Sunkyu Park
EJ Woody Rice Associate Professor & University Faculty Scholar
Department of Forest Biomaterials
Pulp & Paper Labs 3207
Area(s) of Expertise
Biorefinery development for biochemical and thermochemical conversion processes into biofuels, biochemicals, and biomaterials.
– Biorefinery and Pulp&Paper process integration (mass and energy balance) and its techno-economic analysis
– Process development for biomass biochemical treatment (pretreatment, mechanical refining, enzymatic hydrolysis)
– Process development for biomass thermal treatment (pyrolysis, torrefaction)
– Dissolving pulp characterization and application2017 ~ current E.J. Woody Rice Associate Professor, North Carolina State University
- 2015 ~ 2017 Associate Professor, North Carolina State University
- 2011 ~ 2017 Adjunct Professor, Seoul National University
- 2009 ~ 2015 Assistant Professor, North Carolina State University
- 2006, Ph.D., Pulp and Paper, North Carolina State University
- 2001, M.S., Pulp and Paper, Seoul National University, Korea
- 1997, B.S., Forest Products, Seoul National University, Korea
Website
https://sites.google.com/site/sunkyupark/
https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=iRsnrgsAAAAJ&hl=en
Teaching
- FB 760 Engineering Unit Operations for Biomass Conversion
- FB 595 Special Topic: Bioenergy Science and Engineering
- PSE 425 Bioenergy and Biomaterials Engineering
- PSE 417 Pulp and Paper Process Simulation
Research Interests
Growing concerns over climate change and the desire to stimulate a sustainable economy have renewed the urgency for developing substantial replacement of fossil feedstocks with renewable resources. Chemical and other commodity industries are gradually shifting from relying on petroleum to lignocellulosic biomass as feedstocks. To make biorefinery financially attractive, it is critically important to co-produce high-value chemicals and materials in addition to biofuel production. This lesson is clear from the petroleum industry in which petro-based chemical production generates similar cash value to fuel production, while only ~16% of crude oil is used for chemical production.
Our research at NC State University covers a broad spectrum of biorefinery development and is focused on the fundamental understanding of lignocellulosic biomass reactivity and engineering process development for both biochemical and thermochemical conversion processes into biofuels, biochemicals, and biomaterials. Please check our publications to follow research trends.
Publications
- Co-pyrolysis of biomass and plastic waste over zeolite- and sodium-based catalysts for enhanced yields of hydrocarbon products (2020)
- Decarbonizing agriculture through the conversion of animal manure to dietary protein and ammonia fertilizer (2020)
- Effect of cellulolytic enzyme binding on lignin isolated from alkali and acid pretreated switchgrass on enzymatic hydrolysis (2020)
- Fiber fractionation to understand the effect of mechanical refining on fiber structure and resulting enzymatic digestibility of biomass (2020)
- Key issue, challenges, and status quo of models for biofuel supply chain design (2020)
- Alkaline extraction and characterization of residual hemicellulose in dissolving pulp (2019)
- Engineered biochar from pine wood: Characterization and potential application for removal of sulfamethoxazole in water (2019)
- Enhanced carbon dioxide removal from coupled direct air capture-bioenergy systems (2019)
- Hydrophobic resin treatment of hydrothermal autohydrolysate for prebiotic applications (2019)
- Impact of oxidative carbonization on structure development of loblolly pine-derived biochar investigated by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (2019)