Agenda
Technical Sessions
Session 1A* — Feedstock Supply and Logistics
Chair: Peter Flynn, University of Alberta
Co-chair: Foster Agblevor, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Topics for this session include sustainability considerations, environmental and economic impacts, innovative collection, storage and transportation methods, and plant science applications.
Session 1B* — Enzyme Catalysis and Engineering
Chair: Joel Cherry, Novozymes, Inc.
Co-chair: Kevin Gray, Diversa Corporation
Speakers will focus on how to identify, modify, develop, cost effectively produce and use enzymes to carry out a myriad of biological/chemical transformations.
Session 2 — Today's Biorefineries
Chair: Robert Benson, Tembec Chemical Products Group
Co-chair: Paris Tsobanakis, Cargill, Inc.
This session will focus on biorefining operations that exist today and the opportunities and lessons they provide for building the advanced biorefineries of the future.
Session 3A* — Plant Biotechnology and Feedstock Genomics
Chair: Sean Simpson, AgriGenesis Biosciences, Ltd.
Co-chair: Wilfred Vermerris, Purdue University
New approaches will bolster the sustainable success of bioenergy and bioproducts. The potential of transgenic, genetic, and genomic-based modifications to impact the architectural, compositional, or metabolic functions of plants will be discussed in relation to an enhanced renewables base.
Session 3B* — Biomass Pretreatment and Hydrolysis
Chair: Rick Elander, National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Co-chair: Mohammed Moniruzzaman, Genencor International
Novel reactor configurations as well as new process approaches to pretreat and saccharify biomass will be the focus of this session.
Session 4 — Industrial Biobased Products
Chair: Ray Miller, E.I. DuPont de Nemours and Company, Inc.
Co-chair: Matt Tobin, Codexis
Biological rather than petrochemical production of chemicals and other value-added bioproducts will be discussed in this session. Advances in process integration, demonstration, economics, and commercialization will be highlighted.
Session 5 — Microbial Catalysis and Metabolic Engineering
Chair: Lisbeth Olsson, BioCentrum-DTU, Technical University of Denmark
Co-Chair: Aristos Aristidou, NatureWorks LLC
This session will focus on finding new and further developing existing microorganisms for improved performance in producing fuels and chemicals.
Session 6 — Bioprocess R&D
Chair: Michael Ladisch, Purdue University
Co-chair: Peter Yu, Hong Kong Polytechnic University
This session will cover reactor configurations and the integration of engineering with microbiology, biochemistry, and chemistry to produce fuels and chemicals.
Special Topics
A)* International Energy Agency Task #39-Liquid Biofuels
Chair: Jack Saddler, University of British Columbia
B)* "Outside of a Small Circle of Friends:" Changing Attitudes About Biomass as a Sustainable Energy Supply
Chair: John Sheehan, National Renewable Energy Laboratory
*Concurrent Sessions