
USDA Forest Products Laboratory
One Gifford Pinchot Dr.
Madison, WI 53726

Dr. Junyong Zhu joined the U.S. Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory (FPL), Madison, Wisconsin, in February, 2003 as a Project Leader and later as the Scientific Team Leader to lead a group of scientists and supporting staff engaging research in fiber and chemical sciences related to wood fiber and cellulosic ethanol production. Currently, he also holds an adjunct Professorship at the Dept. of Biological Systems Engineering of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Before his appointment at the Forest Products Laboratory, Dr. Zhu was a faculty member at the Institute of Paper Science and Technology (IPST, now Part of Georgia Institute of Technology), Atlanta, GA, for about 10 years, where he was an Assistant Professor first and promoted to Associate Professor in 1999. He advised more than a dozen of graduate students to successful completion of their doctorate and masters degrees. He also directed about a dozen post doctoral research fellows and international visiting scholars.

Dr. Zhu research expertise is the area of woody biomass processing for fiber, biofuel, and chemicals, fiber resources and properties. Currently, his research is focused on biomass pretreatment for biochemical conversion, nanoscale phenomena and activities associated with enzyme access to lignocellulose, feedstock and substrate characterization, fiber and nano-cellulose production.

He is a Technical Editor of TAPPI Journal, member of the Editorial Board for BioResources, J. Biobased Materials and Bioenergy. He has published about 100 referred articles and delivered about 100 presentations at various national and international conferences. He is also a co-inventor of 10 inventions. Dr. Zhu has served on many scientific panels. In 2006, he was invited by the Canadian Natural Science and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) as an international expert for the Site Visiting and Review Panel of a Collaborative Research and Development program. Currently, he is a panel member of the State of Wisconsin Research Forum for the Focus on Energy Environmental and Economic Research and Development Program.

Dr. Zhu received his Ph.D in Engineering from the University of California, Irvine, in 1991.

Information on the Feb. 2010 webinars by Jim Frederick and Nikolaus Schwaiger.

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Last Updated: Feb. 21, 2010
URL: "http://www.forest-products.org/webinar.html"