Welcome to Alternative Fuels from Biomass Sources!
Course Overview
This course will examine the chemistry of technologies of bio-based sources for power generation and transportation fuels.
When you successfully complete this course, you will be prepared to:
- describe various biomasses that can be utilized for energy and fuel generation;
- explain the composition of various processes necessary for biomass processing;
- utilize the necessary chemistry, as well as mass and energy balances, that would be utilized in a biorefining facility;
- analyze how to utilize biofuels in current fuel infrastructure;
- illustrate what is required in a biorefinery.
Instructor Information
Dr. Hilal Ezgi Toraman, Virginia S. and Philip L. Walker Jr., Faculty Fellow, joined the Department of Chemical Engineering and John and Willie Leone Family Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering at Penn State University as a tenure-track Assistant Professor in Fall 2019. Her research is co-funded by the Institutes of Energy and the Environment at the Penn State University. Dr. Toraman has been recently named the Virginia S. and Philip L. Walker Jr. Faculty Fellow at the Penn State University for her contributions in teaching, research, and service as a Fuel Science Faculty. Prior to joining the Penn State faculty, Dr. Toraman served as a postdoctoral researcher with the Delaware Energy Institute at the University of Delaware under the guidance of Dion G. Vlachos. She received her Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Ghent University in 2016 under the guidance of Kevin M. Van Geem and Guy B. Marin (2012-2016). Dr. Toraman’s research was in the field of thermochemical reaction engineering for upgrading complex feedstocks such as biomass and plastic waste. Her Ph.D. was supported by Ghent University Graduate Research Fellowship. She continued her research in experimental and computational investigation of shale gas conversion to fuels and chemicals between 2017 and 2019 in the group of Dion G. Vlachos at the Delaware Energy Institute. Her expertise is reaction kinetics, advanced analytics including comprehensive gas chromatography, detailed fuel characterization, microkinetic modeling, and data science. Her main areas of interest are process development for upgrading unconventional feedstocks such as shale gas, biomass, and plastic waste through fundamental understanding of the reactions. She has given more than 30 oral/poster presentations and invited talks at national/international conferences and universities, and published 14 peer-reviewed articles.