More than 40 speakers will participate in the Bioenergy Fuels & Products Conference & Expo to be held February 28-29 at the Omni Hotel at CNN Center in downtown Atlanta, Georgia.
The event is hosted by Wood Bioenergy and Panel World magazines and Georgia Research Institute. In addition, more than 50 companies will exhibit their technologies and supplies in the Grand Ballroom North of the Omni Hotel.
“This event is all about wood energy,” comments Rich Donnell, editor-in-chief of Wood Bioenergy and Panel World magazines and the event co-chairman. “It’s not about solar, not about wind, not about grasses. Our event will combine the new generation wood energy with traditional wood energy.”
Three keynote sessions, which will address the entire attendee body, will complement 10 break-out sessions, some of these meeting simultaneously, during the course of the conference. The sessions, each of which will have two or three presenters, are entitled: Wood Pellets Issues & Technologies, Energy & Technologies, Air Emissions, Operations Enhancements, Biomass & Energy, Products & Markets, Raw Materials, Resources, Energy to Emissions and Regional Developments.
“We’ve basically modeled the conference after the coverage of our Wood Bioenergy magazine,” Donnell says. “The emphasis is biomass power, wood pellets, biofuels and biomass feedstock and procurement.”
The keynote sessions will be held each morning and another one after lunch on the first day. Combined they’ll include 11 speakers. The first morning lineup of keynoters includes John Keppler, chairman & CEO of Enviva; Jim Imbler, president and CEO of ZeaChem; Steven Walker, president and CEO of New England Wood Pellet; Jill Stuckey, director, Georgia Center of Innovation for Energy.
The first day post-lunch keynoters include Peter Vyncke, CEO, Vyncke Energy; Dr. William Strauss, president, FutureMetrics; and Seth Walker, bioenergy economist, RISI.
The second morning keynoters are Danny Vines, president, Aspen Fuels; Kenneth Ciarletta, plant manager, Georgia Biomass; Harold Arnold, president, Fram Renewable Fuels; and Ross Harding, principal, Energy Launch Partners.
During the break-out sessions, six speakers will address issues and technologies in air emissions, and four speakers will focus on heat energy. Several presenters will address technologies and programs for improving the running of operations. Several experts will address developments in wood pellets manufacturing and markets. Five speakers will focus on biomass feedstock, supply and procurement issues and developments as they impact landowners, mill operations and the industry overall.
The event has its roots in a half-day conference held in 2010 at the Omni Hotel, according to Donnell. “The success of that event, the success of our Wood Bioenergy magazine since it started up three years ago and the growing enthusiasm for the new generation wood energy industry enticed us to make this a full-fledged conference,” Donnell explains.
All of the exhibitors have signed on as either Gold, Silver or Bronze sponsors. Their location in the Grand Ballroom North is immediately adjacent the three primary meeting rooms of the conference. All of the event’s food functions will be held in the exhibitor area of the plush ballroom.
The Bioenergy event on February 28-29 immediately precedes the third Panel & Engineered Lumber International Conference & Expo (PELICE) on March 1-2 also to be held in the Grand Ballroom North and hosted by Panel World magazine. Many of the exhibitors are participating in both events, and some attendees will register for both events as certain technologies and supply issues naturally fall over into the wood products industries.
Visit www.bioenergyshow.com to view the registration options, which include registration for the full Bioenergy conference or for both the Bioenergy conference and PELICE, as well as one-day registration options.
“We feel the wood energy industry is at an important stage of development in our nation’s energy infrastructure,” Donnell says. “We hope that those who attend our conference will get a real feel for where we’re headed and for the companies and individuals who are leading the way.”