Industrial Biorefineries and White Biotechnology

Professor Ashok Pandey is currently Executive Director, Centre for Energy and Environmental Sustainability-India, Lucknow. He is HSBS National Innovation Chair (Biotechnology) and is/has been Visiting/Distinguished Professor in many countries. His major research and technological development interests are industrial & environmental biotechnology and energy biosciences, focusing on biomass to biofuels & chemicals, waste to wealth & energy, etc.

Dr Rainer Höfer is owner of Editorial Ecosiris, which has consultancy and publishing activities in the domains of green chemistry, renewable resources, sustainable development, white biotechnology, and interculturation. He is the founder and owner of Editorial Ecosiris. Recent books by him include: R. Höfer, Ed., Sustainable Solutions for Modern Economies, RSC Publ., Cambridge (2009), A. Kazmi, B. Kamm, S. Henke, L. Theuvsen, R. Höfer, Advanced Oil Crop Biorefineries, A. Kazmi, Ed., RSC Publ. Cambridge (2012) ; J. E. McGrath, M. A. Hickner, R. Höfer (Edts.), Polymers for a Sustainable Environment and Green Energy, Vol. 10 in Polymer Science: A Comprehensive Reference, K. Matyjaszewski, M. Möller (Edts.-in-Chief), Elsevier, Amsterdam, Oxford, Waltham (2012).

Mohammad J. Taherzadeh is professor in Biotechnology since 2004 at University of Borås in Sweden. He is also director of Resource Recovery, a research profile with about 50 researchers to convert wastes to energy and value-added products. Prof. Taherzadeh has PhD in Bioscience and MSc and Bsc in Chemical Engineering. He is working on converting wastes and residuals to ethanol, biogas, fish feed and superabsorbents, in which fermentation development using bacteria, yeast and filamentous fungi has a heavy weight. Prof. Taherzadeh has more than 120 publications in scientific peer-reviewed journals, 10 book chapters and two patents about filamentous fungi. Mohammad is the panel chairman of “biotechnology, chemical technology and environmental technology of Swedish Research Council, and also in the editorial board of Bioresource Technology and BioResources.

K Madhavan Nampoothiri is presently working as Principal Scientist in Biotechnology Division of CSIR-NIIST, Trivandrum. Born on 30th May 1969a, Dr Nampoothiri took his graduation and post-graduation degrees from University of Kerala. In 1997, he obtained his PhD in Microbial Biotechnology from Cochin University of Science and Technology. He worked as Research Associate in Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore and as post-doctoral fellow of Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in Germany and Welcome Trust in the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, England. In 2001, he joined in CSIR-NIIST, Trivandrum. He is actively involved in Microbial Biotechnology R&D since past 16 years. He has nearly 90 publications, which include research papers in international journals, reviews articles and book chapters. Dr Nampoothiri has one Indian patent, five US patents and nine European patents. In 2003, he received Young scientist award from the Biotech Research Society, India.

Prof Christian Larroche is former Director of Polytech Clermont, a graduate school of engineering of University Clermont-Auvergne, France. He is also member of the research laboratory Institut Pascal and of the laboratory of excellence ImobS3 at the same university. He has strong research skills and expertise in the area of applied microbiology and biochemical engineering. He is author of about 300 documents, including ~150 articles, three patents, 16 book chapters and 35 co-editions of books or journal special issues. He is member of French Society for Process Engineering (SFGP), of the French Society of Biotechnology and of the European Federation of Chemical Engineering. He is also administrator of IBA-IFIBiop and editor of Journal of Food Sciences and Technology.