Wood Bioenergy Conference & Expo

 

February 28-29, 2012

Omni Hotel at CNN Center in Atlanta, GA

The Educational Event for the Wood Bioenergy Industry, Including Wood Pellets, Biomass Power, Biofuels, In-Woods Chipping, Raw Material Procurement

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BIO 2022

Bioenergy Conference New Generation

Responsibly growing an industry that stands to become a large part of the world’s energy economy was a recurring theme among the 400 who made the trip here February 28-29 for the Bioenergy Fuels & Products Conference & Expo at the Omni Hotel at CNN Center. Keynote presentations and technical sessions explored how to maintain and increase the wood bioenergy industry’s growth with responsible, sustainable and safe operating practices.

The conference and expo included two days of keynote presentations and technical sessions (45 speakers in all), with plenty of time for visiting the 75 equipment and supplier companies that exhibited their products and services just outside the presentation area in Grand Ballroom North.

Wood Bioenergy magazine, Panel World magazine and Georgia Research Institute hosted the event.

Opening keynote speaker John Keppler, CEO of Enviva LP, reflected on the remarkable opportunities and challenges facing all segments of the biomass-powered renewable energy industry. “There’s never been a more exciting time” for the industry, Keppler said, but operators at every level of the industry must continue to keep several factors in mind: sustainability, reliability and safety.

He noted that the industrial pellet market, which is driving much of the growth in the Eastern U.S. pellet industry, is expected to grow up to 400%-600% by 2020—by an additional 50-100 million metric tons according to forecasts.

“Biomass is a compelling fuel because wood burns a lot like coal, and for a major utility wood represents a renewable, base-load solution that’s at the low end of the cost curve,” Keppler said, adding that the industry must look for ways to build on that by developing new services and products that add value.

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BIO 2012 News

Eight More Exhibitors Sign Up For Bioenergy Conference In Atlanta

Organizers of the Bioenergy Fuels & Products Conference & Expo announce the addition of eight new exhibitor sponsors for the event to be held February 28-29 at the Omni Hotel at CNN Center in downtown Atlanta, Georgia, USA. The event is hosted by Wood...

2012 Sessions

The 2012 Agenda can be downloaded here.

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 28

MORNING KEYNOTERS SESSION
(Rooms B-C)

Moderator: Rich Donnell, Editor-in-Chief, Wood Bioenergy Magazine, Conference Co-Chairman

8:30-8:50 a.m.
International Markets for Wood Pellets and U.S. Market Growth
John Keppler, Chairman & CEO, Enviva LP

8:55-9:15 a.m.
Wood: Growing Our Own Oil
Jim Imbler, President and CEO, ZeaChem Inc.

9:20-9:40 a.m.
The Hard Reality of Successful Pellet Manufacturing: Separating Truth from Fiction
Steven Walker, President and CEO, New England Wood Pellet

9:45-10:05 a.m.
Biomass to Jobs: It’s Not the Southeast’s First Rodeo
Jill Stuckey, Director, Georgia Center of Innovation for Energy

CONCURRENT SESSIONS
(Rooms A-B-C)

WOOD PELLETS ISSUES & TECHNOLOGIES
(Room A)

Moderator: Tom Lepak, Vice President-Business Development, Casey Industrial

10:50-11:10 a.m.
Auditing/Certification of Pellet Manufacturers by Accredited Third Party Agencies
Chris Barber, Testing Laboratories Manager, Timber Products Inspection

11:15-11:35 a.m.
How to Save $10.00 Per Ton of Production Cost in a Pellet Plant
Günter Natus, Sales Director North America, Dieffenbacher

11:40-Noon
Production of Water Resistant Torrefied Wood Pellets with a Binder Derived from Biomass
Dr. Venkata Penmetsa, Postdoctoral Research Assistant, Department of Forest Products, College of Forest Resources, Mississippi State University

ENERGY & TECHNOLOGIES
(Room B)

10:50-11:10 a.m.
Biomass-to-Heat and Power
Gregory Smith, President, Global Energy Solutions
—Dave Sargent, Managing Director. Global Energy Solutions

11:15-11:35 a.m.
Drying Technologies in the Biomass Industry
Dirk Koltze, Executive Vice President, Siempelkamp L.P.

11:40-Noon
Pellet Mills Offer Unique Opportunity to Internally Generated Energy from Biomass
Rob Cox, National Sales Manager, PHG Energy

AIR EMISSIONS
(Room C)

10:50-11:10 a.m.
Meeting Emission Standards for PM, NOx, SO2, HCl, and Dioxins in a Single System
Rod Gravley, Technology Director, Tri-Mer Corp.

11:15-11:35 a.m.
Emissions from Biomass Combustion and Control Technologies
Dominik Steiner, Process Engineer, Scheuch Inc.

11:40-Noon
Economical Treatment of Emissions from Bioenergy Plants
Dr. Rakesh Govind, President, PRD Tech, Inc.; Professor, University of Cincinnati

AFTERNOON KEYNOTERS SESSION

Moderator: DK Knight, Co-Publisher, Wood Bioenergy

1:35-1:55 p.m.
Biomass Energy Production: A Global Perspective
Peter Vyncke, Chief Executive Officer, Vyncke Energietechniek

2:00-2:20 p.m.
How Manomet Got It Backwards: Challenging the“Debt-Then-Dividend” Axiom
Dr. William Strauss, President, FutureMetrics

2:25-2:45 p.m.
North American Bioenergy Forecast
Seth Walker, Associate Bioenergy Economist, RISI

OPERATIONS ENHANCEMENTS
(Room A)

3:35-3:55 p.m.
EPC Approach for the Construction of Bioenergy Facilities
Richard Cantor, Vice President, Business Development, Southeast Region, Fagen, Inc.

4:00-4:20 p.m.
Latest Engineering Tools & Technology
Johnny Leggett, Project Manager, Hunt Guillot & Associates

4:25-4:45 p.m.
How Successful Companies Are Mitigating Risks and Overcoming Production, Quality and Reliability Challenges in Their Operation
Bijan Shams, President and CEO, Cogent Industrial Technologies

BIOMASS & ENERGY
(Room B)

3:35-4:10 p.m.
Biomass to Energy at Southern Company
Jeff Wilson, Biomass R&D Manager, Southern Company

4:15-4:45 p.m.
Advances in Plantations Systems and Implications for Biomass Plantations
Jeff Wright, Manager, Sales and Product Development, ArborGen Inc.

PRODUCTS & MARKETS
(Room C)

3:35-3:55 p.m.
Biomass as a Forest Product: Landowner and Wood-User Strategies
Amanda Lang, Operations, Manager, Forisk Consulting

4:00-4:20 p.m.
Green Heat for Homeowners: Retailing and Distribution of Wood Pellet Fuels
Jon Strimling, Director, American Biomass Corp.

4:25-4:45 p.m.
Pellet Fuels for the Future
Stephen Faehner, Vice President of Industrial & BioEnergy Sales, American Wood Fibers

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 29

MORNING KEYNOTERS SESSION

Moderator: Brooks Mendell, President, Forisk Consulting

8:30-8:50 a.m.
Biomass: What It Really Takes to Succeed
Danny Vines, President, DMV Petroleum

8:55-9:15 a.m.
North American Biomass Production: The Changing Dynamic in 2012
Kenneth Ciarletta, Plant Manager, Georgia Biomass

9:20-9:40 a.m.
Industrial Wood Pellets: A Fragile Balance
Harold Arnold, President, Fram Renewable Fuels

9:45-10:05 a.m.
The Case for Cellulose for Drop-In Fuels
Ross Harding, Principal, Energy Launch Partners

CONCURRENT SESSIONS
(Rooms A-B-C)

RAW MATERIALS
(Room A)

10:50-11:25 a.m.
The Biomass Siting Analysis Tool (BioSAT): An Economic Assessment of Cellulosic Biomass Supplies for 33 Eastern States
Timothy Young, Ph.D., Professor, Center for Renewable Carbon, University of Tennessee

11:30-Noon
Bringing Sanity to the Timber Supply Markets
Dean McCraw, Principal, McCraw Energy LLC

RESOURCES
(Room B)

10:50-11:10 a.m.
Opportunities in Biomass Procurement—Maximizing Biopower Development
Robert Synk, Manager of Projects, The Parton Group

11:15-11:35 a.m.
Bio-Based Business Opportunities for Forest Landowners
Richard Vlosky, Director and Crosby Land & Resources Endowed Professor in Forest Sector Business Development, Louisiana State University

11:40-Noon
Biomass Optimization—Options and Considerations
Jonathan Rager, Principal, Pöyry Management Consulting

ENERGY TO EMISSIONS
(Room C)

10:50-11:10 a.m.
Pellet Mill Cuts Fossil Fuel Use in Half While Increasing Production— Results of an RTO Upgrade
James Cash, Senior Product Engineer, Megtec Systems, Inc.

11:15-11:35 a.m.
Pellet Dryer Air Emission Control Without Fuel Costs
Rodney Pennington, Professional Engineer, TurboSonic Technologies

11:40-Noon
Bioenergy and Biorefining: The Media Matters
Paul Sims, Global Market Manager – Environmental, Koch Knight LLC

REGIONAL DEVELOPMENTS
(Room A)

1:35-1:55 p.m.
Creating Municipal/County Markets in Bioenergy in Tennessee
Warren Nevad, Municipal Management Consultant, University of Tennessee Municipal Technical Advisory Service; co-founder, Tennessee Renewable Energy &
Economic Development Council (TREEDC)

2:00-2:20 p.m.
Woody Biomass Developments in the Central Midwest
Daniel Cassens, Professor of Wood Products, Purdue University

ENGINEERING/PREVENTION
(Room B)

Moderator: William Pennington, Project Manager, Processes Unlimited International

1:35-1:55 p.m.
How to Protect Biomass Processes from Fires and Explosions
Jeff Nichols, Managing Partner, Industrial Fire Prevention, LLC

2:00-2:20 p.m.
Pellet Mill Engineering 101
Lamar Griffin, Market Sector Manager, Power, Utilities and Alternative Energy, Processes Unlimited International

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