Friday, 24 May 2024 11:00am – 12:00pm

This seminar will be delivered in Lecture Theatre 4

Speaker: Dr Taku Aida

Host: Dr Alexander Yuen

Title: Producing chemicals from biomass using high temperature water

Abstract: Developing sustainable methods for obtaining chemicals is important for the future of the chemical industry. This seminar will introduce the fundamental principles guiding the use of hydrothermal methods for the conversion of various biomass types to chemical products. Physical properties of water such as density, ion product (self-ionization product or Kw), dielectric constant as well as the method for applying the hydrothermal treatment (fast heating and slow heating) give significant differences in the reaction chemistry and product distribution [1]. Importantly, rapid heating techniques provide an especially effective method for the hydrothermal conversion of biomass into chemicals. Some biopolymers can be converted to organic acids [2], proteins can be converted to peptides [3], hyaluronic acid can be reduced in a controllable manner to low molecular weights for medical and cosmetic applications [4], nutrients in solid wastes (defatted microalgae [5], municipal waste [6]) can be extracted and recycled using microalgae cultivation systems.

References

[1] T.M. Aida (2022). Fundamentals of Hydrothermal Processing of Biomass-Related Molecules for Converting Organic Solid Wastes into Chemical Products. In: Fang, Z., Smith Jr., R.L., Xu, L. (eds) Production of Biofuels and Chemicals from Sustainable Recycling of Organic Solid Waste. Biofuels and Biorefineries, vol 11. Springer, Singapore.

[2] T.M. Aida, T. Yamagata, C. Abe, H. Kawanami, M. Watanabe, R.L. Smith Jr., Production of organic acids from alginate in high temperature water, J. Supercritical Fluids, 65, 39-44, 2012.

[3] T.M. Aida, M. Oshima, and R.L. Smith Jr., Controlled conversion of proteins into high molecular weight peptides without additives with high-temperature water and fast-heating rates, ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, 5, 9, 7709-771 5, 2017.

[4] T.M. Aida, M. Oshima, T. Sharmin, K. Mishima, R.L. Smith, Controlled Conversion of Sodium Hyaluronate into Low-Molecular-Weight Polymers without Additives using High-Temperature Water and Fast-Heating-Rates, J. Supercritical Fluids, 155, 38, 2020.

[5] T.M. Aida, R. Maruta, Y. Tanabe, M. Oshima, T. Nonaka, H. Kujiraoka, Y. Kumagai, M. Ota, I. Suzuki, M.M. Watanabe, H. lnomata, R.L. Smith Jr., Nutrient recycle from defatted microalgae (Aurantiochytnum) with hydrothermal treatment for microalgae cultivation, Bioresource Technology, 228, 186-192, 2017.

[6] T.M. Aida, T. Nonaka, S. Fukuda, H. Kujiraoka, Y. Kumagai, R. Maruta, M. Ota, I. Suzuki, M.M. Watanabe, H. lnomata, R.L. Smith Jr., Nutrient recovery from municipal sludge for microalgae cultivation with two-step hydrothermal liquefaction, Algal Research, 18, 61-68, 2016.

Bio: Taku Aida is currently an assistant professor at Chemical Engineering Department, Fukuoka University, Japan. He earned his PhD from the Department of Environmental Science, Tohoku University, Japan in 2004 and then was granted as assistant professor. He has 15 years experience in hydrothermal conversion experiments and have published papers 58 papers with total 3800 citations (12 papers with citations over 100) and a h-index of 29.