NUI Galway Biofuel Researchers Present 6 Books Published in 1 Year to Hardiman Library

Pictured with the 6 books published in 1 year are (l to r) Dr Anthonia O'Donovan, Dr Vijai Kumar Gupta and Dr Maria G Tuohy of the Molecular Glycobiotechnology Group, Biochemistry, School of Natural Sciences, NUI Galway.
May 28 2014 Posted: 09:32 IST

Three NUI Galway Biofuel researchers have collaborated on a remarkable output of 6 leading text books on biofuel, enzyme and fungal technologies in a little over one year. Dr Maria G Tuohy, Dr Vijai K Gupta and Dr Anthonia O’Donovan of NUI Galway’s School of Natural Sciences and Ireland’s national Technology Centre for Biorefining & Bioenergy (TCBB) have authored and co-edited the texts and presented them to NUI Galway’s Hardiman Library.

Registrar and Deputy-President of NUI Galway, Prof Pól Ó Dochartaigh, accepted the textbooks on behalf of NUI Galway’s James Hardiman Library and commended Dr Tuohy, Dr Gupta and Dr O’Donovan on their work in the areas of biofuels, enzyme and fungal technologies.

Biochemist Dr Maria Tuohy outlined the environmental and industrial benefits of the research carried out by her team. “In practical terms, from the kind of fungi that are found on mouldy bread we have developed enzyme technologies that speed up the process of producing biogas fuel. In fact, brown-bin type wastes in themselves, such as kitchen waste and vegetable peelings can be a very valuable source of biofuel production rather than it going to landfill.”

These enzyme technologies can pre-treat and break down more quickly a number of organic wastes ranging from brown-bin waste to dairy and farm wastes. This speeds up the process of biomethane production for transport.  Such developments offer significant potential for biofuels, given EU and global emission and renewable energy targets.

Dr Tuohy paid tribute to her colleagues Dr Gupta, Dr O’Donovan, the Molecular Glycobiotechnology Group team, Dr Michael Carty (Head of Biochemistry), Prof Vincent O’Flaherty (Head of School) and colleagues from the School of Natural Sciences and the National Technology Centre for Biorefining & Bioenergy. (TCBB) Enterprise Ireland and other funding agencies supported the research group’s work.

As authors and editors, the team thanked international colleagues and co-editors and their publishers, Springer, Springer Science + Business Media, Springer-Verlag, Elsevier, CRC Press, and Nova Science Publishers Inc.  One of the textbooks, Biofuel Technologies: Recent Developments (2013) edited by Dr Tuohy and Dr Gupta will soon be published in Chinese. Springer, the publisher of two of the texts has approached Dr Tuohy and Dr Gupta to edit a series of books in both areas over the coming years.

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