2009 International Biorefinery Conference

The 2009 International Biorefinery Conference opened today at the DoubleTree Hotel in Syracuse, New York and  is two days of information on the emerging technology relating to the use of renewable resources for the production of energy, fuels, and other materials.  The conference is bringing together researchers, energy producers, biomass producers, and many others from around the world.  A particularly large contingent of participants has come from China.  As of this morning, attendance was at 158.

The topics being covered range from the production of the feedstock for the various technologies that can convert the biomass into the various products that have traditionally been made from non-renewable resources.  Sessions during the conference include such topics as the Forest Biorefinery, Chemical Processing, Pretreatment, Cellulose and Lignin Conversion, Biodiesel, Fermentation, Byproducts, and the Economics of the various processes.  More information about the program can be found at the SUNY-ESF website (www.esf.edu/pbe). 

The after lunch speaker, Dr. Jennifer Holmgren, the Director  of Renewable Energy and Chemicals at UOP, discussed UOP's effort to produce jet fuel from renewable resources.  In tests, three jets (two 747's and one 737) were flown commercially on jet fuels produced from a variety of biomass feedstocks, including algae.  The demos were successful in showing that they could produce the jet fuel as well demonstrating that it could be successfully used in a commercial setting.  The fuel produced is currently going through the Fuel Qualification Process, which is a sequence of tests at various levels.  It is expected that the fuels will be fully certified in 2010.

The organizers would like to particularly thank the following sponsors of the conference:

Syracuse Center of Excellence

Emerson

NationalGrid

Agenda 2020

Maas Companies

Applied Biorefinery Sciences

New Holland

SUNY-ESF

For more information regarding the information presented at this conference, please see the following journals, which will be publishing the papers from this conference:

Journal of Biotechnology Advances

Journal of Biomass and Bioenergy

Journal of Biobased Materials and Bioenergy