Keynote Speaker

Prof. Ir. Mohd Sobri Takriff

IDEA Center, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia

43600 Bangi Selangor

Keynote Speaker Title

Destination Bioeconomy 

Bioeconomy is the use of renewable biological resources from land and sea such as crops, forests, fish, animals and micro-organisms to produce food, materials and energy. Biorefinery can play a central role in innovative approaches for the production of food and pharmaceuticals, fine, specialty and platform chemicals, polymers, biofuels and bioenergy, which can be coproduced in an advanced multi-process industrial plants. The increasing world population that translated into increased in food, energy and water requirements, depletion of fossil fuel  and climate change resulting from excessive carbon emission are among the major factors that drive bioeconomy. Bioeconomy generates USD400 billion revenue and 4 million jobs in the USA, and Euro100 billion revenue and 1.5 million jobs in the EU through industrial biotechnology alone. In Malaysia, bioeconomy contributed MYR131 billion or 11.4 percent of GDP in 2015 and is projected to grow to MYR181 billion in 2030. However, there are many challenges to bioeconomy implementation. Among the major ones are technology readiness, feed stocks availability, regulations and specifications, fragmented supply chain, and investment risk.  These challenges can be overcome through innovative technologies, novel biomass resources and sustainable biomass supply. 

Keynote Speaker Biodata

Mohd Sobri Takriff is a professor of fluid mechanics at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia and Co-Chair Professor of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia- Sime Darby Foundation Chair on Sustainable Development. Professor Takriff holds a PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Arkansas, USA.  He is a registered Professional Engineer with the Board of Engineers Malaysia, a registered Chartered Engineer (CEng) with the UK Engineering Council and a Fellow of The Institution of Chemical Engineers, UK.  Currently Professor Takriff is the Director of IDEA Center at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia and a member of UKM Pakarunding Sdn. Bhd. Board of Director. His research interest addresses many aspects of environmentally sustainable biochemical and chemical processes. Professor Takriff is heading a research program on zero waste technology for palm oil industry. The research program is funded by Sime Darby Foundation and Sime Research Sdn. Bhd. through an endowment and research grant with total fund of RM20 Million for a duration of ten years.  The research program involves collaboration with Wageningen University (The Netherland), Feng Chia University (Taiwan), Thailand Institute of Scientific and Technology Research (Thailand), Universitas Sumatera Utara (Indonesia), Lembaga Ilmu Pengetahuan Indonesia (LIPI) and several local universities.  The scope of the research program covers the conversion of oil palm biomass into biofuels, organic fertilizer, chemicals, generation of clean energy, water recycling as well as techno-economic analysis and these investigations are conducted at a pilot scale facilities located at one of Sime Darby palm oil mill.