Amid the changing world energy landscape, in order to further expand the development of biomass energy industry and promote academic exchanges and innovations of biomass energy, the 6th International Conference on Biomass Energy (ICBE 2018) was held in Wuhan from October 16th to 19th, 2018.The meeting was co-sponsored by the Biomass Energy Committee (BEC) of the China Renewable Energy Society, the Biomass Innovation Alliance and Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST). It was also co-organized by the Forest Products Branch of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, the Sino-Canadian Bioenergy Center and the Renewable Energy Committee of the China Circular Economy Association. The Institute of New Energy of Wuhan and the Hubei Energy Conservation and Emission Reduction Research Association were responsible for hosting the meeting which received strong support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China, Wuhan Optical Valley Blue Flame Co., Ltd., and Thermo Fisher Scientific.
The conference was co-chaired by Yuan Zhenhong and John N. Saddler. (Yuan Zhenhong is the director of BEC and a senior researcher of CAS’ Guangzhou Institute of Energy Conversion. John N. Saddler is a professor from the University of British Columbia as well as a member of the Royal Society of Canada.) This event gathered more than 500 representatives from over 10 countries, including China, the United States, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, France, Portugal, Ireland, South Korea, Thailand and Hungary.
The opening ceremony was chaired by Chen Hanping, executive chairman of the conference and professor of HUST. The welcoming remarks were delivered by Li Baoshan, Yuan Zhenhong, John (Jack) N. Saddler, Ma Longlong and Zhang Xinliang. (Li Baoshan is the vice chairman and secretary-general of the China Renewable Energy Society. Ma Longlong is the director of the Guangzhou Energy Institute and chairman of the Biomass Innovation Alliance. Zhang Xinliang is the vice president of HUST. )
The splendid invited reports were made by several professors including John N. Saddler, Wu Chuangzhi, George W. Huber, Jin-Suk Lee, Vijay Singh, Bi Xiaotao, Curt Wentrup, Shijie Liu and Chen Hanping. (Wu Chuangzhi is the dean of CAS’ Guangzhou Branch. George W. Huber comes from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Jin-Suk Lee comes from the Institute of Energy Research of ROK. Vijay Singh comes from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Bi Xiaotao comes from the University of British Columbia. Curt Wentrup comes from the University of Queensland. Shijie Liu comes from the New York State University. Professor Chen Hanping is from HUST.)
These reports promoted our concepts and approaches of using biomass energy in new situations and sorted out the specific plans and measures to make bioenergy more efficient and cleaner with high-value. Therefore, they will certainly contribute to adapting the development of biomass energy to the new normal.
The conference received a total of more than 280 abstracts, including 9 invited reports from the conference, 41 thematic reports from the conference venue, 81 general oral reports and some 80 poster reports. In recognition of the outstanding performance of the delegates at this conference, the conference selected 16 "Excellent Paper Awards" and "Excellent Poster Awards" from the on-site oral reports and posters, and awarded those with certificates and bonuses at the closing ceremony. On the morning of 19th, more than 100 experts and scholars went to Wuhan Optics Valley Blue Flame Co., Ltd. in Ezhou city, where is the 10,000-ton biomass pyrolysis base for multi-production and multi-generation.
As a cooperation partner of BEC, some leaders, experts and postgraduate representatives from the Guangzhou Institute of Energy of CAS attended the event..
By HUANG Junjie
