Biomass Group, Nanjing Agricultural University, PO Box 68, 40 Dianjiangtai Road, Nanjing 210031

Misses Jing-jing Guo, Yu-rou Wang, Hong-li Ma, Wan-ying Qiu and Mr. Guo-qiang Zhu successfully defended their Doctoral and Master theses

In the afternoon, May 16, 2025, graduate thesis defence for PhD student Miss Jing-jing Guo, and Master students Miss Yu-rou Wang, Miss Hong-li Ma, Miss Wan-ying Qiu (supervised by Prof. Zhen Fang), and Mr. Guo-qiang Zhu (supervised by Dr. Lujiang Xu) of Biomass Group at Nanjing Agricultural University (NJAU), was held at room B444, No.12 Building, Binjiang Campus, NJAU. Prof. Mao-hua Xiao from NJAU chaired the defence committee, and other four experts (Profs. Wei Zhuang and Jun Zhou from Nanjing Tech University), Profs. Wei-min Ding and Chun-xia He from NJAU) were invited as the members of the committee The defense secretary is Dr. Yang Cao.

The five students presented their theses before the Panel after past external review and courses and replied questions raised by all the members.

Miss Guo presented her PhD dissertation work entitled “A Study on One-step Production of Biodiesel from High Acid Value Waste Oil with Immobilized Lipase”.

Miss Wang presented her master thesis work entitled “A Study on Agroforestry Biomass Simultaneous KOH Activation and Ammoniation during Pyrolysis for Porous N-doped Biochar”.

Miss Ma presented her master thesis work entitled “A Study on Fast Pyrolysis of Bagasse Cellulose and Saccharification for Producing Ethanol via Fermentation”.

Miss Qiu presented her master thesis work entitled “A Study on Ethanol Production by Candida shehatae through Simultaneous Saccharification and Fermentation of Straw with High Solid Loading”.

Mr. Zhu presented his master thesis work entitled “Catalytic Pyrolysis of Waste Cooking Oils Deoxygenation for Producing Hydrocarbon-Rich Fuel and Life Cycle Assessment”.

All students published first-authored papers in prestigious Journals,  i.e., 3 from Miss Guo, 1 from Miss Wang, 2 from Miss Ma (1 in Chinese), 1 from Miss Qiu and 1 Mr. Zhu, respectively. Miss Guo and Mr. Zhu were awarded the title of 2025 Outstanding Graduates of NJAU.

After secret ballot, the panel agreed to confer Doctor of Philosophy in Engineering to Miss Jing-jing Guo, and MSc in Engineering degree to Miss Yu-rou Wang, Miss Wan-ying Qiu and Mr. Guo-qiang Zhu, Master of science degree to Miss Hong-li Ma, subjected to the approval by the Academic Degrees Committees of the college and university.

All students found decent jobs.

Miss JJ Guo accepted a faculty position at a University in Huángshí, Hubei.

Mr. GQ Zhu will continue his PhD student at City University of Hong Kong.

Heartful Congratulations to Misses Guo, Wang, Ma and Qiu as well as Mr. Zhu!

 —————————————————————————————————————-

五位学生通过硕博答辩

2025年5月16日下午，南京农业大学生物能源组2021级博士研究生郭静静（女）、硕士研究生王雨柔（女）、马宏莉（女）和邱婉莹（女）（导师方真教授）以及硕士生祝国强（导师徐禄江副教授）毕业答辩会在南京农业大学滨江校区工学院12号楼B442举行。南京农业大学的肖茂华教授担任答辩评审委员会主席，南京工业大学的庄伟教授和周俊教授，南京农业大学的丁为民教授和何春霞教授共五位专家担任答辩评审委员，答辩秘书为曹阳副教授。

答辩会上，郭静静、王雨柔、马宏莉、邱婉莹和祝国强五位同学依次对其在校期间的学术论文进行汇报，同时答辩委员会主席和各位评委提出了相关问题。根据五位同学的问题回答以及学位论文的外审意见，评委会经过评审决议，一致认为郭静静、王雨柔、马宏莉、邱婉莹和祝国强五位同学顺利完成了毕业所需要的研究和学习要求。

郭静静同学在毕业论文《固定化脂肪酶催化高酸值废油一步法制备生物柴油的研究》中探究了利用脂肪酶一步法转化高酸值美洲大蠊油制备生物柴油的可行性，解析了脂肪酶同时催化酯化和酯交换反应的作用机制。通过水热/热解制备了磁性生物炭，利用吸附-共价负载脂肪酶，实现了液相中脂肪酶的磁性分离和循环利用。进一步利用低共熔溶剂法实现了生物柴油的生产和纯化。王雨柔同学在毕业论文《农林生物质同步KOH活化和氨化热解制备多孔掺氮炭的研究》中研究了不同工况下同步活化氨化热解过程中KOH和NH₃交互作用机理，分析了纤维素和木质素同步活化氨化热解机理，并探究了原料特性、炭材料物化性能和应用特性之间的关联，为生物质制备多孔掺氮炭提供了参考。马宏莉同学在毕业论文《快速热解蔗渣纤维素并水解糖化发酵产乙醇的研究》中以蔗渣为研究对象，通过碱性过氧化氢预处理，以实现纤维素的富集，并通过改变纤维素晶体结构，以提高热解糖化率。进一步合成可回收固体酸，将左旋葡聚糖水解为可发酵糖，用于纤维素乙醇的绿色发酵生产。邱婉莹同学在毕业论文《休哈塔假丝酵母利用高固含量秸秆同步糖化发酵生产乙醇的研究》中选择具有发酵葡萄糖和木糖能力的休哈塔假丝酵母（Candida Shehatae CICC 1967），系统探究其在不同培养基条件下的发酵性能。选取玉米秸秆和小麦秸秆作为原料，经酸碱预处理后，利用休哈塔假丝酵母进行延迟补料式同步糖化发酵，实现微生物高效发酵秸秆生产高浓度乙醇的目标。祝国强同学在毕业论文《催化热解废弃油脂脱氧制备富烃燃料及生命周期评价》中研究了废弃油脂热解聚脱氧定向制备富烃燃料并对工艺进行了全生命周期评价，通过不锈钢催化改性成功制备了富烃液体燃料，还通过生物炭催化热解耦合气相沉积工艺成功联产了碳纳米管和富烃燃料，为交通运输业碳减排提供了参考。

郭静静同学以第一作者身份共发表学术论文3篇，王雨柔同学以第一作者身份共发表学术论文1篇，马宏莉同学以第一作者身份共发表学术论文2篇(其中1篇为中文)，邱婉莹以第一作者身份共发表学术论文1篇，祝国强同学以第一作者身份共发表学术论文1篇，郭静静和祝国强同学获得了2025年南京农业大学优秀毕业生称号。

经评委会无记名投票表决，一致同意郭静静同学通过博士学位论文答辩，建议授予工学博士学位；王雨柔同学通过硕士学位论文答辩，建议授予工学硕士学位；马宏莉同学通过硕士学位论文答辩，建议授予理学硕士学位；邱婉莹同学通过硕士学位论文答辩，建议授予工学硕士学位；祝国强同学通过硕士学位论文答辩，建议授予工学硕士学位。

热情祝贺五位同学！

Publications发表的论文：

[1] J-J Guo, S Gao, J Yang, H Zhang, Y-T Wang, W-N Ding, Zhen Fang*. Biodiesel production via simultaneous esterification and transesterification of Periplaneta americana oil with liquid lipase Eversa® transform 2.0. Renewable Energy, 2024, 229, 120756. https://doi.org/ 10.1016/j.renene.2024.120756

[2] J-J Guo, Y-T Wang, Zhen Fang*. Covalent immobilization of lipase on magnetic biochar for one-pot production of biodiesel from high acid value oil. Bioresource Technology, 2024, 394, 130237. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2023.130237

[3] J-J Guo, L Wang, Y-T Wang, W-N Ding, W-W Liu, Zhen Fang*. Lipases immobilized on hydrophobic biochar for one-step production of biodiesel in deep eutectic solvent. Fuel, 2025, 381, 133497. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fuel.2024.133497

[4] YR Wang, WJ Guo, W Chen, GX Xu, GQ Zhu, GL Xie, LJ Xu, CY Dong, S Gao, YQ Chen, HP Yang, HP Chen, Z Fang. Co-production of porous N-doped biochar and hydrogen-rich gas production from simultaneous pyrolysis-activation-nitrogen doping of biomass: Synergistic mechanism of KOH and NH₃. Renewable Energy 2024, 229, 120777. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2024.120777

[5] HL Ma, FX Xu, YC Zhang, MJ Huang, MF Li, GH Wang, MX Huang, Zhen Fang*， LQ Jiang*. Non-unified effects of cellulose allomorphs on fast pyrolysis and enzymatic hydrolysis, Industrial Crops and Products, 2025, 230, 121153. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indcrop.2025.121153

[6] WY Qiu, CY Dong*, J-J Guo, B Xia, LJ Xu, Zhen Fang*. Enhancing xylose fermentation to maximize net energy gain of lime-pretreated wheatstraw by delayed fed-batch simultaneous saccharification and fermentation. Biomass Conversion and Biorefinery, 2025, 15, 107865. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biombioe.2025.107865

[7] GQ Zhu, MX Zhu, EZ Wang, CX Gong, YR Wang, WJ Guo, GL Xie, W Chen, C He, LJ Xu*, H Li, Y Zhang, Z Fang. Natural biochar catalyst: Realizing the co-valorization of waste cooking oil into high-quality biofuel and carbon nanotube precursor via catalytic pyrolysis process. Chemical Engineering Journal, 2024, 486, 150195. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2024.150195

Non-unified effects of cellulose allomorphs on fast pyrolysis and enzymatic hydrolysis

Recently, master student Miss Hong-Li Ma supervised by Dr. Li-Qun Jiang at Guangdong Academy of Sciences and Prof. Zhen Fang published a research article in Industrial Crops & Products (IF 5.6) about the allomorphs of Cellulose (I–IV) affected the process of cellulose pyrolysis and enzymatic hydrolysis.

Three cellulose allomorphs (celluloses II-IV) were prepared from cellulose I to examine the impact of crystalline structure and degree of crystallinity on cellulose depolymerization in pyrolysis and hydrolysis. It is found that cellulose with higher crystallinity produces higher yield of levoglucosan. Specifically, Celluloses II and III exhibit lower crystallinity index and levoglucosan (LG) yield as compared to Cellulose I and IV. Notably, despite Cellulose IV having a higher crystallinity index than Cellulose I, the differences in crystalline structure and hydroxyl group level lead to a lower levoglucosan yield in pyrolysis. Thermogravimetric kinetics analysis suggests that cellulose with high crystallinity yields more anhydro-sugars through dehydration reactions. Whereas amorphous cellulose predominantly produces lower molecular weight molecules through ring scission reactions. It is found that Cellulose II yields the maximum amount of glucose, while higher crystallinity levels have a negative impact on the sugar yield in general.

Related results were published in Industrial Crops & Products:

HL Ma, FX Xu, YC Zhang, MJ Huang, MF Li, GH Wang, MX Huang, Zhen Fang*, LQ Jiang*, Non-unified effects of cellulose allomorphs on fast pyrolysis and enzymatic hydrolysis, Industrial Crops and Products. (IF 5.6), 230 (2025), 121153. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indcrop.2025.121153

Celluloses I produced 50.0 wt% LG because of the highest crystallinity, cellulose II achieved the highest glucose yield of 67% in 72 h due to low crystallinity cellulose and loose expanded surface structure. （纤维素I结晶度最高高，产生了50.0 wt%的LG。然而具有低结晶度及疏松表面结构的纤维素II经过72小时酶水解产生了67%的葡萄糖产率）

纤维素异形体对快速热解和酶水解的非统一效应

近期，硕士生马宏莉同学在广东科学院蒋丽群博士和方真教授的指导下，在国际学术期刊Industrial Crops & Products （IF 5.6）发表了一篇关于纤维素异构体（I-IV）影响纤维素热解和酶水解过程的研究性论文。

从纤维素I制备了三种纤维素异构体（纤维素II-IV），以研究结晶结构和结晶度对纤维素在热解和水解过程中解聚的影响。结果发现，具有较高结晶度的纤维素产生较高产量的左旋葡聚糖。具体而言，与纤维素I和IV相比，纤维素II和III显示出较低的结晶指数和左旋葡聚糖产率。值得注意的是，尽管纤维素IV具有比纤维素I更高的结晶度指数，但晶体结构和羟基水平的差异导致热解中更低的左旋葡聚糖产率。热重动力学分析表明，高结晶度的纤维素通过脱水反应产生更多的脱水糖，而无定形纤维素主要通过开环反应产生较低分子量的分子。纤维素II产生最大量的葡萄糖，而较高的结晶度水平通常对葡萄糖产量有负面影响。

结果发表在Industrial Crops & Products：

Related results were published in Industrial Crops & Products:

HL Ma, FX Xu, YC Zhang, MJ Huang, MF Li, GH Wang, MX Huang, Zhen Fang*, LQ Jiang*, Non-unified effects of cellulose allomorphs on fast pyrolysis and enzymatic hydrolysis, Industrial Crops and Products. (IF 5.6), 230 (2025), 121153. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indcrop.2025.121153

Springer book “Production of Organic Acids and Alcohols from Agricultural Residues and Food Wastes”

Recently, Springer has published a book entitled“Production of Organic Acids and Alcohols from Agricultural Residues and Food Wastes” edited by Profs. Zhen Fang, RL Smith Jr. and Dr. HX Guo, Springer, Hardcover ISBN 978-981-96-1221-5, 455 pages, 2025 (https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-96-1222-2) .

Biomass-derived organic acids and alcohols focuses on recent technological developments and related challenges surrounding process for industrial applications.  This book covers the recent development processes (e.g. catalytic conversion, hydrothermal conversion, fermentation and anaerobic digestion) available for agricultural residues or food wastes conversion into organic acid and alcohols. Highlighting the advantages and limitations of different technologies, presenting the challenges, innovative state-of-the-art technologies and assessing future perspectives on the process of biomass-derived organic acid or alcohol production. This book also provides diverse examples of application of biomass-derived organic acid and alcohol, such as production polymer and amino acid.  Overall, the objective of this book is to provides the reader to understanding of the importance of biomass-derived organic acid and alcohols.  The scope of text encompasses lignocellulosic biomass, agricultural residues, food wastes, biomass-derived compounds and fundamental carbohydrates with the aim to develop overall production strategies for organic acids and alcohols.

This book is the 13^th book of the series entitled, “Biofuels and Biorefineries” (Prof. Zhen Fang is serving as Editor-in-Chief), and the 22^nd  English book edited/authored by Prof. Zhen Fang since 2009), and contains 12 chapters contributed by leading experts in the field. The text is arranged into two key parts:

Part I. Production of Organic Acids via Catalytic Processes of Agricultural Residues (Chapters 1-9)

Part II. Production of Biofuels from Agricultural Residues and Food Wastes (Chapters 10-12)

The text should be of interest to professionals in academia and industry who are working in the fields of natural renewable materials, platform chemicals, polymer, and materials. It can also be used as comprehensive references for university students with backgrounds in chemical engineering, material science, microbial chemistry and environmental engineering.

Biofuels and Biorefineries：

https://link.springer.com/bookseries/11687

斯普林格新书《农业废弃物和食物垃圾生产有机酸和醇》出版

由方真教授、日本东北大学RL Smith Jr.教授和中国农科院郭海心研究员主编的新书《农业废弃物和食物垃圾生产有机酸和醇》，最近由斯普林格公司出版发行。（精装，455页， ISBN 978-981-96-1221-5, 2025 (https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-96-1222-2) .

本书生物质衍生的有机酸和醇生产侧重于最近的技术发展和围绕工业应用过程的相关挑战。它涵盖了农业废弃物和食品废物转化为有机酸和醇类的最新发展过程（如催化转化、水热转化、发酵和厌氧消化）。强调不同技术的优势和局限性，介绍挑战、创新的最新技术，并评估生物质衍生有机酸或酒精生产过程的未来前景。  本书还提供了生物质衍生有机酸和醇的各种应用实例，如生产聚合物和氨基酸。总的来说，本书的目的是让读者了解生物质衍生有机酸和醇类的重要性。文本范围包括木质纤维素生物质、农业残留物、食物垃圾、生物质衍生化合物和基本碳水化合物，旨在制定有机酸和醇类的整体生产策略。

这本书是题为“生物燃料和生物精炼厂”的系列中的第十三本书，包含该领域顶尖专家撰写的12章。本文分为两个关键部分：

第一部分：农业废弃物催化法生产有机酸（第1-9章）

第二部分：利用农业废弃物和食物残渣生产生物燃料（第10-12章）

该文本应该引起学术界和工业界在天然可再生材料、平台化学品、聚合物和材料领域工作的专业人士的兴趣。它也可以作为具有化学工程、材料科学、微生物化学和环境工程背景的大学生的综合参考。

生物燃料和生物炼制丛书：

https://link.springer.com/bookseries/11687

该书是斯普林格系列丛书“生物燃料和生物炼制- Biofuels and Biorefineries”（方真老师担任该丛书总编辑）出版的第十三本专著，也是方真老师自2009年以来，编著出版的第二十二部英语专著。

Enhancing xylose fermentation to maximize net energy gain of lime-pretreated wheat straw by delayed fed-batch simultaneous saccharification and fermentation

Recently, master student Miss Wan-ying Qiu supervised by Dr. DC Dong and Prof. Zhen Fang published a research article in Biomass and Bioenergy (Q2, IF 5.8) about increasing net energy gain through delayed fed-batch simultaneous saccharification and fermentation of wheat straw.

Delayed fed-batch simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) of lime-pretreated wheat straw was carried out with a wild type yeast (i.e., Candida shehatae) to produce high titer ethanol. Calcium ions in lime-pretreated wheat straw were precipitated by pH controlling agent (i.e., sulfuric acid) to reduce inhibition of inorganic ions on yeast fermentation. It was found that ethanol concentration (∼35 g/L) did not increase as solid loading of substrate increased from 15 % to 20 % in batch SSF. However, in delayed fed-batch SSF, the feeding time of substrate (96 h) was postponed until after the inoculation time (18 h) resulting in a 74% reduction in residual xylose concentration and a 54.3% increase in ethanol concentration (54 g/L). Compared to batch SSF, separation energy of ethanol was decreased by 32.3% to 977.3 MJ/ton wheat straw in delayed fed-batch SSF, and net energy gain was increased by 20.1% to 3525.7 MJ/ton wheat straw.

Related results were published in Biomass and Bioenergy:

WY Qiu, CY Dong*, JJ Guo, B Xia, LJ Xu, Zhen Fang*. Enhancing xylose fermentation to maximize net energy gain of lime-pretreated wheat straw by delayed fed-batch simultaneous saccharification and fermentation, Biomass and Bioenergy (IF 5.8), 198 (2025), 107865. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biombioe.2025.107865

Ethanol concentration was increased by 54.3% by xylose fermentation in delayed fed-batch SSF. （采用延迟补料式同步糖化发酵，发酵木糖使乙醇浓度提高了54.3%）

 —————————————————————

延迟补料式同步糖化发酵氢氧化钙预处理小麦秸秆提高乙醇产量

近期，硕士生邱婉莹同学在董澄宇博士和方真教授的指导下，在国际学术期刊Biomass and Bioenergy（Q2, IF 5.8）发表了一篇关于通过延迟补料式同步糖化发酵小麦秸秆提高乙醇产量的研究性论文。

利用休哈塔假丝酵母（Candida shehatae）对氢氧化钙预处理小麦秸秆进行延迟补料式同步糖化发酵，以生产高浓度乙醇。使用硫酸作为pH调节剂沉淀氢氧化钙预处理小麦秸秆中的钙离子，减少无机离子对酵母发酵的抑制作用。在分批补料式同步糖化发酵中，底物固载量从15%提高至20%时，乙醇浓度均约为35 g/L，并未显著增加。然而，在延迟补料式同步糖化发酵中，补料时间（96 h）推迟至接种时间（18 h）之后，使木糖残留浓度降低74%，乙醇浓度增加54.3%（达到54 g/L）。与分批补料式同步糖化发酵相比，延迟补料式同步糖化发酵中乙醇的蒸馏耗能为977.3 MJ，降低32.3%，且每吨小麦秸秆的净能量收益达到3525.7 MJ，增加20.1%。

结果发表在Biomass and Bioenergy：

WY Qiu, CY Dong*, JJ Guo, B Xia, LJ Xu, Zhen Fang*. Enhancing xylose fermentation to maximize net energy gain of lime-pretreated wheat straw by delayed fed-batch simultaneous saccharification and fermentation, Biomass and Bioenergy (IF 5.8), 198 (2025), 107865. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biombioe.2025.107865