Emerson To Host Alternative Fuels/Biorefinery Summit
Austin, TX - Emerson Process Management will host the third in its series of regional summits across the United States to address recommendations to help drive the successful commercialization of alternative fuels, specifically second-generation biofuels. The next Emerson Alternative Fuels/BioRefinery Summit will be Thursday, May 28, in Atlanta, followed by a summit in Houston later this summer.
Alternative fuels industry leaders and investors, academia, and other third-party experts are invited to attend the Atlanta summit to discuss how to successfully tackle the challenge of translating alternative fuels technology into large-scale production of renewable and eco-friendly transportation fuels or energy for refineries, chemical plants, pulp mills, and other industries.
"Alternative fuels are becoming ‘imperative fuels' in order to meet the global energy demands of the future," said Alan Novak, director of alternative fuels for Emerson Process Management. Estimates suggest the United States could produce enough ethanol to displace nearly a third of all gasoline use by 2030, assuming companies demonstrate and implement commercially viable methods for turning non-edible biomass, such as garbage, wood waste, or sawgrass, into liquid fuels. The recently signed American Recovery and Reinvestment Act allocates $16.8B for the Department of Energy's Office of Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) programs and initiatives. This includes $800 million for biomass research, development, demonstration and deployment.
"Emerson has a track-record of helping companies with highly complex, complicated processes successfully lower their costs and risks of production, improve uptime and reliability, and provide certainty and predictability during new and somewhat uncertain operations," said Novak. "It's our hope these summits will provide opportunities to share best practices and real-world experiences to help pave the way for a successful biofuels industry."
Presenters for the Atlanta summit include:
- J. David Dunagan, renewable energy manager for the Georgia Center for Innovation of Energy
- Benjamin A. Thorp, renewable energy consultant, who will discuss feedstock challenges for advanced biorefinieries
- Jeffery S. Hsieh, Ph.D, director of the Georgia Institute of Technology, who will address new pathways for feedstock conversion
- Michael McAdams, president of the Advanced Biofuels Association, will discuss the legislative climate for advanced biofuels
- James Stanley, manager for alternative fuels for Emerson, who will discuss reducing project risk, costs and scheduling - from blueprint to production
The Emerson Alternative Fuels/BioRefinery Summit is Thursday, May 28, from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Georgia Tech Hotel and Conference Center, 800 Spring Street, NW, Atlanta, Ga. Space is limited. For more information and to register, go to www.EmersonProcess.com/AlternativeFuelsSummit.
SOURCE: Emerson Process Management, Power & Water Solutions