On Feb 6th, Professor Zhenyu Liu and Professor Jianli Yang from College of Chemical Engineering, Beijing University of Chemical Technology visited C-CJCBERI. Dr. Xiaotao Bi introduced the research at UBC and guided a lab tour at the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, UBC Pulp and Paper Centre, and UBC Clean Energy Centre.
C-CJCBERI will host "Collaboration Strategies Workshop on Bioenergy and Bioeconomy" on Feburay 23rd 2017 at UBC. This workshop is to gather researchers, and industrial practitioners from clean energy especially bioenergy sector, as well as governments and service providers to share experiences, insights, and ideas on collaborations nationally and internationally. The expected outcome of the workshop is to form new connections and partnerships for a joint proposal on establishing a broad and strong network on clean energy and bioenergy research, development and commercialization in Canada and China.
The workshop is sponsored by NSERC and UBC. It is co-organized by C-CJCBERI, Nexterra Systems Corp., and FPInnovations. Organizing committee includes: Dr. Xiaotao Bi, Director, C-CJCBERI; Dan Green, Executive Director, Innovative Clean Energy (ICE) Fund, BC Ministry of Energy and Mines; Dr. Xuantian Li, Principal Engineer and Group Leader, NORAM Engineering and Constructors Ltd.; Cliff Mui, VP Product Development, Nexterra Systems Corp.; Dr. Jack Saddler, Task Leader, IEA Bioenergy Task 39; Dr. Douglas Singbeil, Research Manager, Process Engineering, FPInnovations; Dr. Jamie Stephen, Managing Director, TorchLight Bioresources. There will be over 70 participants from universities and insitutions across Canada, local industries, governments and public sectors, and 3 international attendees from China. The program and speakers' intro will be released shortly.
Dr. Naoko Ellis visited three C-CJCBERI partners in December 2016. She met with Dr. Jianjun Dai at Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Dr. Changzhu Li and Dr. Hui Li at Hunan Academy of Sciences, and Dr. Fang He at Guangzhou Institute of Energy Conversion, Chinese Academy of Sciences. She gave several presentations and talks, learnt about the research projects in those institutions, and explored collaboration opportunities. Potential collaboration areas include but not limited to biomass pre-treatment, biodiesel production, phytoremediation, biochar, and chemical looping combustion. C-CJCBERI will continue to support new initiatives and joint projects in the coming year.
Our partner Tsinghua University organized the 10th World Bioenergy Symposium (WBS 2016) on Dec 9th-11th in Dongguan, China. Dr. Dehua Liu is the chair of the symposium and Dr. Xuebing Zhao is the Secretary General, both are C-CJCBERI members. Co-organizers of this symposium include Instituto Alberto Luiz Coimbra de Pós-Graduação e Pesquisa de Engenharia and City of Dongguan. And it is co-hosted by Dongguan Science and Technology Bureau, Tsinghua Innovation Center in Dongguan, China Brazil Center for Climate Change and Energy Technology Innovation and China-Latin America Joint Laboratory for Clean Energy and Climate Change.
WBS 2016 is one of the main technical and scientific international events focused on bioenergy and biotechnology, exploring aspects related to process technologies, raw materials, life cycle, clean vehicles, in addition to issues inherent to logistics and operation of these structures. Nine WBS have been held, two in Brazil and others in China, which were all very successful. This year, there were about 200 participants worldwide from companies, academy, bank, government, etc.
Dr. Xuebing Zhao chaired the session of "Biological and chemical conversion of lignocellulose to liquid biofuels". Dr. Xiaotao Bi was invited as a plenary speaker and he gave a speech on "Integration and Integrated Assessments of Regional Bioenergy Systems".
Symposium website: http://wbs2016.csp.escience.cn
The 10th Congress of Hunan Association for Science and Technology was held on December 6th. Our member Dr. Changzhu Li was awarded the title of "National Outstanding Scientific and Technological Worker" of 2016. The "National Outstanding Scientific and Technological Worker" award is issued by China Association for Science and Technology. It is to recognize outstanding personnels on research, developing, promoting, and commercializing science and technologies. This award is presented every two years. Total number of awardees is less than 500 each time and there are 494 awardees this year.
C-CJCBERI received the visiting of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) delegation on Dec 2nd, 2016. The delegation is led by Mr. Weiping Liu, Party Vice Secretary and Vice President of CAS. President Liu introduced the up-to-date policy and progress of CAS's oversea talent recruiting and personel training, and emphasized CAS's important role during the 13th Five-Year Plan years. CAS is going to have more openings for oversea and returning scholars and experts and further collaborate with international organizations and individuals on research and training.
Dr. Xiaotao Bi gave a presentation on the clean energy and bioenergy research of BC province, UBC, and C-CJCBERI. He also had discussions with the delegation on the joint programs of talent recruiting and training, and provided feedback and suggestions on these programs.
Other delegation members include staff members from International Collaboration Department and Personnel Department of CAS. Consul for Science and Technology, Ms. Haiying Yu from Chinese Consulate General in Vancouver also joint the visiting. After the meetings, President Liu presented the certificate to Dr. Bi for winning the title of 2016 "CAS Oversea Expert Assessor". Then Dr. Bi guided the delegation for a lab tour in UBC Chemical and Biological Engineering Department and the UBC Clean Energy Research Centre.
The 6th Asia-Pacific Forum on Renewable Energy (AFORE 2016), also the 2016 Conference on Engineering Thermodynamics and Energy Utilization of Chinese Society of Engineering Thermophysics was successfully completed on Nov 9th to 12th in Guangzhou, China. This was the first AFORE held in China. It was hosted by Chinese Society of Engineering Thermophysics (CSET), National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), and Korean Society for New and Renewable Energy (KSNRE). Guangzhou Institute of Energy Conversion, Chinese Academy of Sciences (GIEC) is an organizer and C-CJCBERI is a co-organizer. Dr. Xiaotao Bi was invited to attend the forum and give a keynote speech on “Heat Transfer in Pulsed Fluidized Bed of Biomass”. Our Centre’s member Dr. Longlong Ma served as the Forum’s Organizing Committee Chair. He gave a keynote speech on “Biomass Catalytic Liquefaction for Aviation Fuels” and introduced the recent research and technology in GIEC on producing aviation fuels from biomass.
Nowadays, the world is challenged by the high consumption of fossil fuels. Renewable fuels are an undeniable alternative. Asia-Pacific area has 60% of the world’s population and consumes more than 40% of the global energy demand. It has been the largest and fastest growing market of clean energy and renewable energy. This forum had youth forum, keynote speeches, and seminars. Near 600 attendees from China, South Korea, Japan, Canada, and France discussed around the theme of “Development, Challenges, and Outlook of Clean Energy and Renewable Energy.” Specific areas covered included Engineering Thermophysics, Energy Utilization, Basic Mechanics, Thermodynamic System Circulation, Heat Pump and Refrigeration, Thermophysical Properties of Materials, Renewable Energy, Decarbonization, and Energy Storage, etc.
Opening ceremony guests include Dr. Hongguang Jin, Fellow of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Board Chairman of CSET; Dr. Jianzhong Xu, Fellow of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Honorary Board Chairman of CSET; Dr. Jinsoo Song, former Chairman of KSNRE; and Dr. Li Zhang, Vice President of Guangdong University of Technology. Other keynote speeches include “Asian Collaboration History on Renewable Energy” by Dr. Jinsoo Song which reviewed the collaborative work among the Asian countries on renewable energy’s research and development. Also “Research of Key Issues on High-efficient Photothermal Conversion, Heat Conduction, Thermal Storage, and Integrated Solar Energy System” by Professor Yaling He, Fellow of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xi'an Jiaotong University.
Website of AFOER 2016: http://ciccst.org.cn/AFORE2016/
Reference: http://news.sciencenet.cn/htmlnews/2016/11/360745.shtm
Dr. Hui Li, our member from Hunan Academy of Forestry, is visiting UBC from October to November 2016. Dr. Li is an Associate Professor and the Associate Director of the Institute of Biological and Environmental Engineering at Hunan Academy of Forestry (HAF) in China. He visited Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering of UBC from 2009 to 2011. His research is on biomass pelletization, torrefaction, removal of heavy metal from soil, and liquefaction. This time he visits Dr. Bi’s and Dr. Jim Lim’s projects of “Novel reactor for biomass torrefaction” and “Biomass torrefaction in a dual-column slot-rectangular spouted bed”. He will discuss upcoming and potential collaborations between UBC and HAF for 2017.
On Nov 7th 2016, C-CJCBERI received a delegation led by the president of South University of Science and Technology of China (SUSTech), Dr. Shiyi Chen. The delegation visited UBC to meet with UBC president Dr. Santa J. Ono to sign a Memorandum of Understanding. The MOU is between the Faculty of Applied Science of UBC and the College of Engineering of SUSTech for funding support and research exchanges. SUSTech will select and fund outstanding PhD candidates in engineering field to pursue PhD degrees at UBC. These students will be jointly supervised by professors from UBC and SUSTech. There will be 10 students being supported as the first cohort of this funding next year.
Before the MOU signing ceremony with President Ono, the delegation visited C-CJCBERI and Dr. Xiaotao Bi held a meeting for the delegation to introduce SUSTech to some UBC professors. Dr. Bi also introduced C-CJCBERI and UBC Faculty of Applied Science to the delegation and led them to a campus tour.
In the afternoon, the delegation also with the Dean and Associate Deans of UBC Applied Science discussing about further collaboration opportunities between the two universities.
The members of the delegation include: Dr. Shiyi Chen, President; Dr. Tao Tang, Vice President Research; Dr. Yifan Chen, Head of the Department Electric and Electronic Engineering; Hua Gu, Global Engagement Specialist.
On October 31, our members Dr. Xiaotao Bi, Dr. Anthony Lau, and Dr. Jim Lim were invited by Vancouver Consul General Ms. Fei Liu to attend a dinner seminar on Science and Technology Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Vancouver China Consulate-General.
During the seminar, Dr. Bi introduced C-CJCBERI and presented progresses and plans. After the G20 Summit in Hangzhou and Chinese PM Keqiang Li’s visit to Canada, China and Canada have expressed great interest in cooperation and collaboration. Clean energy is one of the major topics. Vancouver China Consulate-General has been very supportive to C-CJCBERI since its opening and Consul Liu also expressed encouragement and confidence of its strong growth.
Other attendees include professors, researchers, consultants, entrepreneurs, investors, and media from areas of energy, chemistry, medical technology, and internet technology. C-CJCBERI attracted great interest during the networking after dinner.
On October 24th, a delegation led by Ms. Wan Zhu, Associate Director of Hunan Province Science and Technology Department visited C-CJCBERI at UBC. Other members of the delegation include Division Director of Hunan Province Science and Technology Department, professors from China Central South University and Hunan Agricultural University, and scientist from Hunan Institute of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Research.
A seminar meeting and lab tours were held to welcome the delegation. Our members Dr. Jim Lim, Dr. Anthony Lau, and Dr. Hui Li from Hunan Academy of Forestry who is visiting UBC attended the seminar. Dr. Yonghua Li from UBC spin-off company Highbury Energy Inc. and Dr. Wenli Duo from FPInnovations were also invited.
The goal of the visiting was to learn about C-CJCBERI’s research on biomass and bioenergy and experiences on technology demonstration and commercialization. Our members gave presentations on their recent work on biomass pretreatment, gasification, torrefaction, pelletization, as well as biogas production from agriculture wastes. Dr. Yonghua Li and Dr. Wenli Duo also talked about the projects in their companies and industry differences between Canada and China. The delegation mentioned that Hunan Province has similar geological characteristics with BC and is also rich in forestry resources. It is facing opportunities and challenges on biomass utilization and bioenergy production. And they hope to form long-term connections with researchers and experts from C-CJCBERI and BC. At the end of the seminar, the group planned to collaboratively apply for funding by Hunan Province in 2017.
After attending the 5th International Conference on Biomass Energy in Beijing, our members Dr. Jack Saddler and Dr. Vikramaditya Yadav visited our Chinese members Dr. Xu Zhang at Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Dr. Yinhua Wan at Institute of Process Engineering of Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Dr. Xuebing Zhao at Tsinghua University. This team all work on biological and biochemical conversion of biomass. They presented the recent research projects and had seminar discussion. The two UBC professors also networked with other researchers and students in the three institutions.
