Research Syngas Platform
Recalcitrant forms of biomass are not ideal for biological conversion into platform chemicals, and therefore our lab is interested in the syngas platform as a pretreatment step to generate synthesis gas (syngas, which consists of mainly carbon monoxide, hydrogen, and carbon dioxide). This syngas is efficiently converted by fermentating bacteria such as Clostridium sp.. We are working within the syngas fermentation research area to optimize fermentors and syngas delivery, and to upgrade chemicals. Our lab works with Cornell University collaborators, including Johannes Lehmann (PI), to develop a syngas platform to generate biochar and ethanol in Kenya and at the Cornell campus. We have built a pilot-scale slow pyrolysis unit and syngas fermentor at the Cornell University campus:
Pilot plant to convert woody biomass into biochar and ethanol (photo by Hanno Richter).
Papers in the area of Syngas Fermentation: