“From the Woods to the Wood Yard” will be one of numerous topics discussed at the fourth Wood Bioenergy Conference & Expo to be held April 5-6 at the Omni Hotel at CNN Center in Atlanta, Georgia. Other subjects will include Products & Technologies, Projects & Operation, Dust Control & Safety, Drying & Handling Technologies, EPA & Biomass. The event, which is hosted by Wood Bioenergy magazine, caters to the wood pellet, biomass power generation and biomass harvesting and procurement segments.

Organizers also announced a lineup of eight keynote speakers—with three speaking each morning and two more after lunch on the first day.

Keynoters and Subjects:

Dr. Cormac O’Carroll, Director, London Office, Pöyry Management Consulting: “European Pellet Markets: Where to Now”

John Keppler, President and CEO, Enviva Family of Companies: “Industrial Wood Pellets and Forest Sustainability”

Carlton Owen, President & CEO, U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities: “Expanding the Forest Sector Tent: The Role of Wood-to-Energy”

Pete Madden, President & CEO, Drax Biomass: “Poised for Growth: New Opportunities in the Biomass Energy Sector”

Brent Boyko, Senior Manager Business Development, Ontario Power Generation: “Coal Replacement with Biomass: How Ontario Displaced Coal and Created New Supply Chains to Reinvigorate the Forestry Sector”

Dr. Richard Vlosky, Director, Louisiana Forest Products Development Center: “Wood-Based Bioenergy: An Update for North America”

Brad Worsley, President/CEO, Novo Power: “Biomass Power in Arizona: Novo Power and the Future”

Norman Johnson, Manager Operations and Maintenance, Dominion Virginia Power: “From the Forest Floor to Electric Energy”

While the conference continues to add speakers and topics, here’s the current list of speakers and technical sessions:

From the Woods to the Wood Yard:

Rusty Booker, Vice President-Fiber Procurement, Drax Biomass: “Customizing Your Procurement to the Resource”

Deck Trevitt, Principal, Woodland Improvements: “Getting into Fuelwood Chipping”

Jerry Morey, President, Bandit Industries: “Increasing the Market for Your Wood Fuel Products by Producing a Quality Product, While Maximizing the Efficiency of Your Wood Fuel Harvesting Operation”

Michael Stanton, Regional Sales Manager, Morbark, Inc.: “Creating New Opportunities for Product Diversification and Growth in the Forestry Industry”

Keith Middleton, Procurement Manager, Fram Renewable Fuels, L.L.C.: “Generating a Raw Material Supply for a New Wood Pellet Plant”

Stephen Tucker, Principal, Tidewater Land and Timber: “Logging Growth with Renewable Energy”

René van der Merwe, Sales Manager North America, Bruks: “Mobile Chips for Energy & Micro-Chips”

Products & Technologies

Andrew Johnson, Vice President, TSI: “The Current Status and Future Challenges of Torrefaction Technology”

Clyde Stearns, President, Bio-Green-Engineering: “Second Generation Solid Biofuels and Steam Explosion”

Russell Burnett, Director and CTO, Applied Gaia Corp.: “Why Gasify When You Could Pyrolyse?”

Sylvain Bertrand, Directeur General/CEO, AIREX Énergie Inc.: “Biocoal Production with CarbonFX Technology: A First Commercial Plant”

Jerry Ericsson, President, DIACARBON Energy, Inc.: “Biomass Conversion into Products and Fuels”

Projects & Operation

Desmond Smith, Manager, West Coast Office, USA, Bruks: “High Volume Pellet Projects: Through a Drone’s Eyes”

Jeff Stephens, Senior Project Manager & V.P., Mid-South Engineering: “Value Creation Through Engineering”

Bijan Shams, President, Cogent Industrial Technologies: “Emerging Trends in Technology Solutions for Improving Operational Performance”

Dust Control & Safety

Ben Kice, System Designer and South East Regional Sales Manager, Kice Industries: “Dust Collection Design and Maintenance”

Jordan Newton, Vice President of Engineering, SonicAire/IES: “How to Reduce Risks of Combustible Dust: New Standards, New Technologies”

Mikael Jidenius, Area Sales Manager, North America, FireFly AB: “Prevention of Fires and Dust Explosions within the Biomass/Pellet Industry”

Drying & Handling Technologies

Tyler Player, Principal, Player Design, Inc.: “Drying Performance with Wet Fuel Combustion”

John Robinson, Principal; Roger Douglas, Director of Engineering, Drying Technology, Inc.: “Total Solution Moisture Control for a Wood Pellet Mill”

Dane Floyd, President, Biomass Engineering and Equipment: “Proper Engineering and the Choice of Material Handling Equipment”

EPA & Biomass

Wes Younger, Managing Consulting, Trinity Consultants: “Long-Term Forecast for Bioenergy Demand—US EPA’s Recent Curve Ball and How to React”

Carrie Annand, Vice President of External Affairs, Biomass Power Association: “From the Tailoring Rule to State Implementation Plans: The EPA’s Evolving Position on Biomass”

The event will also include up to 70 exhibitors in the Grand Ballroom North of the Omni Hotel.