Proceedings - Biomass South 2008
Dr. Kevin Edgar, Professor of Biomaterials and Bioprocessing, Virginia Tech
Kevin Edgar is a Professor of Biomaterials and Bioprocessing at Virginia Tech. His interests are in the synthesis of novel polysaccharide derivatives, unraveling their structure property relationships, and taking advantage of their useful properties, especially in the creation of effective drug delivery systems to meet critical patient needs. He also has interest in the fast developing field of conversion of biomass to valuable biomaterials, and to biofuels. Edgar spent 27 years at Eastman Chemical Company, where he was a Technology Fellow specializing in the chemistry of cellulose derivatives and in novel drug delivery systems. Edgar received a BS in Chemistry from Bucknell University, and a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from Duke University. Edgar is a member of AAPS and AAAS, and is active in governance of the American Chemical Society (ACS).
Cellulose Esters: Performance Polymers from Biomass
A crucial element in creation of an economy that has increased dependence on biorefineries and decreased dependence on petrochemical refineries is the utilization of biomass to produce valuable materials. Fortunately, we have a big head start in the biomaterials field, since wood and other biomass sources have been converted to valuable cellulose esters for many decades, ranging from car coatings to sophisticated drug delivery systems. We will give some highlights of the versatile and valuable applications of these biomaterials, how they depend on the unique properties of cellulose, and some thoughts about future horizons.
- Slide Presentation in PDF format (will open in new window)
Notes:
- Biomass – bio-refinery – hydrolysis, design synthesis
- Energy independence, security of supply, reduce GHG’s
- Going to see 10 fold increases in per capita GDP > increasing capacity of commodities
- Both population increases and increasing standard of living, stress on resources
- CO2 dissolving to ocean, impacting aquatic life
- Today 40% oil energy going to be gone in the next generation
- Biomass source – density, availability (yr round, yield, energy input, no competition with food)
- Maximize fuel-modify plants
- Biomass collection
- Process to extract plant components > need high yield with reduced cost
- Potential for much cheaper fuels, but which biofuel
- N-Butznol – would be better fuel, but need to develop technology & handling
- Need to use by-products
- Nature biotech-corn ethanol some reduction GHG, cellulosic ethanol & sugar cane large GHG reduction
- CTA to flat screens mark expanding
Key Quotes
- "Need to make the process work well enough to get this much from renewables" (meet RSP)
- Cellulose is the stand in biodegradability control cellulose acetate
- Develop cellulose derivatives in water borne coatings (CMCAB)
Summary
- Cellulosic material in Edgar’s opinion is the future, but must overcome solubility, processing
- Biomass has more applications than energy, cannot forget high technology high value applications. Both energy and materials
- Multistage process will require integration
- Bio-based materials already important and more are developing
Thanks to Sarah Ashton, Rachel Cook, Lindsey Hannum, James Jeuck, Liwei Lin, James McCarter, Susan McIntyre, and Mark Megalos for providing notes and summaries for presentations.
Table of Contents
