Academic report

Prof. Zhu Junyong is making his presentation

On 25 May, Prof. Zhu Junyong from Forest Products Laboratory of U.S. Department of Agriculture was invited to Research Institute of Chemical Processing and Utilization of Forest for academic exchanges, and made a presentation on efficient low-temperature pre-processing technologies of woody fiber.

Prof. Zhu Junyong introduced the successful application of the SPORL technology on aviation fuel. Through logging, pre-processing, enzymatic saccharification and fermentation, the technology successfully converts forest residues into liquid biomass fuel that can be used on civil planes. It was successfully applied on flight AS04 of Alaska Airlines from Seattle to Washington D.C. on 14 Nov 2016.

Prof. Zhu Junyng also introduced the pre-processing technology of toluenesulfonic acid. 20 minutes of pre-processing at 80 °C can efficiently deprive nearly 90% woody fiber of woody fiber materials. Through temperature adjustment, toluenesulfonic acid can be simply recycled and reused. The technology substantially addresses the condensation of degraded products of woody fiber resulted from the middle-and-high temperature pre-processing technology, thus having bright prospects in industrial application. After the presentation, Prof. Zhu discussed with researchers on differences of pre-processing with acid or alkaline and the influence of temperature on degraded products of woody fiber.

Prof. Zhu Junyong is a senior research scientist at USDA Forest Products Laboratory and an adjunct professor of University of Wisconsin-Madison, U.S. He is the distinguished chair of Fulbright-Aalto University, Helsinki, Finland, in energy and sustainable use of natural resources from 2015 to 2016. He published more than 200 SCI articles, owns more than a dozen of patents, and has over 8900 Google citations and 51 searching indexes. Prof. Zhu received US Forest Service Deputy Chief for R&D’s Distinguished Science Award in 2013, TAPPI International R&D Technical Award and William H. Aiken Prize in 2014, and AIChE (American Institute of Chemical Engineers) Andrew Chase Award in 2016. He is also a fellow of AIChE, TAPPI (Technical Association of the Pulp and Paper Industry) and IAWS (International Academy of Wood Science). (Words and photos by Liang Xinyu, Research Institute of Chemical Processing and Utilization of Forest Products.)