Biomass to Bioenergy

Dr. Sonil Nanda is an Assistant Professor and Canada Research Chair in “Clean Agricultural Technology and Energy” in the Department of Engineering, Faculty of Agriculture at Dalhousie University, Canada. He received his Ph.D. in Biology from York University, Canada; his M.Sc. in Applied Microbiology from Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT University), India; and his B.Sc. in Microbiology from the Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology, India. He was a Postdoctoral Fellow at York University and the University of Western Ontario and a Research Associate in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, Canada. He was the Director of Research and Development at Titan Clean Energy Projects Corporation in Craik, Saskatchewan. Dr. Nanda’s research areas focus on producing advanced biofuels and biochemicals through thermochemical and biochemical conversion technologies, including gasification, pyrolysis, carbonization, torrefaction, and fermentation. He has gained expertise in the hydrothermal gasification of various organic wastes and biomass, including agricultural and forestry residues, industrial effluents, municipal solid waste, cattle manure, sewage sludge, food wastes, waste tires, and petroleum residues to produce hydrogen fuel. His parallel interests are generating hydrothermal flames for treating hazardous wastes, agronomic biochar applications, phytoremediation of heavy metal-contaminated soils, and carbon capture and sequestration. Dr. Nanda has published 19 edited books, 85 book chapters, and more than 165 peer-reviewed journal articles. He is the editor of some popular books entitled “Emerging Biofuels” (Elsevier), “Biomass to Bioenergy: Modern Technological Strategies for Biorefineries” (Elsevier), “Innovations in Thermochemical Technologies for Biofuel Processing” (Elsevier), “New Dimensions in Production and Utilization of Hydrogen” (Elsevier), “Biorefinery of Alternative Resources: Targeting Green Fuels and Platform Chemicals” (Springer Nature), “Recent Advancements in Biofuels and Bioenergy Utilization” (Springer Nature), “Catalytic and Noncatalytic Upgrading of Oils” (American Chemical Society), “Fuel Processing and Energy Utilization” (CRC Press), “Bioprocessing of Biofuels” (CRC Press), “Progressive Thermochemical Biorefining Technologies” (CRC Press), “Algal Biorefinery: Developments, Challenges and Opportunities” (Routledge), “Biohydrogen: Developments and Prospects” (Apple Academic Press), and “Biomethane: Developments and Prospects” (Apple Academic Press). Dr. Nanda is a fellow member of the Society for Applied Biotechnology in India and a life member of the Indian Institute of Chemical Engineers, the Association of Microbiologists of India, the Indian Science Congress Association, and the Biotech Research Society of India. He is also a member of several chemical engineering societies across North America, such as the American Chemical Society, the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, the Chemical Institute of Canada, the Combustion Institute-Canadian Section, and Engineers Without Borders Canada. Dr. Nanda is an Assistant Subject Editor of the International Journal of Hydrogen Energy (Elsevier) as well as an Associate Editor of Environmental Chemistry Letters (Springer Nature) and Applied Nanoscience (Springer Nature). He has also edited several Special Issues in renowned journals such as the International Journal of Hydrogen Energy (Elsevier), Chemical Engineering Science (Elsevier), Catalysis Today (Elsevier), Biomass Conversion and Biorefinery (Springer Nature), Waste and Biomass Valorization (Springer Nature), Topics in Catalysis (Springer Nature), SN Applied Sciences (Springer Nature), Chemical Engineering & Technology (Wiley), and The Canadian Journal of Chemical Engineering (Wiley). Professor Dalai has authored/co-authored over 550 research papers in international journals, book chapters and conference proceedings, has written over 180 research reports for funding agencies, and has presented over 500 papers at national and international conferences in addition to over 135 invited seminars at conferences and institutions. Dr. Dalai is one of the top funded Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) researchers in Canada and regularly receives funding from a variety of government and industry partners, such as Western Economic Diversification, Saskatchewan Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Syncrude Canada Ltd., SaskCanola, Saskatchewan Mustard Development Commission (SMDC), Sask Power, Natural Resources Canada, Saskatchewan Research Council, Imperial Oil, Petro Canada, Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI), BioFuel Net, Agricultural Biomass Innovation Network, and Western Economic. His scholarly contributions have received well over 20000 citations with an h index of 70.

• Chapter 1: Sustainability science to address energy security and achieve sustainable development Chapter 2: Insights on biomass pretreatment and bioconversion to bioethanol and biobutanol Chapter 3: Progress in anaerobic digestion of organic wastes to biomethane Chapter 4: Catalytic and non-catalytic transesterification of non-edible oils to biodiesel Chapter 5: Advances in pyrolysis technology for biomass conversion to solid and liquid biofuels Chapter 6: Hydrothermal liquefaction of biomass to produce bio-crude oil and hydrochar Chapter 7: Catalytic upgrading of bio-oil and bio-crude oil to synthetic transportation fuels Chapter 8: Valorization of waste biomass for hydrogen-enriched gas production Chapter 9: Biomass gasification for hydrogen production: A pathway to cleaner energy transition Chapter 10: Conversion of syngas to olefins and green hydrocarbons through Fischer-Tropsch catalysis