(7gz) Development and Assessment of New Processes for the Production of Bio-Products

Development and assessment of new processes for the production of bio-products

Sampath Gunukula

University of Maine Chemical and Biological Engineering and Forest Bioproducts Research Institute, Orono, ME, 04469-5737, USA

Research Experience:

My academic research is a blend of the fields of process engineering, economics, and sustainability. My academic training is in process simulation, process research, techno-economic analysis, economic risk assessment, and life-cycle analysis. In my research I have worked on quantifying the financial risk of investments for the development of platform technologies to produce biobased products, introducing a new methodology for the economic and environmental assessment of early stage renewable chemical technologies, and developing general design rules that guide the design of biocatalytic technologies and chemical catalytic pathways for the transformation of platform biorenewable chemicals. As a result of these projects, I have expertise in the areas of chemical process development, cost benefit analysis, biofuel and biorenewable chemical production, and sustainability assessment.

Postdoctoral Projects: Economic and process analysis of biorefineries, Assessment of the viability of the platform chemical concept, the effect of biomass densification technologies on the economics of biofuel production processes, and finding new applications of bio-char.

Supervisors: Dr. M. Clayton Wheeler, Dr. William DeSisto, and Dr. Hemant Pendse, Chemical and Biological Engineering, Forest Bioproducts Research Institute, University of Maine at Orono.

Ph.D. Dissertation: “Techniques for Evaluating and Guiding Development of Renewable Chemical Technologies for Sustainable Products”

Under the supervision of Dr. Robert Anex, Biological Systems Engineering, University of Wisconsin at Madison

Research Interests:

1. a. Technology assessment

In a faculty position I would continue my work using process modeling, economic analysis, and sustainability assessment in the development of new renewable technologies. Additionally, I would like to focus on incorporating social costs, policy interventions, and policy uncertainty into the techno-economic modeling for the evaluation of renewable chemical technologies. Moreover, I would like to explore the utility of life cycle assessment for assessing food, energy, and water security.

1. b. Development of separation and purification processes

The lack of processes to purify low-value added biorenewable products from clarified fermentation broths that contain a large number of low concentration impurities such as amino acids have limited the commercialization of biorenewable technologies. I plan to develop less energy intensive, sustainable processes to overcome this limitation. I plan to work on developing new sustainable techniques for the separation and purification of biorenewable products. In the near term, my focus will be on modifying bio-char for use as an adsorbent for removing minor impurities such as amino acids from a clarified fermentation broth. Additionally, I will work on finding inducers to lower pH of the clarified fermentation broths for the easy separation of organic acids.

1. c. Process research

The use of sulfuric acid as an acid catalyst in the production of biorenewable products from lignocellulosic feedstock is problematic because it is difficult to recover for reuse. Neutralizing sulfuric acid with calcium salts instead of recovering it may not be a viable option for the large-scale production of biorenewable products, as the storage, handling, and transportation of tonnes of sulfuric acid can be hazardous. Thus, future research is necessary to provide an acid environment for the production biorenewable products without the addition of an acid catalyst. In collaboration with Dr. Wheeler, I will work on replacing an acid catalyst with organic acids that can be recovered easily.

1. d. Valorizing biorefinery waste

The high capital and operating costs of new biorefinery technologies are creating barriers for attaining commercial relevance. Such barriers can be overcome by generating additional revenue from the biorefinery waste streams by converting them to value added products. Many potential research opportunities exist in the area of valorizing biorefinery waste. One such opportunity is the production of in situ hydrogen from the aqueous waste of fast pyrolysis process without using a catalyst to improve the overall economics of renewable gasoline and diesel production via fast pyrolysis pathway. I will collaborate with Dr. Wheeler and Dr. Desisto to work on concentrating organics from the aqueous waste and use these organics as a feedstock for the production of hydrogen via fermentation.

Teaching Interests:

I have observed while I was mentoring undergraduate students as well as co-supervising graduate students that students try to memorize scientific concepts. I also noticed among these students that there is a fear of learning new knowledge as well as difficulty with communicating their work properly. Having desire to teach how to learn science has motivated me to purse career as a faculty member. As faculty member, I will help students to develop their creative abilities and critical analysis skills through class assignments. I will put effort to improve student’s communication skills through assigning team projects as well as asking them to give presentations very often. In my lectures, I will include application of chemical engineering concepts in studying other fields of science to encourage students to learn new fields and to promote interdisciplinary understanding. As a faculty member, I plan to teach chemical process design, biological unit processes, engineering economics, and separation and purification techniques in food and pharmaceutical industry.

Publications:

1. S. Gunukula, P. Keeling, R. Anex, Risk advantages of platform technologies for biorenewable chemical production, Chem. Eng. Research Design. 2016.
2. S. Gunukula, R. Anex, Evaluating and guiding the development of sustainable biorenewable chemical technologies, Biochem. Eng. J. 2017
3. J.L. Carrasco, S.Gunukula, A.A. Boateng, C.A. Mullen, W.J. DeSisto, M.C. Wheeler, Pyrolysis of forest residues: An approach to techno-economics for bio-fuel production, Fuel.2017
4. S. Gunukula, R. Anex, Comparative economic analysis of multiple bio-based routes to adipic acid. Biofuels Bioprod Bioref , 2017

Under review

1. S. Gunukula, T. Runge, R. Anex, Assessment of Biocatalytic Production Parameters to Determine Economic and Environmental Viability, 2017. (ACS Sustainable Chem. Eng.)
2. H. AlMohamadi, S. Gunukula, W.J. DeSisto, M.C. Wheeler, Formate Assisted Pyrolysis: An economic analysis, 2017 (Biofuels Bioprod Bioref)

Awards:

1. Student-led Research Competitive Grant: S. Gunukula, J.A., and Lopez-Ruiz, Determining the different reaction engineering factors that affect the economic feasibility of the production of alpha olefins from carboxylic acids through techno-economic analysis. CBiRC Student-led Research Grant, Iowa State University, 2012.