Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering
University of Minnesota
2017

Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.)

Industrial Chemical Engineering
University of Sao Paulo
2014

Engineering & Architecture

Specialty Area: Bioprocess Engineering & Biomanufacturing

Reis specializes in the design and analysis of biorefinery systems that convert underutilized carbon streams, including methane, lignin, and agricultural residues, into fuels, chemicals, and biopolymers. His current projects span methanotrophic C1 bioconversion, lignin valorization and biocatalysis, and the techno-economic and life-cycle assessment (TEA/LCA) of integrated bioprocesses.

Specialty Area: Engineering Education Research

As an Engineering for One Planet (EOP) Fellow, Reis is also actively learning about engineering education research focused on institutionalizing the Engineering for One Planet initiative across the engineering curriculum.

CHEG 401 - Separations/Mass Transfer

CHEG 407 - Process Design I

CHEG 414 - Process Design II

CHEG 800 - Chemical Engineering Seminar

CHEG 801 - Graduate Seminar I

First in class with honors, University of São Paulo, 2014

Distinction recognized by the Council of Engineers and Architects of São Paulo (CREA-SP) and the Institute of Engineering.

Science of Impact Award, Department of Biotechnology, University of São Paulo, 2023

Perspectives towards biomass valorization in integrated circular biorefineries

Perspectives towards biomass valorization in integrated circular biorefineries: Insights from sorghum residue-based value chains in Sub-Saharan Africa

Sorghum residues are an abundant, drought-resilient lignocellulosic feedstock across Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) with underexplored potential in circular biorefinery systems. Their underutilization stems from limited technological development, fragmented supply-chain structures, and a lack of integrated biorefinery models tailored to low- and middle-income contexts. This review examines how sorghum residues can be optimally integrated into circular biorefineries, identifies promising conversion configurations and product portfolios across regional contexts, and synthesizes the technical, economic, and policy barriers limiting large-scale deployment in SSA. The review integrates evidence on feedstock physicochemical characteristics, conversion performance across biochemical, thermochemical, and hybrid pathways, and multi-product valorization strategies, highlighting sweet sorghum systems in which co-valorization of juice and bagasse significantly enhances overall biomass utilization.

Methanotrophic Technologies for Low-Concentration Methane

Methanotrophic Technologies for Low-Concentration Methane: Reactor Designs and Performance

Low-concentration methane emissions from landfills, manure management, wastewater treatment, and ventilation streams are difficult to mitigate using conventional capture and oxidation because of high air-to-fuel ratios, variable flows, and unfavorable economics. Methanotrophic bioreactors provide an aerobic biological route to oxidize methane at ambient conditions and, in selected cases, enable valorization into biomass and bioproducts. This review synthesizes methanotrophic reactor technologies for dilute methane, emphasizing the design and operational constraints that control performance. We classify systems into (i) fixed-film gas–solid configurations (biofilters, biocovers, biotrickling filters, and bioscrubbers), (ii) suspended-growth gas–liquid reactors (stirred tanks, bubble columns, and loop/airlift designs), (iii) membrane-based and intensified contactors that decouple methane and oxygen delivery and enhance mass transfer, and (iv) hybrid and in situ approaches for diffuse sources. This review presents key metrics and discusses how mass transfer, moisture and temperature control, nutrient supply, and microbial ecology interact to define achievable removal. We further summarize recent techno-economic and life-cycle studies to identify dominant cost drivers, particularly air handling and gas–liquid transfer, and the concentration regimes where biological oxidation is competitive with catalytic or thermal alternatives.

Phytate and inositol co-production in corn ethanol retrofits

Phytate and inositol co-production in corn ethanol retrofits: economic and life-cycle impacts of phosphorus recovery

Thin stillage from dry-grind corn-ethanol plants carries up to 40% of the grain’s phosphorus as soluble phytate. We evaluated a retrofit that filters and routes up to 20% of this stream through Amberlite IRA-900 ion-exchange columns to recover phytate and, optionally, hydrolyze it to myo-inositol. A modified BuGal techno-economic model for a 100 million-gallon-per-year U.S. facility estimates installed costs of USD 2.75 million for the extraction train and USD 0.93 million for the inositol conversion section, adding only 2.5% to plant energy use. Diverting the maximum 20% stillage raises the return on invested capital from 14.7% to 18.4% and shortens payback to under six years, with profitability highest when phytate is sold directly rather than converted to inositol. Life-cycle assessment performed in GREET shows the retrofit increases greenhouse-gas emissions by 18.5 g CO2-eq L⁻¹ (< 2%) and introduces < 1% changes in regulated pollutants while substantially reducing phosphorus in distillers grains. These results suggest that phytate recovery may provide a promising coproduct pathway for corn-ethanol plants under favorable product-price, resin-performance, and process-integration assumptions. The results should be interpreted as a comparative screening analysis rather than a current investment-grade estimate. The GREET-based assessment indicates small changes in greenhouse-gas and regulated-air-emission metrics, but salt-rich regeneration brine, wastewater treatment, resin lifetime, and market absorption for specialty phytate products remain important scale-up uncertainties. Updated site-specific pricing, product-market validation, and pilot-scale testing are needed before commercial deployment.

Low temperature production of FAMEs from waste cooking oil with ball-milling synthesized mixed lithium salts derived from spent bleaching clay

Low temperature production of FAMEs from waste cooking oil with ball-milling synthesized mixed lithium salts derived from spent bleaching clay 

A ball-milling synthesized mixed lithium salt (Li-SBC) catalyst, composed primarily of lithium aluminate (LiAlO₂) and lithium orthosilicate (Li₄SiO₄), was prepared from spent bleaching clay (SBC). We report herein that the combination of LiAlO2 and Li₄SiO₄ exhibited a synergistic catalytic effect, achieving a fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) yield of 95.2 % from waste cooking oil (WCO; acid value of 1.9) at room temperature. In comparison, LiAlO₂ and Li₄SiO₄ alone produced yields of 7.1 % and 48.4 %, respectively. The synergistic action of Li-SBC was further demonstrated by LiAlO₂ increasing the specific surface area of the catalyst by 5.8 times, while Li4SiO4enhanced its basicity by a factor of 8. Additionally, the catalyst proved to be recyclable, with FAME production yields of over 80 % after four cycles from soybean oil at 55 °C. It also exhibited strong tolerance to free fatty acids, producing 90.7 % FAME from WCO with an acid value of 6.3. Kinetic and thermodynamic studies revealed that the reaction with Li-SBC was endothermic and controlled. This study provides an alternative solution for FAME production from waste materials, without the need for high-pressure equipment, thus contributing to greener and more accessible biodiesel production.

Native and tailor-made microbial cell factories for economic production of bio-renewables

Native and tailor-made microbial cell factories for economic production of bio-renewables: A paradigm shift in industrial biotechnology

This review explores the roles of microbial cell factories (MCFs) in the valorization of lignocellulosic biomass for the development of sustainable biorefineries. MCFs are engineered microorganisms optimized to produce valuable bioproducts from renewable resources. Advances in strain engineering, metabolic pathway optimization, and enzyme production are driving the development of efficient consolidated bioprocessing of biomass, where enzyme production is coupled with biomass hydrolysis and fermentation. However, challenges remain, including the high cost of enzymes, inhibition by lignin, and scale-up. The review highlights key strategies for improving the performance of MCFs, including the use of cell immobilization, strain optimization for lignin degradation, and enhanced enzyme stability through protein engineering. The potential for these MCFs to integrate lignin valorization and overcome biomass processing challenges is fundamental for scalability and overall feasibility of biorefineries. The review also discusses regulatory considerations and the commercial viability of key processes and products associated with such cell factories.

A Dynamic Tool to Describe Lamb Growth and Its Use as a Decision Support System

A Dynamic Tool to Describe Lamb Growth and Its Use as a Decision Support System 

A dynamic model has been developed to simulate aspects of feedlot lamb growth and body composition, including energy and protein requirements, growth rate, composition of gain, and body mass. Model inputs include initial body mass (kg), standard final mass (kg), age (days), and dietary energy concentration (Mcal·kg−1). The model was assessed as a decision support tool using a dataset of 564 individual measures of final body mass and diet energy. The simulations provide graphical and numerical descriptions of nutrient requirements, composition of gain, and estimates of animal performance over time. The model is accurate and precise, with a root mean squared error of 7.79% of the observed final body mass and a coefficient of determination of 0.89 when simulating the same variable. The model can be used as a reliable decision support tool to estimate final body mass and the days on feed required to reach a certain final mass with precision and accuracy. Moreover, the dynamic model can also serve as a learning tool to illustrate practical principles of animal nutrition, nutrient requirement relationships, and body composition changes. This model holds the potential to enhance livestock management practices and assist producers in making informed decisions about feedlot lamb production.

Comparison of the Waterlogging Tolerance and Morphological Responses of Five Urochloa spp. Grasses

Comparison of the Waterlogging Tolerance and Morphological Responses of Five Urochloa spp. Grasses 

Periods with high precipitation and temporary waterlogging in the humid tropics are challenging to the production and survival of some grasses of the genus Urochloa. This study aimed to evaluate the tolerance of five types of grass belonging to the genus Urochloa under waterlogging conditions through productive and morphological traits. The grasses [U. arrecta (Tanner), U. arrecta x U. mutica (Brachipará), U. brizantha cv. Marandú, U. hybrid cv. Cayman and U. humidicola cv. Llanero] were planted in pots and kept under field capacity for 33 days; then, half of them were submitted to (i) field capacity (33% humidity retention) and the other half were submitted to (ii) waterlogging conditions (2 cm of water above soil level) for 28 days. In this study, Tanner and Brachipará grasses showed higher dry shoot mass under waterlogging conditions, which were followed by Llanero, Cayman, and Marandú, respectively. Llanero, Tanner, and Brachipará presented higher waterlogging tolerance coefficients, 78.7, 76.5, and 64.5, respectively, being less affected than Cayman and Marandú (41.0 and 23.1, respectively). Brachipará, Tanner, and Cayman presented a higher root volume under waterlogging conditions, while Marandú root volume decreased by 88.77%. The Tanner, Brachipará, and Llanero genotypes were more tolerant to poorly drained or waterlogged soils than Cayman and Marandú genotypes.

PRESENTATIONS

Invited Talks and Lectures

• 2026 – Guest lecture on methane removal and methanotrophic technologies, Engineering School of Lorena, University of São Paulo, Brazil.

• 2026 – “Integrating Sustainability into Core Engineering Courses.” AEESP Education Workshop.

• 2023 – Invited workshop facilitator, “Principles and Applications of Green Chemistry Applied to Chemical Engineering,” University of São Paulo, Brazil.

Contributed Conference Presentations

• 2026 – “Advancing Sustainability through Curriculum Innovation.” Engineering for One Planet Mini-Grant Program session, ASEE Annual Conference, Charlotte, NC.

• 2026 – A. Moss & C. E. R. Reis, “Mathematical Modelling of Methanotrophic Bioreactors to Support the Partial Oxidation of Methane to Methanol from Low-Concentration Methane Sources.” ACS Green Chemistry and Sustainable Chemistry for the Environment Conference, San Antonio, TX.

• 2025 – “Biochemical Conversions with a Triple-Scale MATLAB Model from Biogas to Methanol.” ACS Fall Meeting, Washington, DC.