Production of Materials from Sustainable Biomass Resources

Zhen Fang is a professor and leader of the biomass group at Nanjing Agricultural University, as well as the inventor of the "fast hydrolysis" process. He is listed in the "Most Cited Chinese Researchers" in energy for 2014-2017 (Elsevier-Scopus). He specializes in the thermal/biochemical conversion of biomass, synthesis and applications of nanocatalysts, pretreatment of biomass for biorefineries, and supercritical fluid processes. He obtained his PhDs from China Agricultural University and McGill University. An associate editor for the journals Biotechnology for Biofuels and the Journal of Supercritical Fluids, he has more than 20 years of international research experience at top universities and institutes around the world, including one year in Spain (University of Zaragoza), three years in Japan (Tohoku University), and more than eight years in Canada (McGill). In addition, he worked seven years as an engineer in the areas of energy, bioresource utilization and engine design before switching to academia.

Richard L. Smith, Jr. is a professor of Chemical Engineering at the Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Research Center of Supercritical Fluid Technology, Tohoku University, Japan. Professor Smith has a strong background in physical properties and separations, and obtained his PhD in chemical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology (USA). His research focuses on developing green chemical processes, especially those that use water and carbon dioxide as the solvents in their supercritical state. He has expertise in physical property measurements and in separation techniques with ionic liquids, and has published more than 200 scientific papers and reports in the field of chemical engineering. He is the Asia regional editor for the Journal of Supercritical Fluids and has served on the editorial boards of major international journals associated with properties and energy.

Xiaofei Tian is an associate professor at the School of Biology and Biological Engineering, South China University of Technology. Having obtained his PhD from the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, his research focuses on solvent deconstruction and enzymatic saccharification of lignocelluloses for renewable cellulosic materials and biofuels. He also has experience in the development of fermentation techniques for functional fungal pigments. He has co-authored more than 30 research papers, reviews, and patents in his research specialty and has served as a peer-reviewer for major scientific journals.