Bradley A. Saville

New Projects Available

• Life Cycle Assessment and Technoeconomic Assessment of Biofuels and Bioproducts
• Role of Carbon Capture and Storage in Reducing the Carboin Intensity of Biofuels and Bioproducts

Projects to be jointly supervised with
Heather MacLean

Accepting Graduate Students? Yes

• MASc

Memberships

Professional Engineers of Ontario (PEO)
Ontario Society of Professional Engineers (OSPE)

Research Interests

Applications of Enzymes

Soluble and immobilized enzymes may find potential use in a variety of applications, including pharmaceutical production, pulp and paper processing, and wastewater treatment, to name a few. Research in this area is focused upon the development of applications of enzyme preparations, and the design and scale-up of reactors in which enzymes are used for specific industrial applications.

Biofuels, Bioenergy and Bioproducts

Renewable energy sources such as ethanol, bio/renewable diesel, renewable jet fuel and biogas are finding increased prominence, as we seek to supplement fossil fuels, reduce GHG emissions, and enhance the rural economy. Work in this area has focused on enzymes for conversion of starch and lignocellulosics into sugars, biofuels, and bioproducts, biomass pretreatment methods needed to enhance enzyme hydrolysis of lignocellulosics, and bioprocess design to convert lipids into biofuels via esterification and hydrogenation. Work also includes the development of value-added co-products from biomass, including wood pellets for energy, and polyols/oligosaccharides for human nutrition. We also aim to develop comprehensive process models of biofuel/bioenergy production systems, for the purposes of financial analysis and life cycle assessment.

Enzyme inactivation, inhibition and regulation of enzyme activity

Successful industrial use of enzymes is contingent upon the availability of a stable, low cost enzyme preparation. Some enzymes are subject to substrate-induced inactivation, whereby the exposure of the enzyme to a toxic substrate can lead to an irreversible loss of activity. The occurrence of inactivation and inhibition has significant implications upon industrial biochemical production and upon the sequential administration of drugs in humans. This work is aimed at investigating methods to improve enzyme function.

Therapeutic Application of Drugs and Bioproducts

In this research, fundamentals of reaction kinetics and mass transfer are applied to understand metabolism of drugs and bioactive compounds such as prebiotics. This understanding is used to determine drug/toxin distribution in organs such as the liver, kidney, or eyes, the metabolism of prebiotics by bacteria in the digestive tract, and the uptake and impacts of key metabolites. Current applications include the development and application of xylan-derived oligosaccharides and their impact on human health.

Selected Publications

McKechnie, J., Zhang, Y., Ogino, A., Saville, B., Sleep, S., Turner, M., Pontius, P., MacLean, H.L., “Impacts of co-location, co-production and process energy source on life cycle energy use and greenhouse gas emissions of lignocellulosic ethanol”, Biofuels, Bioproducts & Biorefining, 2011

Porter, S., and Saville, B.A., “Biofuel Transportation and Distribution Options for APEC Economies”, Technical  Report for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Organization, May 2011 http://publications.apec.org/publication-detail.php?pub_id=1166

Di Risio, S., Hu, S., Saville, B.A., Liao, D., Lortie, J., “Large-Scale High-Solids Enzymatic Hydrolysis of Steam-Exploded Poplar”, Biofuels, Bioproducts & Biorefining, 2011

Sanscartier, D., MacLean, H., and Saville, B.A., “Techno-economic and greenhouse gas emissions evaluation of anaerobic digestion of household organic waste under Ontario’s Feed-in Tariff program”, Environmental Science and Technology, 2012

Hong, Y., Nizami, A-S., Pourbafrani, M., Saville, B.A., Maclean, H., “Impact of Cellulase Production on Environmental and Financial Metrics for Lignocellulosic Ethanol”, BIOFPR, April 2013

Pourbafrani, M., McKechnie, J., MacLean, H., and Saville, B.A., “Life Cycle Greenhouse Gas Impacts of Ethanol, Biomethane and Limonene production from Citrus Waste”, Environmental Research Letters, 8, 2013

Pourbafrani, M., McKechnie, J., MacLean, H., and Saville, B.A., “Bioplastic Products from Citrus Wastes”, Bioplastics Magazine, April 2013

Hong, Y., Nizami, A-S., Pourbafrani, M., Saville, B.A., Maclean, H., “Impact of Cellulase Production on Environmental and Financial Metrics for Lignocellulosic Ethanol”, BIOFPR, April 2013.

Pourbafrani, M., McKechnie, J., Shen, T., Saville, B.A., MacLean, H.L., (2014). Impacts of Pretreatment Technologies and Co-Products on Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Energy Use of Lignocellulosic Ethanol Production. Journal of Cleaner Production. 78: 104-111.

Luk, J., Saville, B.A., MacLean, H.L., “Life Cycle Air Emissions Impacts and Ownership Costs of Light Duty Vehicles using Natural Gas as the Primary Energy Source”, Environmental Science and Technology, 49(8), 5151 (2015).

Gaona, A., Lawryshyn, Y, Saville, B.A. (2015). The Effect of Fed-Batch Operation and Rotational Speed on High-Solids EnzymaticHydrolysis of Hardwood Substrates. Industrial Biotechnology. 11(5): 277-283.

McKechnie, J, Pourbafrani, M., Saville, B.A., MacLean, H. (2015). Exploring Impacts of Process Technology Development and Regional Factors on Life Cycle Greenhouse Gas Emissions of Corn Stover Ethanol. Renewable Energy. 76: 726-734

Gerbrandt, Kelsey, Chu, Pei Lin, Simmonds, A., Mullins, K., MacLean, H., Griffin, W. Michael, and Saville, Bradley A., “Life Czycle Assessment of Lignocellulosic Ethanol: A review of key factors and methods affecting calculated GHG emissions and Energy Use”, Curr. Opin. Biotechnol., Vol 38, pp63-70 (2016).

McKechnie, J., Saville, B.A., MacLean, H.L., Steam-treated wood pellets: Environmental and financial implications relative to fossil fuels and conventional pellets for electricity generation, Applied Energy, Vol 180 pp. 637-649, October 2016.

Luk, J., Saville, B.A., MacLean, H.L., Vehicle attribute trade-offs to meet the 2025 CAFE fuel economy target, Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment,  Volume 49, December 2016, Pages 154–171

Saville, Sandra, Saville, Bradley A., Shining a Light on Prebiotics: Their Role in Human Health, Agro FOOD Industry Hi-Tech, 27(5), pp5-8, 2016

Chu, P-L., Vanderghem, C., MacLean, H., Saville, B.A., “Process Modelling of Hydrodeoxygenation to Produce Renewable Jet Fuel and other Hydrocarbon Fuels”, Fuel, 196, 298-305 (2017).

Pereira, L., MacLean, L., Saville, B.A., Financial Analysis of Potential Biojet Fuel Production Technologies, DOI: 10.1002/bbb.1775; Biofuels, Bioprod. Bioref. 11(4) 665 – 681 (2017)

Chu, P-L., Vanderghem, C., MacLean, H., Saville, B.A., “Process Modelling of Hydrodeoxygenation to Produce Renewable Jet Fuel and other Hydrocarbon Fuels”, Fuel, 196, 298-305 (2017).

Chu, P-L., Vanderghem, C., MacLean, H., Saville, B.A., “Financial Analysis and Risk Assessment of Hydroprocessed Renewable Jet Fuel Production from Camelina, Carinata, and Used Cooking Oil”, Applied Energy, 198, 401-409, (2017).

Salkuyeh, Y. K., Saville, B.A., MacLean, H., “Technoeconomic Analysis and Life Cycle Assessment of Hydrogen Production from Natural Gas Using Current and Emerging Technologies”, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 42(30) 18894 -18909 (2017).

Salkuyeh, Y. K., Saville, B.A., MacLean, H., “Technoeconomic Analysis and Life Cycle Assessment of Hydrogen Production from Different Biomass Gasification Processes”, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 43(20), 9514 – 9528, 2018.

Bonert, M., Saville, B.A., “Principles of Renal Function Measurement (Limitations of Gotch’s Kt/V)”, Canadian Journal of Kidney Health and Disease, vol 5, pp 1-4, 2018.

Saville, B.A., and Saville, S., “Xylooligosaccharides and Arabinoxylanoligosaccharides and their Application as Prebiotics”, Applied Food Biotechnology, 5(3), 121 – 130, 2018

Saville, S., and Saville, B.A., “High Fiber Cane: Pathway to a Novel Xylooligosaccharide and Human Health”, AgroFOOD Industry Hi Tech, 29(6), 36 – 38, 2018

Obnamia, J.A., Saville, B.A., MacLean, H.L., “Comparison of U.S. Midwest Corn Stover Ethanol Greenhouse Gas Emissions from GREET and GHGenius”, Applied Energy, 235, 591 – 601, 2019