Overview

In this seminar, various bioprocessing techniques on the biorefinery of sustainable resources such as microalgae and agricultural waste will be discussed.

Titles of three talks are given below:

• Microalgae biorefinery and the prospects of algae green cities
• Green approaches and separation techniques for the recovery of pigments from microalgae: perspective views and challenges
• A treasure of the desert: the date palm’s versatile benefits

Presenters

Kit Wayne Chew, Assistant Professor, Nanyang Technological University

Kit is currently an Assistant Professor in Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. His research involves the field of bioprocesses and bioproducts recovery from renewable sources. His dedication for quality research is the driving force which encourages him to do state-of-the-art research in food bioprocessing and sustainability. He now has more than 200 publications in just seven years of his academic career. He is working on areas relating to the biorefinery of renewable sources for production of bioproducts and bioenergy. He was the awardee for the Green Talents Award 2022, listed as the Top 2% World Top Scientists in The Stanford List 2022/2021, Winner for the Global IChemE Award for Young Researcher 2020 and Winner for the Young Research in IChemE Malaysia Award 2020. He is currently working on developing a multiphase system which can be utilized as a biorefinery tool for multiple products generation and, at the same time, find a possible usage for the waste biomass created to complete a circular bioeconomy of microalgae. His passion for sustainability has also led to him to constantly be on the lookout for potential developments on a more efficient cultivation system, in order to obtain the highest possible biomass productivity with use of waste sources. He performed studies on wastewater sources for microalgae cultivation and found an increase in biocompounds composition and biomass productivity. He has various collaborations with international researchers globally and he is also part of several industrial collaborative works, focusing on industrial wastewater treatment, biomass valorization and novel bioproducts synthesis. His is working with industries to commercialize the cultivation of microalgae in waste sources from the industry to assist in bioremediation and bioproducts generation.

Kuan Shiong Khoo, Assistant Professor, Yuan Ze University

Kuan Shiong is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science at Yuan Ze University, Taiwan. His PhD research focuses on the downstream processing of bioactive compounds such as proteins, lipids and carotenoids (ie astaxanthin, lutein and fucoxanthin) from microalgae. Currently, Kuan Shiong's research focuses on the upstream processing of microalgae by utilizing food waste as alternative medium for the cultivation of microalgae. As of today, he has published over 100+ journal articles (90% are ranked in Q1 journals) and his current h-index is 35 and i10-index is 75 with 3000+ citations in the research field.

Fawzi Banat, Professor of Chemical Engineering, Khalifa University

Fawzi is a professor and chair of Chemical Engineering at Khalifa University, Abu Dhabi, UAE. He received his Ph.D. in chemical engineering from McGill University (Canada) in 1995. His research interests focus on food technology and engineering, material synthesis for membrane separation processes, and desalination. Fawzi is the author of more than 400 peer-reviewed journal articles, five patents, and 12 book chapters. He is co-editor of an Elsevier book on algal biotechnology. He has participated in several national and international projects (PI /co- PI) funded by various institutions and is an editorial board member of several journals. Prof. Banat has received several awards for his outstanding research achievements and was included in the list of the world's top 2% scientists by Stanford University (2020).

Time

11:00–12:30 MYT.

Monash University, Building 6, Level 2, Seminar Room 15. Seats are limited due to the restriction in venue’s capacity.

Please RSVP by 20 July 2023.