Workshop to focus on bioprocessing

Registration is open for the Advanced Biosystems Workshop, “Bioprocessing and Commercialization,” set for Sept. 10 in western Ohio. Featured will be six presentations by industry and university experts on topics related to bioprocessing, the turning of biological materials—farm crops, for example—into useful and possibly commercial products.

Topics and speakers

The event, sponsored by CFAES and the Ohio Soybean Council, runs from 8:45 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the Shelby Oaks Golf Course, 9900 Sidney-Freyburg Road in Sidney.

Here are the topics and speakers:

  • “Bioprocessing: A National Perspective” by Zia Abdulla, biomass program manager at the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
  • “Use of Fermentation to Convert Crude Glycerin to Surfactant” by Kevin Jarrell, CEO of Massachusetts-based Modular Genetics.
  • “It’s Not Easy Being Green” by Kenneth Heater, president of METSS Corporation, Westerville, Ohio.
  • “Perspectives from Academia and a Commodity Group” by Ajay Shah, associate professor in CFAES’ Department of Food, Agricultural and Biological Engineering, and Barry McGraw, director of product research with the Ohio Soybean Council.
  • “Converting Soybean Oil to Rhamnolipid Biosurfactants via Biosynthesis” by Daniel Derr, founder of Virginia-based NatSurFact.
  • “Planting the Seeds and Growing a Successful Bioprocessing Enterprise” by Patrick Heist, chief scientific officer and co-owner, Ferm-Solutions and Wilderness Trail Distillery, Kentucky.

Also slated is a preworkshop networking event featuring a tour and barbecue at the Cargill Inc. biorefinery, 2400 Industrial Way in Sidney, from 2–8 p.m. Sept. 9.

Registration

Early bird registration for the workshop is $50 by Aug. 26. General registration is $60 after Aug. 26. College student registration is $25 by Aug. 26. All three registrations include continental breakfast, lunch, and the Sept. 9 networking event.

Online registration is available at go.osu.edu/C5Bn, or a mailable registration form can be downloaded at go.osu.edu/C5Bq.

Contact Mary Wicks, 330-202-3533, wicks.14@osu.edu, or Ajay Shah, shah.971@osu.edu, 330-263-3858, for more information.

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