Tae Hyun Kim

515-294-7136, Fax 515-294-4250
thkim@iastate.edu

http://www.ilovedrkim.com/

B.S., Chemical Engineering, Han Yang University, Seoul, South Korea, 1994
Ph.D., Chemical Engineering, Auburn University, 2004

Teaching

Dr. Kim is currently developing a new interdisciplinary course in the bioprocessing/bioproduct/bioenergy area. The goal of this course is to teach the engineering background and problem solving technique for new bio-industry and research.

Research

Biomass conversion, fractionation, and enzyme/fermentation technology in biomass processing.

Main research interests are in the bioconversion of biomass, such as crops, agricultural residues, and cellulosic wastes, for the production of fuels and chemicals.

Current research is to develop an efficient integrated bioconversion process for lignocellulosic materials (ex. switch grass and corn stover) to ethanol. This very unique and economically viable process includes pretreatment, enzyme hydrolysis, and modified fermentation. This research focus on achieving high ethanol yield and concentrations using novel fermentation process that would not only be appropriate but add efficiency and productivity to xylan (pentosan)-rich pretreated lignocellulosic materials.

Dr. Kim’s recent research include development of a novel pretreatment/delignification of biomass by soaking in aqueous ammonia (SAA) for enzymatic saccharification and simultaneous saccharification and co-fermentation, two-stage fractionation of biomass, and ammonia recycle percolation (ARP). Dr. Kim also developed the consolidated conversion process of hulled grains (ex. barley etc.) into fermentable sugars using chemo-thermo-enzymatic (CTE) treatment. This one step conversion process using CTE treatment can resolve several problems in conventional barley ethanol process. The intention of this research is to convert both lignocellulose and starch in the hulled grains into ethanol simultaneously without any hull separation and grinding steps.

Publications

Frank Taylor, Tae Hyun Kim and Neil M. Goldberg, Uniformity of distribution of anhydrous ammonia into shelled corn in a continuous ammoniator. T. ASABE (American Society of Agricultural & Biological Engineers). 50(1):147-152, 2007.

Tae Hyun Kim, Y.Y. Lee, Changshin Sunwoo, and Jun Seok Kim, Pretreatment of Corn Stover by Low-liquid Ammonia Percolation Process. Appl. Biochem. Biotechnol. 133 (1), 41-58, 2006.

Yongming Zhu, Tae Hyun Kim, Y.Y. Lee, Rongfu Chen, and Richard T. Elander, Enzymatic Production of Xylooligosaccharides from Corn Stover and Corn Cobs treated with Aqueous Ammonia. Appl. Biochem. Biotechnol. 130 (1-3), 586-598, 2006.

Tae Hyun Kim and Y.Y. Lee, Fractionation of Corn Stover by Hot-Water and Aqueous Ammonia Treatment, Bioresource Technology. 97, 224-232, 2006.

Tae Hyun Kim and Y.Y. Lee, Pretreatment and Fractionation of Corn Stover by Ammonia Recycle Percolation (ARP) Process. Bioresource Technology, 96, 2007-2013, 2005.

Tae Hyun Kim and Y.Y. Lee, Pretreatment of Corn Stover by Soaking in Aqueous Ammonia. Appl. Biochem. Biotechnol. 124, 1119-1132, 2005.

Tae Hyun Kim, Jun Seok Kim, Changshin Sunwoo and Y.Y. Lee, Pretreatment of Corn Stover by Aqueous Ammonia. Bioresource Technology, 90, 39-47, 2003.