We are looking for a technoeconomic analysis postdoc with an interest and background in bioenergy/bioproducts to join the Life-cycle, Economics, and Agronomy Division (LEAD) at the Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI). Experience with SuperPro Designer and/or AspenPlus is ideal. The appointment will be through Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, and the work location will be our satellite site in Emeryville, CA. Start date is ASAP. We will review applications on a rolling basis. Apply by November 9th for full consideration. See the job posting here.

We have a new paper out in ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering on the life-cycle greenhouse gas and water-intensity of producing cellulosic ethanol using ionic liquids for biomass pretreatment. This technology has come a long, long way in the past few years, in no small part because of the work done by Seema Singh and her group. By using ILs that are compatible with enzymes used during saccharification, biorefineries can now use a “one pot” deconstruction approach. This means far less water used to wash the ILs out of the pretreated biomass, and consequently, far less energy required to recover all of the (fairly expensive) ILs. We put together a life-cycle GHG and water use inventory, led by Binod Neupane and Murthy Konda, and found that recent developments put IL-based biorefineries on the same footing as the well-known dilute acid route. Great job, Binod and Murthy! The paper can be accessed here.