An awarding ceremony to acknowledge foreign experts who have made special contributions to the social and economic development of Yunnan Province was held at Kunming Zhengzhuangying Hotel on April 26.Prof. Fang Zhen of XTBG was one of the 10 winners of 2012 Yunnan Friendship Award, presented each year by the Yunnan Provincial Givernment. （更多…）
Prof. Zhen FANG won the Governor’s Friendship (Caiyun) Award in 2012 in Yunnan for the significant contribution to the Jatropha biodiesel industry and bioenergy.
4月26日，由省政府组织的2012年度云南省外国专家“彩云奖”颁奖典礼暨外国专家“五一”招待会在昆明震庄迎宾馆隆重举行，共有10位专家获此奖项。版纳植物园生物能源研究组组长方真研究员作为10位获奖专家之一，也是昆明分院唯一一位获此殊荣的专家，应邀请出席了典礼。 （更多…）
生物能源领域的年度盛会——2012第二届生物能源大会于2012年4月25日至28日在中国西安曲江国际会议中心隆重举行。本届会议邀请了国内外生物能源领域的著名专家、世界各国科学院士、世界500强企业高管、世界各国对生物能源有突出贡献的人士参会，精英荟萃，规模空前。本届大会除主论坛外，还包括全球生物能源经济与政策、工业领导者论坛、生物燃料技术的最新研究进展、生物乙醇、生物柴油、藻类生物燃料、生物燃料汽车、航空生物燃料和生物燃料投资与贸易等16个科技论坛和80多场分会活动，为参会人员提供了最前沿的科技资讯、传递了行业最新的发展趋势与动向，是一次生物能源领域具有巨大影响力的国际盛会。 （更多…）
Lignin (20%), cellulose (50%) and hemicellulose (25%) are three major constituents of typical lignocellulosic biomass like wood and grass. Among them, lignin is a phenolic biopolymer, which is the most thermal-stable and the most difficult to be degraded by normal biological or thermal methods. Additionallly, it is the industrial waste of cellulosic ethanol and paper making, which makes its recycle very significant. Adschiri group in TohokuUniversityfound that 99% of lignin degraded into phenolic oil in high temperature water-phenol (400 oC). The phenolic oil would not repolymerize to solid even after 2 h reaction. However, we did not know if these reactions were homogeneous reactions, as well as the actual reaction pathways. Professor Zhen Fang in biomass group of XTBG (Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden), CAS (http://brg.groups.xtbg.ac.cn/) collaborated withTohokuUniversity andSaskatchewanUniversity. They found that lignin was totally dissolved in hot-compressed water-phenol mixture, which greatly promoted the hydrolysis of lignin into phenolic oil. The addition of phenol prevented the repolymerization of formed phenolic oil. Afterwards, the author elucidated the homogeneous/heterogeneous pathway and mechanism of lignin degrading in hot-compressed water. According to the proposed pathway, lignin can totally be degraded into phenolic oil, which can be further processed into bioplastic, chemicals and biofuel. The related paper was published in the international journal “Bioresource Technology”. （更多…）
Biomass is renewable and rich, and mainly in the form of lignocelluloses. Its annual production is equivalent to ten times of the global energy consumption. Lignin (20%), cellulose (50%) and hemicellulose (25%) are three major constituents of a typical lignocellulosic biomass (e.g., wood and grass), all of which could be hydrolyzed. The production of biofuels based on edible food was unacceptable in developing countries, especially populous countries such asChina. Therefore, it is needed to develop novel bio-refinery based on lignocellulosic biomass for biofuels. （更多…）