Canadian Biomass Magazine

Wood Bio Conference gains steam

November 9, 2015
By Wood Bioenergy Conference & Expo

November 9, 2015 - The fourth Wood Bioenergy Conference & Expo, which will be held April 5-6 at the Omni Hotel at CNN Center in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, announced the addition of three more speakers to its lineup of keynoters. They’ll join previously announced keynote speakers Peter Madden, CEO of Drax Biomass, and John Keppler, president and CEO of the Enviva family of companies.

Dr. Cormac O’Carroll, director, London office, Pöyry Management Consulting, will address “European Pellet Markets: Where To Now?” He’ll review the impact of recent regulatory changes on European pellet markets as well as providing a perspective on pellet supply, demand and pricing.


Cormac leads Pöyry’s global Forestry, Biomass and Wood Industry practice as well as the London office. Cormac has more than 20 years of experience in the forestry, bioenergy and wood industries. Before joining Pöyry, Cormac worked for the Jefferson Smurfit Group in marketing and strategic planning roles.

Brent Boyko, senior manager Business Development with Ontario Power Generation (OPG), will address conversion from coal to biomass power generation and also the possibilities of co-firing with coal and biomass.

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Brent joined OPG in 2011 as station manager, bringing more than 20 years of operational management and engineering experience in the pulp and paper and construction materials industries. Today he’s accountable for the safe and reliable operation and maintenance of a 211 MW single unit thermal station, which ran on coal from November 1985 to September 2012. Since then, The Atikokan Generating Station (GS), located in Atikokan, Ontario, has converted from coal to biomass. The two-year conversion project was completed on time, and on budget in the summer of 2014 and is now the largest capacity 100% biomass fired electricity generating station in North America. The company not only redeveloped this publicly owned asset, but started a local supply chain with the commercial contracts for two new pellet plants to fuel the station.

Brent’s role is to promote sustainable generating solutions, showcase OPG’s bioenergy program, and leverage its people and facilities into broader research and commercial bioeconomy relationships.

Dr. Richard Vlosky, director of the Louisiana Forest Products Development Center and endowed professor in Forest Sector Business Development at Louisiana State University, will address “Wood-Based Bioenergy: The North America Factor.”


Vlosky has made more than 350 presentations in the U.S. and 28 countries. His areas of research and consulting include biofuels/bioprocessing and bioenergy, domestic and international forest products marketing and business development, certification and green marketing, eBusiness and eCommerce. He has authored or co-authored more than 135 publications and four books.

Vlosky is President-Elect of the Forest Products Society, Board Member of CORRIM (Consortium for Research on Renewable Industrial Materials (CORRIM), Sector Leader-Wood Products for the Louisiana Institute for Biofuels and Bioprocessing (LIBBi), and Louisiana Representative for the Southern Bioenergy Working Group.

Internationally, for 10 years up until 2014, he was the Leader of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe’s Team of Specialists on Sustainable Forest Products. He remains a U.S. delegate as well as being an Outside Expert on the Wood Energy Team.

The Wood Bioenergy Conference & Expo, hosted by Wood Bioenergy magazine, will include eight keynote talks, 40 technical session presentations and 70 equipment and supplies exhibitors in the Grand Ballroom North.

The event immediately precedes the Panel & Engineered Lumber International Conference & Expo, which is held April 7-8. Numerous exhibitors participate in both events.

Wood Bio conference sessions
Organizers of the fourth Wood Bioenergy Conference & Expo announced technical session topics under consideration for the event to be held April 5-6 in Atlanta. 

They include:
• In-Woods Chipping and Grinding: The Optimum Chip Size
• In-Woods Chipping and Grinding Technologies: Throwing Capacities, Feed Systems, Knife Arrangements, Screening Systems
• In-Woods Chipping Operations: Bringing Chipping into Your Conventional Logging Operation
• Fiber Procurement: Finding and Organizing Chipping Contractors To Supply Your Energy Facility
• Urban Wood Residues: A Growing Alternative Resource
• Wood Yard Raw Materials Handling
• Raw Materials Processing and Reduction
• The Influence of Wood Variability (seasonal differences, age, moisture, mixed species, particle size)     on the Different Stages of Wood Pellet Production (primary sizing, drying, secondary sizing, pelletizing)
• Pellet Presses (Mills): When Is the Optimal Time to Change Dies
• Pellet Press Automation
• Briquetting Technologies, Products and Markets
• Boiler Technologies and Upkeep
• Implementation Plan During Power Plant Outages
• Drying Technologies
• Developments in the Commercialization of Second Generation Solid Biofuels: Technologies, Properties, Pilot Plants, Market Drivers
• Current Status and Challenges of Torrefaction Technology
• Meshing Diverse Fuels for Power Generation
• Merging a Combined Heat and Power Plant Into A Traditional Wood Products Operation
• Air Emissions Control: Technologies, Maintenance, Retrofits, Regulations
• Fire Hazard Prevention—Technologies, Implementation
• Technology Solutions for Improving Operational Performance
• Finished Wood Pellets Handling and Transport
• Wood Pellet Sustainability and Certification on an International Scale
• Domestic Pellets Standards: Sampling, Bulk Density, Diameter, Compliance
• Good Machinery Means Good Fabrication


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