Lignocellulose Fractionation for Zero-Waste Biorefinery Webinar

The urgent need to accelerate the transition toward a world beyond fossils and circular bioeconomy requires the development of biorefineries with different chemical trees from fossil-based ones. Lignin-first biorefinery demonstrated by Lignum, a start-up in South Korea, will be introduced along with their activities in developing biobased fillers and valorization of sugar streams from the biorefinery. Application of SSEIF^® in thermoplastics in automotives, rubbers & elastomers, electrical cable compounds,  3D printing filaments, and biodegradable agricultural mulching films are a few of examples where SSEIF^® will make differences.  In this presentation, the characteristics of SSEIF^® and its applications will be discussed from the perspectives of various applications of biobased fillers.

Who Should Attend?

• Scientists
• Engineers
• Graduate Students working and interested in Lignocellulose Fractionation Technologies and Application of Biomaterials from Wood Residues

Oh-Jin Park, biochemical engineer, studied biochemical engineering at Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology (KAIST) from 1987 to 1997 (advisor : Prof. Ji-Won Yang). He performed postdoctoral researches at Institute of Food Research (Reading, UK with Dr. Evgeny Vulfson and Department of Chemical Engineering of Rensselaer Polytech Institute (Troy, NY with Prof. Jonathan Dordick). Returning to Korea he worked at a startup company, Enzychem, and conducted research on improvement of enzymes through directed evolution at Department of Life Sciences at KAIST with Prof. Hak-Sung Kim, where he employed biocatalysts (hydanoinases) to synthesize unnatural amino acids. He joined LG Chem where he participated in the development of enzyme-catalyzed processes for synthesis of agrochemical and pharmaceutical intermediates. He also participated in the industrial biotechnology research program at LG Chem R&D Park.

From 2011 to 2018 he taught biochemical engineering courses at Yanbian University of Science and Technology in Northeast of China. In 2018-2019, he experienced the field of cell-free protein synthesis and biofilm control using synthetic biology through sabbatical leave with Prof. Seok Hoon Hong at Illinois Institute of Technology. In 2019 came back to Korea and worked on electrospun biopolymers  at Shema. From April, 2000, he has been in charge of business development at Lignum where  biobased fillers from lignocellulosic biorefinery are evaluated in partnerships in various applications. He has interests in lignocellulose fractionation technologies and sugar valorization through alternative proteins and biopolymer production for circular bioeconomy. He coauthored 21 scientific articles (4 reviews) and 8 patents. He often writes articles on waste recycling and industrial biotechnology in business magazines.