This is a past event.

Chemical Engineering Grain Processing Seminar Series

Kimberly Ogden

Professor of Chemical and Environmental Engineering
University of Arizona

Abstract: The Sustainable Bioeconomy for Arid Regions (SBAR) is a multi-level research project that investigates cultivation of two desert-dwelling crops, guayule and guar. Guayule (perennial) is a source of natural rubber and resin while guar (annual) produces a polysaccharide used in food and for oil and gas recovery. Both crops are drought and heat tolerant, grow on marginal lands, and provide eco-nomic returns. Scale up to profitable production, however, requires feedstock improvements, ex-pansion of cultivation, agronomic knowledge and practices, and economic crop residue utilization.

Researchers from The University of Arizona (UA), Bridgestone Americas, Inc., Colorado School of Mines (CSM), Colorado State University (CSU), New Mexico State University (NMSU), and the USDA-ARS are collaborating on research, development, and deployment (RDD) activities to: 1) improve feedstock; 2) produce feedstock in a sustainable manner; 3) evaluate co-products and under-stand the best methods for converting the bagasse to biofuel; and 4) enhance transport, techno-economic, and sustainability models to provide a clear path to commercialization. This presentation focuses on an overview of the project, growth modeling of guayule in the field, techno-economic and life cycle analysis results.

Bio: Kimberly Ogden is a Professor of Chemical and Environmental Engineering at the University of Arizona. She received her BS degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania and her PhD from the University of Colorado. She is a fellow of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) and is currently the immediate past-President of the Institute. Kim’s research focus includes bioreactor design for production of alternative fuels from algae, guayule and guar, as well as energy/water nexus research. She was the engineering technical lead for the National Alliance for Advanced Biofuels and Bioproducts (NAABB). Her research in algae to biofuel continued through a Regional Algal Feedstock Testbed program funded by the Department of Energy. The goal of this project was to obtain long term outdoor algal cultivation data that is available to the public for use in modeling and other research efforts, and demonstrate the feasibility of year round cultivation. Recently Kim is the PI for USDA-NIFA Challenge Area Project titled Sustainable Bioeconomy for Arid Regions. This is a joint project with NMSU, CSM, CSU, Bridgestone and USDA-ARS to investigate producing bioproducts and biofuels from guayule and guar.