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2018 International Conference on the

Biomass-Environment-Food-Energy-Water

BEFEW Nexus

"Towards a sustainable bioeconomy:

Working in harmony with the environment-food-energy-water nexus"

12-13 DECEMBER 2018

BANGI-PUTRAJAYA HOTEL, SELANGOR, MALAYSIA

Organized by:

Supported by:

Introduction

Biomass is a strategic resource that can be used to produce energy, fuels and other high-value products.  Since the production of biomass requires a large amount of land and water, competes with food production and can affect the ecosystem (e.g. deforestation, leaching of fertilisers and pesticides into water bodies), there is a delicate balance between all of these elements. Together, these are known as the environment-food-energy-water nexus, and all of the benefits associated with the use of biomass to meet our requirements for energy and other products must be considered along with the potential impact on the nexus as a whole. Therefore, it is important not only to understand how best to exploit the great potential of biomass but also to understand the detailed interactions among all of the elements in the nexus. 

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The 2018 BEFEW conference is organised by Universiti Putra Malaysia, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Universiti Teknologi Petronas, University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus and University of Bath, UK; and partly funded by the Newton Fund and the UK Engineering and Physical Science Research Council and the Science and Technology Facilities Council, with support from Ministry of Higher Education in Malaysia.

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This conference brings together scientists and academics, and stakeholders from government and industry to discuss relevant issues and questions around the bioeconomy and the nexus, and recent advances in research, focusing on methodologies to address these issues. The focus will be on sustainable resources, technologies, systems engineering and integration, and techno-socio-economic-environmental impacts of the bioeconomy. 

 

Selected papers will be published in Special Issues of Food and Bioproducts Processing journal and Frontiers in Energy Research journal (both are Q1 journals). All accepted abstracts will be published in a Book of Abstracts to be provided during  the conference. Awards will be given for best student posters and best papers. 

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Introduction

Sustainable Resources

  • Renewable feedstocks (biomass, waste, etc.)

  • Biomass characterization

  • Biomass potentials and availability

  • Databases and networks

  • Sustainable agriculture, farming and land application

  • Spatial modelling of resources (e.g. GIS spatial mapping)

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Sustainable Technologies

  • Densification and pre-treatment

  • Thermal, biochemical and chemical conversion

  • Electrochemical technologies 

  • Storage processes

  • Demonstrations, pilot plants and scale-up

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Systems integration & techno-socio-economic-environmental impacts

  • Carbon accounting

  • Energy and exergy analysis

  • Nutrient recovery and re-use

  • Supply chain modelling and optimization

  • Life cycle assessment(LCA)

  • Environment-food-energy-water nexus

  • Land use and water systems impacts

  • Stakeholder analysis

  • Agent-based modelling

Topics

Topics
Deadlines

Important

Deadlines

Abstract submission

31 October 2018

We welcome the participation of researchers from academia, industry and government who are interested in the nexus of Energy-Food-Environment-Water in relation to biomass and bioenergy. Early-career researchers, post-doctoral researchers and graduate students are particularly encouraged.

Notice of acceptance

10 November 2018

Early bird registration  

15 November 2018

Full paper for journal special issues

31 January 2019

Guidelines for abstract submission

Presentations can either be in oral or poster format.

 

Abstract length: maximum of one A4 page, including title of the presentation, names and affiliations of the authors and not more than one figure. The font size should not be smaller than 11-pt Arial and the page margins should be no less than 2 cm on all sides. Authors must indicate their preferred presentation format and the conference theme they wish to present. 

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Submissions must be sent through EasyChair conference management system at:                                                                    https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=befew2018

Fees

Registration fees

and Methods of

payment

Registration fees

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*Fees include conference kit, lunch and refreshments for two days and dinner banquet on the first day

Methods of payment

Participants may pay the registration fees in one of the following ways:

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Option 1: Bank Draft / Cheques


Payable to: BENDAHARI UNIVERSITI PUTRA MALAYSIA

 

Please mail the bank draft / cheque to:


2018 BEFEW Secretariat

Department of Chemical and Environment Engineering

Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Putra Malaysia

43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, MALAYSIA

 

 

Option 2: Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT)

 

  • Beneficiary Name: KIRA KIRA AM UPM

 

  • Bank Name: CIMB Bank Berhad

 

  • Bank Address: CIMB UPM Branch, 43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia

 

  • Account No.: 80-0215196-3

 

  • SWIFT Code: CIBBMYKL

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Please specify "BEFEW2018-Participant name" in the payment detail. Eg: BEFEW2018-John Smith. Please send the proof of payment  to befewteam@befewnexus.com after you have performed the transaction for verification. 

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Option 3: VOTE TRANSFER (UPM participants ONLY)


Kindly submit the SOK/LAT/BR02/Latihan02 and transfer vote form to the secretariat at Level 6, Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering General Office.
 

Vote no: 6389100

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IMPORTANT NOTES (Please read)

 

  1. A notification e-mail will be sent from the Organising Secretariat upon receipt of your online registration request. Please wait for our invoice to be sent to you before payment.

  2. All charges / fees / commissions related to the payment must be borne by the participants.

  3. Delegates are requested to send in a scanned copy of the proof of payment via email to befewteam@befewnexus.com

  4. Students are requested to send in a scanned copy of their valid Student ID Card by e-mail to befewteam@befewnexus.com

  5. Upon receipt of the relevant payment/proof of payment, the Organising Secretariat will issue and forward a confirmation letter and an official receipt of the payment by e-mail in due course.

  6. Registration will not be valid / complete until full payment has been received.

  7. No refund for cancellation is allowed, however the participant can be replaced by the co-author of the same paper.

  8. Note that the conference fee does not include accommodation and delegates are responsible for booking their own accommodation

Plenary Speakers

Prof. Dato’ Ir. Dr. Wan Ramli Wan Daud

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An authority on fuel cell technology, hydrogen energy and drying technology, Prof Wan Ramli is the Founding Director of The Fuel Cell Institute, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) and the Professor of Chemical Engineering at the Department of Chemical & Process Engineering, Faculty of Engineering & Built Environment, UKM.  He has published 839 articles including 275 articles in international journals, 339 articles in proceedings of international conferences and 225 articles in proceedings of national conferences. He has published 2 international research books, 2 national books and contributed 5 chapters in international research books and 5 chapters in national books. In 2015, Prof Wan received scientific recognition as being among the 'World's Most Influential Minds in 2015' by Thomson Reuters. While in 2016, he was awarded Merdeka Award for outstanding scholarly research and development in advancing the technology of fuel cells and hydrogen energy in Malaysia and the region.

Prof. Dr. Masaru Yarime

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Dr Masaru Yarime is Associate Professor at the School of Energy and Environment, City University of Hong Kong, where he works on science, technology, and innovation policy, management, and governance, focusing on the implications of digitalisation and globalisation of innovation including smart cities and IoT for sustainability particularly in the context of Asia and beyond. He was previously Project Associate Professor of Science, Technology, and Innovation Governance (STIG) at the Graduate School of Public Policy of the University of Tokyo. His research interests focus on public policy, corporate strategy, and institutional design for promoting science, technology, and innovation for sustainability. Currently he is serving on the editorial board of international journals, including Sustainability Science, Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions, Journal of Corporate Citizenship, and Frontiers in Energy Research – Energy Systems and Policy.

Speakers

Datuk Ir. Abdul Kadir Mohd Din FASc

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Datuk Ir. Abdul Kadir Mohd Din is the Managing Director of Sacra Sol Sdn Bhd, offering advisory services on water, wastewater, by products, green technology and environmental management.

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He was also appointed as Board of Director for SAJ Ranhill Sdn Bhd and Board of Director for Ranhill Water Technologies (Thai) Ltd & Anurak Water Treatment Facilites Co Ltd since July 2017. He was elected as President of The Malaysian Water Association in April 2017 (2017-2019). Prior to this appointment, he was the former Chief Executive Officer of Indah Water Konsortium Sdn Bhd from 2009 - 2016 and former Chief Operating Officer with Pengurusan Aset Air Berhad from 2007 - 2009. He has more than 36 years of industry experience in the water and sewerage sectors. He has vast exposure in the engineering consultancy and public listed companies in senior management positions. He has extensive practical knowledge in planning, designing, managing water and sewerage works projects within the country and abroad in the United Kingdom, Brunei Darussalam, Middle East and Singapore.

Dr. Loh Soh Kheang

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Dr. Soh Kheang Loh currently works at the Energy and Environment Unit of the Engineering and Processing Division, Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB). Dr. Loh does research in Organometallic Chemistry, Green Chemistry and Environmental Chemistry. Her current research interests are biomass and bio-energy, biogas capture and utilisation, waste stream valorisation, environment and sustainability, to name a few. She involves in national biogas implementation (NKEA EPP5) for the palm oil industry. She has vast experiences in ISO/ Malaysian Standards development, climate change negotiation and establishment of Malaysia National Communications (waste & energy sectors) to the UNFCCC. Research findings commercialized to date: biogas trapping system, palm-based mould oil and bio organic fertilizers.

Keynote Speakers

Prof. Dato’ Ir. Dr. Wan Ramli Wan Daud

Ramli-01.jpg

An authority on fuel cell technology, hydrogen energy and drying technology, Prof Wan Ramli is the Founding Director of The Fuel Cell Institute, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) and the Professor of Chemical Engineering at the Department of Chemical & Process Engineering, Faculty of Engineering & Built Environment, UKM.  He has published 839 articles including 275 articles in international journals, 339 articles in proceedings of international conferences and 225 articles in proceedings of national conferences. He has published 2 international research books, 2 national books and contributed 5 chapters in international research books and 5 chapters in national books. In 2015, Prof Wan received scientific recognition as being among the 'World's Most Influential Minds in 2015' by Thomson Reuters. While in 2016, he was awarded Merdeka Award for outstanding scholarly research and development in advancing the technology of fuel cells and hydrogen energy in Malaysia and the region.

Prof. Dr. Masaru Yarime

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Dr Masaru Yarime is Associate Professor at the Division of Public Policy in the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST). He has been working on science, technology, and innovation policy, management, and governance, focusing on the implications of digitalisation and globalisation of innovation including smart cities and IoT for sustainability in the context of Asia and beyond. He was previously Project Associate Professor of Science, Technology, and Innovation Governance (STIG) at the Graduate School of Public Policy of the University of Tokyo. His research interests focus on public policy, corporate strategy, and institutional design for promoting science, technology, and innovation for sustainability. Currently he is serving on the editorial board of international journals, including Sustainability Science, Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions, and Frontiers in Energy Research – Energy Systems and Policy.

Assoc. Prof. Ir. Dr. Haslenda Hashim

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Dr. Haslenda Hashim is the senior lecture and fellow for Process Systems Engineering Centre (PROSPECT), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. She specialises in process planning/scheduling, modeling, simulation and optimization. Her research activities are focused on the national climate change mitigation strategy, renewable electricity generation, zero-waste processes, waste to wealth, water minimization, fugitive emissions, Renewable Energy distributed electricity generation (DEG) system. She has won numerous local and international awards and research grant. Dr. Haslenda is the certified trainer for Asean Energy Management Schems (AEMAS), technical expert for green technology fund scheme (GTFS) and the recipient of 2009 Renewable Energy Research Program award from the National Science Council of Taiwan.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Suzana Yusup

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Dr. Suzana Yusup, who is attached to the Chemical Engineering Department UTP, is a pioneer in the establishment of biomass research areas at UTP.  She was awarded Malaysia's Rising Star Award (MRSA) 2016 under the category Highly Cited Review for Women in Science Award.  She has published in numerous journals, articles and conferences and also lead several research grants at both national and international levels. She was the recipient of over 35 research product awards from Japan, Belgium, USA and Malaysia.  She won various important awards, which included, among others, second prize in the Elsevier Green and Sustainable Chemistry Challenge (2016), Asia Research Award (2012) and Creativity Award Geneva (2011). Her current research area is related to green technology which covers conversion of biomass and waste to value added products and biofuel. 

Prof. Dr. Abdul Rashid Mohamed Shariff

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Dr. Abdul  Rashid Mohamed Shariff is affiliated to Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, Universiti Putra Malaysia. His scientific research interests include GIS and Precision Agriculture. Dr. Rashid is active in research, having published or co-authored about 200 articles in journals, conferences, workshops, invitational talks and technical reports. His contributions on Geographical Information Systems for Agriculture were included in the CIGR Handbook of Agricultural Engineering Volume VI: Information Technology. He has received a host of awards including the National Excellent Scientist Award, Gold Medal at Geneva’s Inventors Competition, and the best speaker in an international GIS and Remote Sensing conference. As a specialist in GIS, Dr. Rashid helps the expansion of GIS into Agriculture, Healthcare, and Environment that depends on GIS.

Mr. Mohd Khairul Fidzal Abdul Razak

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Mohd Khairul Fidzal joined Bioeconomy Corporation as the Chief Operation Officer on 1 April 2018. He was previously a Vice President of Malaysian Industry-Government Group for High Technology (MiGHT). Prior to MiGHT, he was with United Overseas Bank. Mohd Khairul Fidzal held a senior position in MiGHT Technology Nurturing as well headed Malaysia – Korea Technology Centre and Knowledge Event Sdn Bhd. During his tenure with MiGHT, he was seconded to Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation as Private Secretary to the Minister and Office of the Science Advisor as Special Officer. Mohd Khairul Fidzal holds a Bachelor of Economics from University Kebangsaan Malaysia.

Plenary Speakers

Dr. Sheila Samsatli

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Dr. Sheila is a Lecturer (Assistant Professor) and Prize Fellow in Chemical Engineering. Her research interests focus on multi-scale mathematical modelling and optimisation and their application to chemical engineering problems such as process synthesis and integration, whole systems design and operation, production planning and scheduling, supply/value chains, location and transportation problems and so on.She is the PI of an EPSRC/Newton Fund project to develop a model for biomass value chains and the food-energy-water-environment nexus. She is leading the modelling subtask of the International Energy Agency (IEA) Hydrogen Implementing Agreement Task 38 Power-to-Hydrogen-to-X.She received a “high commendation for outstanding contribution in research (Sir William Wakeham Prize 2016)” during her post-doctoral appointment at Imperial College London.

Dr. Norhayati Abdullah

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Dr. Norhayati Abdullah is a Senior Lecturer and Program Coordinator of the Masters of Sustainable System at the Malaysia-Japan International Institute of Technology (MJIIT) Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), Kuala Lumpur. She received the IWA Young Water Professional Award in 2012 in recognition of her outstanding achievements in wastewater research and active involvement in various professional development program. She is currently Chair of the IWA-UTM International Publication Workshop series, Trainer for the IWA-CEGIS Training Workshop on Water, Climate and Resilient Cities 2016 and key speakers at various international YWP Forums (namely in Busan, Nairobi, Lisbon, Jordan, Beijing and Brisbane) and represented the IWAYWP Steering Committees at the Young Water Leaders Summit during the Singapore International Water Week in 2014 and 2016.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Tan Chee Pin

Tan Chee Pin is an Associate Professor, and Head of the Mechatronics Engineering degree program at Monash University Malaysia. His primary research interest lies in observers, where he has developed model-based observer configurations and design methods to accurately estimate the unknown signals of a system at the minimum possible cost (e.g. less sensors, less accurate data/model). He has published many papers in the top journals such as IEEE Transactions in Automatic Control, Automatica, International Journal of Robust and Nonlinear Control, and Journal of the Franklin Institute. He has also successfully applied those methods to other areas such as lighting, soft robotics, traffic and energy management. He has attracted RM1.5m in research funding from government agencies and industry, and has supervised 7 students to successful PhD completion, and is currently supervising another 13. Dr. Tan teaches with a student-centric approach, and makes it easy for students to understand complicated subjects such as Control Theory. For these, he has won several awards internally within Monash University, and was also a finalist in the 2018 National Outstanding Educator’s Award.

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2018 BEFEW SECRETARIAT
Department of Chemical & Environmental Engineering
Faculty of Engineering
Universiti Putra Malaysia
43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia.


Tel: +603-8946 6287 | +603-8946 6252


Fax: +603-8656 7120

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Email: befewteam@befewnexus.com

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