Welcome to Alternative Fuels from Biomass Sources!

Course Overview

This course will examine the chemistry of technologies of bio-based sources for power generation and transportation fuels.

When you successfully complete this course, you will be prepared to:

• describe various biomasses that can be utilized for energy and fuel generation;
• explain the composition of various processes necessary for biomass processing;
• utilize the necessary chemistry, as well as mass and energy balances, that would be utilized in a biorefining facility;
• analyze how to utilize biofuels in current fuel infrastructure;
• illustrate what is required in a biorefinery.

Instructor Information

Dr. Hilal Ezgi Toraman leads an interdisciplinary research program at Penn State focused on sustainable reaction engineering and catalysis for the valorization of non-traditional carbon feedstocks. Her group integrates advanced pyrolysis experimentation, GC×GC-based analytics, and kinetic modeling to develop and optimize scalable chemical recycling technologies. She leads multi-institutional projects on mixed polymer pyrolysis and catalytic upgrading, where her group contributes intrinsic kinetic studies, GC×GC method development, and data management and analysis infrastructure to support process design and evaluation.

Toraman has secured over $5 million in research funding as a PI, published widely in high-impact journals, and received both national and international recognition, including the C&EN Talented 12, AIChE CRE Pioneers in Catalysis and Reaction Engineering, and ACS Energy & Fuels Rising Star awards. She has held leadership roles as Director of AIChE's Catalysis and Reaction Engineering Division and currently serves as president of the Pittsburgh-Cleveland Catalysis Society. Her honors include the Virginia S. and Philip L. Walker Jr. Faculty Fellowship and the Wilson Fellowship.

Before joining the Penn State faculty, Toraman was a postdoctoral researcher with the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and Delaware Energy Institute at the University of Delaware. She received her B.S. and M.S. degrees in Chemical Engineering from Middle East Technical University, Türkiye (Turkey), and her Ph.D. degree in Chemical Engineering from Ghent University, Belgium.

Teaching Assistant

Praneetha Buddha
PhD Candidate
Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering
Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA
Email: pjb5926@psu.edu
 

• Email: Please use the Canvas course email system to reach the assistant and me.
• Phone: 814-863-9261 (Office). The phone should be your last option. The best way to reach me is by email.
• Office Hours: Office hours are by appointment on Wednesdays, between 1:00 PM and 2:00 PM (Ms. Buddha and Dr. Toraman), on Mondays, between 11:00 AM and 12:00 PM, and on Thursdays, between 2:00 PM and 3:00 PM (Ms. Buddha). Please contact us before Sunday at 11:59 pm to schedule for the following Wednesday. I can be reached at hzt5148@psu.edu, and the Teaching Assistant, Praneetha Buddha, can be reached at pjb5926@psu.edu. When contacting us to schedule, please provide the question(s) that you plan to ask during the office hours.
• Syllabus: All students sign and return the Syllabus Acknowledgement Form to the Teaching Assistant via email, during the first week of the semester.