Alcohol Production Processes and Their Utilisation in the Transport Sector

The mission of lowering greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) can be achieved by displacing fossil fuel usage from the transport sector. Fossil energy is limited in origin and running out of sources. Parallelly, the use of fossil energy has negative impacts on the atmosphere. The use of alternative fuels became a necessity. The members of the alcohol family are methanol, ethanol, butanol, pentanol, etc. Among the various options, the alcohol family is an emerging solution, as their physical-chemical properties are superior to conventional diesel and gasoline. From a sustainability viewpoint, alcohol is preferable as they possess inherent oxygen in their molecules, which lowers exhaust emissions. The book covers mechanical, chemical, and biochemical Processes used for alcohol production. It also discusses current developments, barriers, and prospects in alcohol production and its utilization aspects.

Dr. Andreas Bartl studied Technical Chemistry and Chemical Process Engineering at TU Wien, where he also received his PhD. After four years working in the pyrotechnics research & development and production industry, he returned to TU Wien. For almost 20 years, he has been at the Institute of Chemical, Environmental, and Bioscience Engineering within the Research Unit of "Mechanical Process Engineering and Clean Air Technology ". In 2012, he received the conferment of the right to lecture and the academic title "Privatdozent." Since returning to TU Wien, Andreas has worked in the broader field of fiber technology. In his research group, the dry grinding of (short) fibers and fiber characterization have been the focus of research activities. Andreas is a member of national and international organizations in the fiber processing chain (e.g. Austrian Fibre Institute, Global Fibre Congress) and waste management (e.g., IWWG, CEC4Europe).

Dr. Franz Winter has published more than 100 peer-reviewed journal publications, more than 200 reviewed international conference papers, more than 90 invited lectures, and 40 book chapters and patents. Co-editor of the Handbook of Combustion (5 volumes, ca. 3000 pages), author of the book Combustion. Chairman of the 19th Int. Conf. on Fluidized Bed Combustion 2006, chairman of the 4th European Combustion Meeting 2009, chairman of the Int. Conf. on Fuel Quality 2012. Chairman 2000-2002 and 2011-2013 and Vice-chairman of the International Energy Agency (IEA) – Fluidized Bed Conversion (FBC) group. Co-editor of Journal of Energy and Environmental Sustainability (JEES). Since 2017, Scientific Chair of the IRRC Int. Waste-to-Energy Conference takes place yearly in Vienna.

Dr. Stefan Pflügl has 10 years of experience in the area of developing sustainable bioprocess solutions towards a biobased industry. Among others, he was part of a team that developed a bioprocess for valorizing crude glycerol from biodiesel production, which will be commercialized as a pilot plant by the involved industrial partner in 2020. The core competence of Stefan Pflügl is developing and optimizing bioprocesses to utilize industrial residual streams (e.g., gas streams containing CO2, residual streams from the pulp and paper industry, molasses, etc.) as a substrate for producing value-added chemicals. Furthermore, Dr. Pflügl has expertise in the field of microbial strain development and improvement. Since 2016, he has been a team leader for "Sustainable Bioprocess Solutions" in the "Biochemical Engineering" research area at TU Wien, responsible for 6 PhD students, 2 MSc students, and 1 technician. 

Prof. Avinash Kumar Agarwal is Director at IIT Jodhpur. He obtained his Undergraduate Degree in Mechanical Engineering (1994) from Malviya Regional Engineering College, Jaipur, and his MTech (Energy, 1996) and PhD (Energy, 1999) from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi. After his Post-Doctoral Fellowship (1999 – 2001) at the ERC, UW, Madison, USA, he returned to India in 2001 and joined IIT Kanpur. Prof. Agarwal has established a state-of-the-art "Engine Research Laboratory" at IIT Kanpur. Prof. Agarwal is interested in researching IC engines, combustion, conventional and alternative fuels, optical diagnostics, laser ignition, HCCI, particulates and emission control, and large bore engines. Prof. Agarwal has published over 550+ peer-reviewed international journal and conference papers, 65 edited books, and 129 book chapters, attracting 18300+ Scopus and 27400+ Google Scholar citations. For his outstanding contributions, Prof. Agarwal is conferred upon Sir J C Bose National Fellowship (2019) by SERB, Prestigious Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize (2016) in Engineering Sciences, Rajib Goyal Prize in Physical Sciences (2015); NASI-Reliance Industries Platinum Jubilee Award (2012); INAE Silver Jubilee Young Engineer Award (2012); INSA Young Scientist Award (2007); UICT Young Scientist Award (2007); INAE Young Engineer Award (2005); Devendra Shukla Research Fellowship (2009-12), Poonam and Prabhu Goyal Endowed Chair Professorship (2013-16), SBI Endowed Chair Professorship (2018-21, 2022-25) at IIT Kanpur. He is an elected Fellow of TWAS, SAE, ASME, INAE, ISEES, RSC, NASI, WSSET, AAAS and Combustion Institute USA.