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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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.
BIO 2012 News
Bioenergy Expo 2012 in Atlanta, Ga
The second Bioenergy, Fuels & Products Conference & Expo will be held February 28-29, 2012 at the Omni Hotel at CNN Center in Atlanta, Georgia. The first event, held early in 2010, was also at the Omni Hotel, but we are now expanding the program and have...
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