EST 202 - Bio-Chemical Conversion

Credits: 5
The conversion of agricultural/forestry materials (biomass), organics (food and yard wastes, and dairy manure), and other solid wastes (from landfills or wastewater treatment plants) into value-added products is of significant interest today. Technologies that harness microbes to convert these materials can be deployed in many different industries to produce clean water, biogas and biomethane, renewable fuels and chemicals, heat, electricity, and soil amendment products. After some measure of pre-treatment, the lignocellulosic fabric of woody biomass is liberated into easier to use sugar units. For thousands of years, microbes have been fed sugars to produce fermented beverage and food products, and more recently, pharmaceuticals. We will review the structure of lignocellulosic biomass. The course will feature labs to produce, monitor, and analyze the fermentation and anaerobic digestion processes and their products.