Abstract:
It is clear, that by mid-century, to avoid the worst-case scenarios of anthropogenic climate change, our society will have to rely on sustainable and renewable resources rather than fossil fuels. Biomass is a key proposed component of several climate mitigation strategies, with substantial involvement of future energy and material systems. The general objective of my research is utilizing biomass, photo/bio/electro-catalysts, and cell factories to design and fabricate renewable and sustainable bioproducts and systems, via bioinspired routes, for Energy, Environmental, and Biomedical application. These hybrid technology approaches provide potential route to economically viable energy production (hydrogen + biofuels) + biomass CO2 captured negative emission technologies (NET) (biomaterials + biochemicals), thus are clearly an important early step in the complete decarbonization of our society. In this presentation, I will introduce our new technology platform of using photocatalysis and photo/electro-bio hybrid system for biomass valorization. I will also talk about our recent progress on design and fabrication of cellulose based materials with genetically engineered proteins for biomedical application.
Bio:
Dr Jinguang Hu is an Associate Professor and Schulich Research Chair in the Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering at the University of Calgary, Canada. He leads “Biomass & Biorefinery Research Lab” at UCalgary. His current research focus on biomass valorization, sustainable energy and bioinspired materials/systems for Energy, Environmental and Biomedical application. He has published >300 peer-reviewed papers (h-index 58) including top journals such as Chem. Soc. Rev., Energy Environ. Sci., Nature Commun., J. Am. Chem. Soc., Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., etc. He has received the Chemical Institute of Canada’s Bao and Zhu Innovation Award, presented annually to a single early-career researcher across Canada for distinguished contributions to chemical engineering; the Schulich Early Research Excellence Award; and the S.C. Trindade Award. He is an External Advisory Board member of the Canada Biomass Energy Network, a member of the “China-Canada Joint Centre for BioEnergy”, a Research Fellow of Grizzly Bear Institute of Canada (GBIC), and serves on the editorial boards of several journals.