Prof. Yachin Cohen

Faculty:

Chemical Engineering

Main energy field:

Bio-Fuels from Biomass

About:

PhD – 1987 – Univ. Massachusetts (Amherst), Polymer Science

MSc – 1980 – Weizmann Institute, Chemistry

BSc – 1978 – Technion, Chemical Engineering

Roles, Chairs, prizes…

Wagner-Brausnberg Chair in Nanosciences and Nanotechnology

Fellow, Americal Physical Society (Polymer Physics)

Honorary Fellow, Israel Polymers and Plastics Society

Honorary Fellow, Israel Institute of Chemical Engineers

Research Area in Energy:

Alternative fuels – Biomass-Based Fuels

We seek to develop sustainable bio-chemical reaction processes, in particular for fuel production from biomass sources. This requires effective biomass pretreatment and efficient utilization of enzymes. For this purpose we utilize novel cellulose-coated emulsions as micro-bioreactors. We develop a “one-pot” process for transformation of cellulose to biodiesel, combining enzymatic hydrolysis, yeast fermentation and enzymatic trans-esterification.

Selected Publications:

Alfassi, D.M. Rein, A. Shpigelman. Y. Cohen, “Water Soluble Cellulose Acetate, its Solution Properties and Enzymatic Hydrolysis”, Polymers, 11(11), 1734-1743 (2019).

Alfassi, D. M. Rein, Y. Cohen “Cellulose emulsions and their hydrolysis”, Journal of Chemical Technology & Biotechnology, 94, 178-184 (2019).

V.S. Raghuwanshi, Y. Cohen, G. Garnier, C.J. Garvey, R.A. Russell, T. Darwish and G. Garnier, “Cellulose Dissolution in Ionic Liquid: Ion Binding Revealed by Neutron Scattering”, Macromolecules,  51, 7649-7655 (2018).

Alfassi, D.M. Rein and Y. Cohen, “Enhanced Hydrolysis of Cellulose Hydrogels by Morphological Modification”, Bioprocess Biosyst. Eng. 40, 1635–1641 (2017).