Bioproducts from Miscanthus

Annual Industrial Biotechnology and Bioprocessing Congress

September 17-18, 2018 | San Diego, USA

John R Schlup

Kansas State University, USA

Keynote: J Bioprocess Biotech

Abstract :

There is an aggregating global effort to advance sustainable development to improve quality of life, increase food production and quality, enhance soil quality and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. With funding from the NATO SPS MY project G4687, �??New Phytotechnology for Cleaning Contaminated Military Sites,�?� professionals from the Czech Republic, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Poland, Croatia and USA are working cooperatively to develop cost-effective phytotechnologies for improving soil quality by growing miscanthus on contaminated sites while at the same time developing marketable miscanthus-based products. Miscanthus, a perennial grass that can grow productively even on abandoned lands at annual yields of some 15-20 t/hectare, was studied initially as a biofuel feedstock. This review will address its potential as a renewable raw material for industrial products as diverse as construction materials, paper and bio-composites. Progress in nanocellulose applications will be described as well.

Biography :

John R Schlup received his PhD from California Institute of Technology. After a short industrial career at the Corning Glass Works, he joined the faculty of the Department of Chemical Engineering at Kansas State University where his research interests include materials processing, bio based materials and sustainability.

E-mail: jrsch@ksu.edu