Dr. Richard Venditti’s focus has been in the following research areas: (1) the processing and utilization of natural polymers in new products and fuels, (2) the fundamentals of separation science in fiber processing and (3) the environmental life cycle analysis of products. His approach is to use fundamentals in chemical engineering and polymer science in order to understand mechanisms that control critical operations in the production of products and fuels.

Dr. Venditti graduated from Princeton University in Chemical Engineering in 1993, in the area of thermosetting polymers. He currently teaches Process Control, Unit Operations in Pulp and Paper, and a distance paper recycling graduate course. He is a member of the Technical Association of Pulp and Paper (TAPPI) and the American Chemical Society.

Publications

• Towards thermoplastic hemicellulose: Chemistry and characteristics of poly-(epsilon-caprolactone) grafting onto hemicellulose backbones (2018)
• Techno-economic analysis of various biochemical conversion platforms for biosugar production: Trade-offs of co-producing biopower versus pellets for either a greenfield, repurpose, or co-location siting context (2018)
• Analysis of North Carolina forest industry earnings: Adapting household-level data from the American community survey to a social accounting matrix (2018)
• Analysis of North Carolina forest industry earnings: Adapting household-level data from the American community survey to a social accounting matrix (2018)
• Cellulose micro- and nanofibrils (CMNF) manufacturing - financial and risk assessment (2018)
• Polysaccharides and lignin based hydrogels with potential pharmaceutical use as a drug delivery system produced by a reactive extrusion process (2017)
• Hemicellulose extraction and characterization for applications in paper coatings and adhesives (2017)
• Optimization of pilot scale mechanical disk refining for improvements in enzymatic digestibility of pretreated hardwood lignocellulosics (2017)
• Estimating the economic impacts generated by small-scalewood pellet manufacturing in western North Carolina (2017)
• Dynamic greenhouse gas accounting for cellulosic biofuels: Implications of time based methodology decisions (2017)

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