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Emerson to host three biofuels summits

02/26/2009

AUSTIN, Texas – Emerson Process Management, a business of Emerson, is hosting a series of regional summits across the United States to address key factors and recommendations necessary to ensure the successful commercialization of alternative fuels, specifically second-generation biofuels.

The next Emerson Alternative Fuels/BioRefinery Summit will be Thursday, March 19, in Denver, followed by summits in Atlanta in April and Houston in May. Emerson kicked off the series in December in Madison, Wis. 

Alternative fuels industry leaders and investors, academia, and other third-party experts are invited to attend the summits 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. Recent 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 U.S. Department of Energy and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently announced up to $25 million to advance the development of technologies and processes to produce next-generation biofuels. In addition, the USDA recently announced its first-ever loan to a commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol refinery.

Presenters for the Denver summit include:

- T. Randall Fortenbery, director of the RENK Agribusiness Institute at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, who will discuss feedstock challenges for advanced biorefineries.

-  Daniel P. Goldman, executive vice president and chief financial officer for GreatPoint Energy, Inc., who will share a case study on process commercialization of new technologies.

-  Michael McAdams, director of the Advanced Biofuels Coalition, who will address legislative impacts on second-generation biorefinery development.

-  Alan Novak of Emerson, who will show how intelligent process control systems and automation can help biofuels facilities reduce risk for more efficient production and scalability.

The Emerson Alternative Fuels/BioRefinery Summit is Thursday, March 19, from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Doubletree Hotel Denver-North, 8773 Yates Drive, Westminster, Colo. Space is limited. For more information and to register, go to www.EmersonProcess.com/AlternativeFuelsSummit.