Project Details:

Clean Energy through Chemistry

Objective - To organize and convene two symposia on the role of chemistry in the sustainability of water and bioenergy resources at the 2013 IUPAC Istanbul Congress. Both symposia will be under the umbrella of “Clean Energy Through Chemistry”. One symposium will discuss preserving water resources and one will discuss converting biomass to energy. 

Rationale - The primary long-term goal of IUPAC is to “provide leadership as a worldwide scientific organization that objectively addresses global issues involving the chemical sciences.” In accord with that goal, this project would create a forum for considering the chemical strategies and for addressing the availability and sustainability of water and energy worldwide.

The global availability of water and energy is a question that is of grave concern to many, both as individual issues and when considered as part of a system. The United Nations, for example, has held various conferences and set goals for equitable distribution of water and continues to seek and promote means of augmenting fresh water supplies for a rapidly growing world population. The continued dependence on fossil fuels as a primary source of energy around the world has already had an impact on global climate as well as environmental degradation and represents consumption of a non sustainable resource.

In addressing these challenges, chemistry plays a natural role. From the design of membranes for filtration of water to developing methods to reducing the amount of water required to process plant matter used as a biofuel, chemistry can provide some of the understanding and tools needed to be successful. With this in mind, and building on the discussions related to sustainability at previous IUPAC meetings, Congresses, and during the International Year of Chemistry, this project is designed to create a forum to discuss where chemists contribute today to sustainable development and management of these important resources and what challenges remain to be addressed.

To this end, we propose to organize two symposia: “Converting Biomass to Energy” and “Preserving Water Resources”, under the umbrella of “Clean Energy Through Chemistry” The preliminary list of speakers and topics is below:

Session: Preserving Water Resources

•  “Water Impacts on Clean Energy Considerations: Options and Future Directions”—Dr. Michael Hightower, Sandia National Laboratories, New Mexico, USA
• “Restorative Water Technologies: an Old or a New Paradigm?”—Prof. Antonio Guerreiro de Brito, Department of Biological Engineering, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal
• “Hydroelectric Power and Water Resource Management in Africa”—Dr. Akissa Bahri, African Water Facility, Tunis, Tunisia

Session: Converting Biomass to Energy

• “Cellulosic Biomass to Fuel”—Dr. Badal Saha, Agricultural Research Services, US Department of Agriculture, Peoria, Illinois, USA
• “Microalgae to Biodiesel”—Dr. Ohad Zuckerman, CEO, Univerve-biofuel, Tel-Aviv, Israel
• “Are Vehicular Fuels Based on Diesel-Biodiesel Environmentally Friendly?”—Dr. Jailson de Andrade, National Institute for Science and Technology for Energy & Environment, Federal University of Bahia, Salvador, Brazil

• Taft, Hessy

• Cao, Guang
• Kadirgan, Figen