Next-Generation Biofuels

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). Dr. Prasenjit Mondal is a Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee in Uttarakhand, India. He is an established international scholar in biofuel technologies, wastewater treatment, bioproduct separation and lifecycle assessment of bioprocesses. With a total Google Scholar citation of 5,210, he has published 170 journal articles, edited 2 books and delivered 150 conference presentations. Dr. Mondal is the co-founder of “Prayas GreenTech”, a resource recovery and recycling start-up company in Roorkee, India. He edited several Special Issues in prestigious journals.

• 1. Focused perspectives on sustainable technologies for biofuels and biochemicals production: A review of opportunities and bottlenecks2. Breakthrough in the co-production of biomethane and biohydrogen using fermentative technologies3. Technological advances in gasification technology to generate high-grade syngas fuels4. Production of green hydrocarbon fuels and chemicals from catalytic Fischer-Tropsch synthesis5. Current developments in transesterification technology to produce biodiesel6. Production and upgrading of bio-crude oil from hydrothermal liquefaction of biomass7. Hydroprocessing of bio-oil and bio-crude oil for catalytic upgrading to clean transportation fuels8. Production and application of bio-jetfuel as a renewable aviation fuel9. Recent advances in biomass pyrolysis for bio-oil and biochar production10. Promising applications of biochar in agriculture and environmental restoration11. Emerging applications of biochar in anaerobic digestion for improved biogas production12. Lifecycle assessment and techno-economic analysis of biorefinery technologies for scale-up and commercialization