The Mexican Petroleum Institute (IMP) is a national research institute on petroleum, gas and bioenergy. IMP also brings technical support to PEMEX, the national oil company, as well as other energy industries in Mexico and abroad. IMP is dedicated also to consulting to the Mexican Energy Secretariat’s (SENER), other governmental offices and private companies.

IMP has been working on different bioenergy initiatives that will be presented:

• Production of green diesel and bio jet fuel through the HEFA process
• Production of biobased chemicals for the transport of heavy and extra-heavy oil through pipeline
• Techno-economic studies for the generation of thermal and electricity power to agroindustries.

About Dr. Jorge Aburto:

Dr. Jorge Aburto holds a B.Sc. in Food Chemistry from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM); the Diplôme d’Études Approfondies (DEA) and Ph.D. from National Polytechnique Institute of Toulouse (INPT), France; and was visiting Researcher in the AgroBiotechnology Institute (IFA-Tulln) from the Agricultural University of Vienna (BOKU), Austria.

Dr. Jorge Aburto is Researcher at the Mexican Petroleum Institute (IMP) since 2000 and he is actually Project Leader and Head of Biomass Conversion Division and in charge of the Division of Energy Efficiency and Sustainability. Dr. Aburto’s main research areas are bio-based chemicals and materials for applications in the petroleum industry, biomass deconstruction and conversion, production of lignocellulosic ethanol, on-road and aviation fuels, enzyme kinetics and applications to the oil industry, petroleum biorefining, precipitation inhibitors of asphaltenes, and petroleum pipelining through O/W emulsions. He is Author of several international articles, book chapters, and patent applications and patents. He participated in the awarded biorefinery project by the 2016 silver prize PRODETES category recognized by Mexico´s Energy Secretariat (SENER), the World Bank and the Global Environmental Facility (GEF). Likewise, Dr. Aburto has graduated 32 Bachelor of Science, 3 Master of Science and 2 Doctorate students. Currently, Dr. Aburto is part of the Academic Technical Council of the Bioenergy Thematic Network sponsored by CONACyT, is technical leader in the IMP of the Mexican Center for Bioenergy Innovation (CEMIE BIO), clusters of biojet fuel and solid biofuels. He is currently a Level II National Researcher recognized by SNI-CONACyT. Dr. Aburto was designated Mission Innovation Champion of Mexico by the Mission Innovation Initiative in 2019 by his contribution and vision on Bioenergy development and deployment in Mexico.

Dr. Ataullah Khan Mohammed
Senior Research Scientist & Technical Lead
Bioindustrial Services
InnoTech Alberta

“Innovative Bio-Product Development Opportunities at InnoTech Alberta”

As one of Canada’s premier applied research organizations, InnoTech Alberta (a subsidiary of the Alberta Innovates family) has a long and established history associated with transforming the energy, agriculture, environment, forestry and manufacturing sectors of the province. The Bio-Industrial R&D (BIRD)  portfolio within the Bio-Industrial Services (BIS) Division at InnoTech offers a diverse range of scientific, engineering and technological research and testing capabilities, and unique pilot facilities to support the development of innovative Biomass-based products in energy, gaseous/liquid/solid fuels, construction, forest products, engineered bio-composites, industrial fibres, agricultural -supplements, -inoculant carriers, -organic fertilizers, food/feed additives, flavoring agents and medicinal Cannabis space. In a nut shell, we cover the whole spectrum of terrestrial biomass and its residuals arising from forestry, agricultural, livestock and municipal solid waste operations and our expertise extends all the way from biomass production, characterization, pre-processing, conversion (fractionation), processing (transformation) into more usable high-value bio-products and their end use testing. The BEN talk will focus on showcasing our capabilities, past successes/impacts and future opportunities for prospective innovators and technology developers in the current era of bio-product revolutionization.

Dr. Mohammed is a Senior Researcher and Technical lead for Bio-Thermo Chemical Processing and Biomass Conversion Programs within Bio-Industrial R&D at InnoTech Alberta and also an Adjunct Professor in the Process Systems Engineering, University of Regina. He is also the sector lead for bioenergy initiative at the BQNC (Biomass Quality Network Canada) and a technical committee member on Canadian Mirror Committee to ISO/TC 238:Solid Biofuels. At InnoTech Alberta, his research is focused on biomass thermochemical & thermocatalytic conversion pathways to bioenergy, biofuel, bio-chemical or bio-materials. He is a recipient of 2012 Paragon Award for Innovation for the development of innovative catalysts for feed- and process- flexible hydrogen production. He has 3 patents, 1 book chapter, 2 reviews and 30 research articles to his credit. He also served as a Guest Editor for Special Issue on “Metal Oxides in Catalysis” in Molecular Catalysis Journal, Elsevier, 2018 Issue.

Link to presentation (via YouTube)