Biofuel subsidies from the Canadian government were officially phased out in 2017, which has had a significant effect on the biofuel industry in Canada. Specifically, this change will force biofuel producers to adopt novel technologies that promote more cost-efficient biofuel production, or that result in co-production of high-value products, transforming ethanol plants into multiple-product biorefineries. This project aims to advance research for both of these areas and involves several industrial and government partners that are interested in eventual commercialization of such strategies.

The Bressler lab will explore several byproduct streams generated during industrial processing of macroalgae, crops, and woody materials. This will involve comprehensive compositional analyses to identify molecules/compounds that have direct or indirect commercial value, as well as exploring processing strategies, particularly enzyme treatment, which can facilitate downstream fractionation of these molecules/compounds into separate co-product streams. Finally, following separation, the Bressler lab will examine processing strategies that can be employed to generate value-added products from these co-product streams. As an example of one of the ongoing studies in the lab, the Bressler lab is examining the enzymatic digestion of hardwood kraft pulp to generate a sugar stream for fermentation platforms, as well as a solid residue that is more efficiently converted to cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs), a lightweight and extremely strong nanomaterial that currently sells for $1000 per kilogram.

In addition, the Bressler lab, in collaboration with Prof. Dominic Sauvageau, is examining the incorporation of a self-cycling fermentation strategy for cellulosic ethanol production. Recent data have provided bench-scale proof-of-concept that a cycling strategy could be applied to cellulosic ethanol production, resulting in increased productivity (amount of ethanol produced per year). Based on these preliminary results, the Bressler and Sauvageau labs have developed a 5-L self-cycling fermentation system that will be used to optimize ethanol production from a wide variety of feedstocks.

The identification of by-product streams that can be used as feedstock and co-product generation strategies, combined with the development of novel fermentation technologies that can be applied at commercial scale, will have significant and beneficial outcomes for the cellulosic ethanol industry.

Academic Travel Award

Award

Advanced Biological Fermentation Process Development

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Principal Investigator

Co-Investigator

Graduate students, Post-Doctoral Fellows, and Highly Qualified Personnel

Project Assistant

Faculties

Project Files

T01 P01 Poster 1 2017 Open House

T01 P01 Poster 2 2017 Open House

Academic Travel Award

Best Poster Presentation

Best Poster Presentation

Best Student Oral Presentation at SPARK conference (3rd place)

First Place Presentation at Faculty of Engineering Graduate Research Symposium

Graduate Student Scholarship

Poster award at the 2018 Faculty of Engineering Graduate Research Symposium

Travel Award

2nd Generation Bioethanol: A Renewable Fuel for Cars

A Biorefinery Strategy for Co-producing Fermentable Sugars and Cellulose Nanocrystals from Wood Pulp. Alberta Innovates, Pursuing Added Value for Alberta Biomass

Adapted feeding strategies in fed-batch fermentation improve sugar delivery and ethanol productivity

Advanced Biological Fermentation Process Development: improving the process for cellulosic ethanol production by advanced fermentation strategies

Advanced Ethanol Fermentation and Cellulose Nanocrystals Production Strategy for the Forestry Industry

Beans! Fuel of the future?

Bioconversion of Lignin and Glycerol to Polyhydroxyalkanoates Using Pseudomonas putida KT2440 Under Nutrient Limited Conditions

Biorefinery strategies for co–generation of cellulose nanocrystals and value–added products from wood pulp

Boosting productivity of cellulosic ethanol production through an advanced fermentation strategy

Cellulose Nanocrystal Isolation Mediated by Enzymatic Treatment

Cellulose nanocrystals as natural feedstocks for advanced carbon materials

Characterization of Cellulase-Treated Fibers and Resulting Cellulose Nanocrystals Generated through Acid Hydrolysis

Co-Production of Cellulose Nanocrystals and Fermentable Sugars Assisted by Endoglucanase Treatment of Wood Pulp

Co-production of dietary fiber, protein isolates, and ethanol from the by-product of pulse with Air Currents Assisted Particle Separation (ACAPS) process

Co-production of ethanol and cellulose nanocrystals through self-cycling fermentation of wood pulp hydrolysate

Co-production of ethanol and protein isolates from the by-product of pulse with Air-Currents Assisted Particle Separation (ACAPS) process

Decreasing costs of biofuel production through co-production of value added products from alternative feedstocks

Decreasing costs of biofuel production through co-production of value-added products from alternative feedstocks

Developing Fermentation Approaches to Improve Bioethanol Yield of ACAPS Byproduct for Value Addition

Developing adapted pulsing feeding strategies in fed-batch fermentation for improved ethanol production

Developing an advanced fermentation strategy for higher ethanol productivity

Developing biorefinery strategies for improved production of cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) and ethanol

Development of Advanced Processing Strategies for Ethanol/CNC Co-production

Development of Self-Cycling Fermentation Approach to Improve Productivities for Ethanol Production

Development of adaptive feeding strategies for improving bioethanol production

Effect of continuous feeding and pulsed feeding operations in fed-batch fermentation for bioethanol production

Effect of incorporation of microstructured carbonized cellulose on surface and mechanical properties of epoxy composites

Enzymatic Hydrolysis of Ascophyllum nodosum for the Co-Production of Biofuels and Value-Added Products

Enzymatically-Mediated Co-Production of Cellulose Nanocrystals and Fermentable Sugars

Evaluation of steam explosion pretreatment on the cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs ) yield from poplar wood

Fermentation of ACAPS (Air Currents Assisted Particle Separation) byproduct streams for bioethanol

Fermentation of Air Currents Assisted Particle Separation (ACAPS) by-product streams from barley for bioethanol production

Fermentation of Air Currents Assisted Particle Separation (ACAPS) byproduct streams for bioethanol

Fermentation of Air Currents Assisted Particle Separation (ACAPS) byproduct streams for bioethanol

First Approach Towards the Enzymatic Hydrolysis of Brown Seaweed for the Production of Value-Added Products

From Batch to Cycling Strategy—Improvement in Bioethanol Productivity

Growth of oleaginous yeasts on mixed C5 and C6 sugar streams to generate lipid feedstocks for renewable hydrocarbon production

How Do We Drive Cars Using Plants?

Hydrothermal and Enzymatic Treatment Mediated Co-production of Fermentable Sugars and Cellulose Nanocrystals

Improved bioethanol productivity through gas flow rate-driven self-cycling fermentation

Improving Bioethanol Productivity through Self-Cycling Fermentation

Improving bioethanol productivities through the development of a self-cycling fermentation approach

Improving ethanol production efficiency via adaptive pulsing fed-batch fermentation

Improving ethanol productivity through self-cycling fermentation of yeast: A proof of concept

Improving ethanol yield and productivity by integrating a dynamic fed-batch feeding strategy

Improving productivity for cellulosic ethanol industry by advanced processing strategies

Initial Efforts Towards the Enzymatic Hydrolysis of Brown Seaweed for the Production of Biorefining Feedstocks

Lab Tour 5: Making Biofuels More Cost Effective

Oral Presentation at the International Conference on Natural Fibers

Oral presentation at the SPARK Conference

Panel Discussion

Poster Presentation at the 2018 Future Energy Systems Research Symposium

Poster presentation at the Future Energy Systems Poster Session

Production of polyhydroxyalkanoates by Pseudomonas putida KT2440 from lignin and glycerol

Production of polyhydroxyalkanoates by Pseudomonas putida KT2440 from lignin and glycerol

Shape tunability of carbonized cellulose nanocrystals

Steam Explosion and Enzymatic Digestion as Pretreatments for Co- Production of Cellulose Nanocrystals (CNCs) and Fermentable Sugars

Steam Explosion and Enzymatic Digestion with Sugar Recovery as Pretreatments for Cellulose Nanocrystals Production

Steam Explosion and Enzymatic Digestion with Sugar Recovery as Pretreatments for Cellulose Nanocrystals Production

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