Industry leaders meet in Seattle

Apr. 10, 2012, Seattle, WA -World industry leaders in wood materials will
gather in Seattle this week to discuss the role of woody biomass for
production of biofuels in addition to composites. Emphasis will also be
placed on the use of woody biomass for eventual production of jet
biofuels.

Washington State University’s International Wood
Composites Symposium is collaborating for the first time with the
Northwest Advanced Renewable Alliance (NARA) to present "Managing the
Woody Biomass Supply Chain – Impact on Your Business" on April 11-13.
The symposium will focus on global trends, competing demands and
opportunities in the woody biomass supply chain and its impacts on
business success.

For almost 50 years, WSU’s Composite
Materials and Engineering Center (CMEC) has hosted the annual symposium,
an industry-focused forum for wood composite panel/engineered wood product producers, suppliers and researchers. Participants come from more than 20 countries.

With
support from NARA, this year’s symposium will focus for the first time
on the latest developments in the fields of biofuel and bioenergy as
well as on wood and wood-based composite products.

Earlier this
fall, NARA, a broad alliance of private industry and educational
institutions led by WSU, received a $40 million grant from the U.S.
Department of Agriculture for the development of aviation biofuels and
petrochemical substitutes. The grant aims to address the urgent national
need for a domestic biofuel alternative for U.S. commercial and
military air fleets.

NARA researchers envision developing a
new, viable, aviation fuel industry using wood and wood waste in the
Pacific Northwest where forests cover almost half of the region. The
project also will focus on increasing the profitability of wood-based
fuels through development of high-value, bio-based co-products to
replace petrochemicals that are used in products such as plastics.

"Bringing
researchers together with industry leaders at the Wood Composites
Symposium is an important first step,’’ says Vikram Yadama, Symposium
Organizing Committee co-chair. "We believe this is the type of
public-private partnership that is essential for successful development
of a biofuels industry and clean energy economy with a positive economic
impact for the region.’’

Symposium agenda topics will include
future demands for woody biomass; new products, markets and processes
for biofuels, bioenergy and composites; pretreatment and conversion
strategies for biofuels; and advances in composites technology.

Those
attending the event will include leaders from the forest products and
forest operations industries and wood composite industry, federal land
resource managers, policy makers, and biofuel and bioenergy users and
producers.

Mike Jostrom, director of renewable resources for
Plum Creek Timber Company, will give the keynote address on "Resolving
Feedstock Conflicts Between Traditional and Emerging Industries.’’

The event will take place at the Red Lion Hotel on Fifth Avenue in Seattle.

For more information regarding the symposium and NARA, please visit woodsymposium.wsu.edu and nararenewables.org.