Biomass Processing and Handling - A New Frontier

The chemical industry currently devoting a significant research efforts, as well as process/product development towards using biomass sources as energy or chemical feed stocks. Much of the work to date has been focused on reaction engineering, i.e. reaction kinetics and selectivity. The chemistry is important, but the economic success of a biomass process almost always lies with issues in the handling and processing systems. Therefore, this session is devoted to the processing and handling of biomass. Submission topics include biomass characterization as it relates to solids flow, rheological studies of fibrous material as related to two phase submerged solid and slurry flow, biomass milling, design requirements of feed systems to handle biomass, particle scale measurement issues arising from the complexities of biomass feed stocks, and mixing of biomass feed stocks. The goal of the session is to highlight some of the differences between typical or traditional processing and handling and those that might exist with biomass materials.