Sustainable Biorefining of Woody Biomass to Biofuels and Biochemicals

Dr. Deepak Kumar is an Assistant Professor in the Chemical Engineering Department at State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY-ESF); he is also a research scientist at the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology at the University of Illinois. His research focuses on bioplastics, biofuel, and value-added products production from agro-processing waste and non-food sources and sustainability analysis. He has published 35 peer-reviewed articles and 6 book chapters with over 1000 citations and an H-index of 12. Dr. Sachin Kumar is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biochemical Engineering, Harcourt Butler Technical University, Kanpur, India. He earned his PhD from AIIMS in 2010, with research focused on circulating DNA and protein markers in lung cancer, and later pursued post-doctoral training in cancer gene therapy at Virginia Commonwealth University, USA. His current research focuses on liquid biopsy and the role of non-coding RNAs as biomarkers in lung cancer, supported by national and institutional grants. He has authored more than 50 publications in leading international journals and has been recognized with several honors, including the AIIMS Excellence Research Awards (2020, 2022) and the Young Investigator Award from the Indian Society for Study of Lung Cancer (2019).Dr. Kumar serves on the Editorial Board of Discover Oncology and reviews for numerous high-impact journals. He is also an active member of the American Association for Cancer Research and a Life Member of the Indian Society for Study of Lung Cancer and the Indian Association for Cancer Research.Dr. Karthik Rajendran is a distinguished academic and researcher, currently serving as the Associate Dean at SRM University-AP, where he oversees the Office of the Dean Quality Assurance and Rankings. His work primarily focuses on the development of advanced biofuels, the integration of Energy and AI, and conducting thorough techno-economic analyses and lifecycle assessments.

• 1. Structure and chemistry of woody biomass2. Woody biomass availability, supply chains and logistics3. Pretreatment strategies for woody biomass4. Biochemical conversion of woody biomass to liquid biofuels5. Utilization of woody biomass for biogas production6. Thermochemical conversion of woody biomass to energy and high-value products7. Sustainable production of advanced biofuel and platform chemicals from woody biomass8. Downstream recovery of products and coproducts from bioprocessing of woody biomass9. Hot-water extraction based biorefinery for woody biomass10. Lignin based novel bioproducts from woody biomass11. Carbon capture and circular economy of woody biomass12. Techno-economic assessment of wood biomass to biofuels and bio-products13. Environmental impact assessment of utilizing woody biomass to biofuel and bio-products14. Commercializing Biorefinery Technology: choice of selecting various product pathways15. Policies and regulation on commercializing woody biomass-based biofuels and products