Innovations in Food Waste Biorefinery

Dr. Season Si Chen is currently an Assistant Professor at the Institute of Environment and Ecology at Tsinghua Shenzhen International Graduate School. She earned her Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Hong Kong Polytechnic University in 2019 and was a Fulbright Visiting Scholar at Iowa State University during 2017-2018. Her research interests lie in organic waste conversion and bio-based synthesis via catalytic technologies for green and sustainable development. She has published over 60 research articles, serves on editorial board in Journal of Hazardous Materials and guest editor in Green Chemistry. Prof. Xu is currently Chair Professor of Advanced Biorefinery and Director of Advanced Biorefinery Laboratory (ABL) at School of Energy and Environment, City University of Hong Kong. He is a Fellow of Canadian Academy of Engineering (FCAE) and Fellow of Engineering Institute of Canada (FEIC). He was a professor, the NSERC/FPInnovations Industrial Research Chair in Forest Biorefinery, and Associate Director of the Institute for Chemicals and Fuels from Alternative Resources (ICFAR) at Western University. He has over 20 years of research experience in conversion of biomass and organic solid wastes (forestry/agricultural residues, food wastes, wastewater sludge, microalgae, lignin, glycerol and sugars, etc.) into biofuels (sustainable aviation fuels, green hydrogen) and green chemicals and biopolymer materials. He has authored/edited 3 books on biorefinery, and published 20+ book chapters and 370+ papers in peer-reviewed journals. According to Google Scholar, his work has received nearly 25,000 total citations with an H-index of 82 to date. With 12 PCT/US/Canadian/Chinese Patents issued, Dr. Xu has made outstanding contributions to applied science and engineering practice. He is the recipient of the 2011 Syncrude Canada Innovation Award and the 2019 Award in Design and Industrial Practice from Canadian Society of Chemical Engineering, and the 2023 Humboldt Research Award from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. Dr. Carol Sze Ki Lin is currently a Professor at the School of Energy and Environment at City University of Hong Kong (CityUHK). Her research interests lie in technological advancement and development of circular waste-based biorefinery for sustainable production of chemicals, materials and fuels, that contributes to reduction of environmental burden of waste disposal and enhancement of resource efficiency. She has been involved in over 30 research projects as Principal Investigator, which mainly focus on development of integrated biorefinery strategies includes valorization of agricultural residues, food, beverage, plastic and textile wastes. She has been a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC) since July 2024. Ir Prof. Dan Tsang is a Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and Pao Yue-Kong Chair Professor in the State Key Laboratory of Clean Energy Utilization at Zhejiang University in China. Dan was a Professor and MSc Programme Leader at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Visiting Professor at the University of Queensland in Australia and Chulalongkorn University in Thailand, Visiting Scholar at Stanford University in the US and IMETE Scholar at Ghent University in Belgium, and postdoctoral fellow at Imperial College London in the UK. He has more than 20 years of R&D experience, published more than 600 articles in the top 10% journals, and was selected as Stanford University's Top 2% Scientists (Lifetime) and Clarivate's Highly Cited Researchers in the academic fields of Engineering as well as Environment & Ecology. Dan’s team aspires to develop green technologies for long-term decarbonization and promote resource circularity and sustainable development. Dan also serves as the founding Editor-in-Chief of npj Materials Sustainability (Nature Portfolio), Chairman of the Hong Kong Waste Management Association (2023-2025), and Chairman of Waste Management Subcommittee of the Advisory Council on the Environment (2023&2024) of the Hong Kong SAR Government.

• 1. Introduction to Food Waste Biorefineries2. Food Waste Hydrolysis: Thermo-catalytic Pathway to value-added products: (Includes a case study on industrial-scale hydrolysis of bakery waste (e.g. in Brazil, South Africa)3. Upcycling Food Waste Lipids: From Waste to Biofuels (Includes a case study on biodiesel production from used cooking oil in Southeast Asia)4. Hydrothermal Carbonisation (HTC) of Food Waste to value-added materials and energy (Includes a case study on hydrochar application in European soil remediation projects)5. Pyrolysis and Gasification of Food Waste (Includes a case study on municipal food waste gasification in Japan)6. Transforming Food Waste into Bio-Carbon Materials7. Microbial and Enzymatic Processes in Biorefineries (Includes Two case studies CaseStudy 1: Biosurfactant production using industrial food waste (i.e. Horizon Europe project WASTE2FUNC) CaseStudy 2: Microalgae cultivation using food waste resources)8. Platform Chemicals from Food Waste (Includes a case study on citrus waste valorization in Brazil)9. Nutraceuticals and Bioproducts from Food Waste10. Logistics and Supply Chain of Food Waste for Biorefineries (Includes a case study on decentralized collection in India)11. Economic Feasibility of Biorefinery Projects12. Social Acceptance of Biorefinery Projects13. Policy and Regulatory Framework14. Challenges of Food Waste Composition and Scaling Up15. Future Trends and Innovations in Food Waste Biorefinery