ABLC 2017 initial agenda announced

November 29, 2016 | Jim Lane

bd-ts-113016-ablc-2017-sm In Florida, The Digest announced the initial agenda for ABLC 2017 (the Advanced Bioeconomy Leadership Conference) on March 1-3, 2017 at the Mayflower Hotel and in Washington DC.

The theme of the conference is “Performance and Value in the Trump Era” and the speakers will cover more than 200 organizations and technologies from feedstocks through to end-user business cases.

Being Successful in the Trump Era

Who will advance under a new Administration with its own ideas about priorities on climate change, the Environmental Protection Agency, domestic manufacturing, energy security and trade deals? Who will falter?

At ABLC, we’ll have answers provided not only by technologies but by the top trade associations as they plug us in to the latest from Washington. At ABLC, all the leaders are there. Expected on-stage — the leaders of BIO, the Advanced Biofuels Business Council, the Advanced Biofuels Association, the National Biodiesel Board, Renewable Industries Canada, the re:chem Alliance and the Algae Biomass Organization and the American Biogas Council.

200 Organizations, Technologies, and Strategies Go Under the Microscope

At ABLC, you’ll see more than 200 organizations and their technologies or services on-stage, through company presentations and also via ABLC360™, where we turn the tables and industry due diligence experts join us as we tear apart technologies and business cases to separate the true value from the hype. What’s real? What’s new? What’s essential? Every major industry trend is investigated, weighed and summed up at ABLC.

The BioFrenzy™ – In-person networking like nowhere else

At ABLC, you’ll meet more than 400 delegates and up to 300 organizations, via their on stage presentations, via ABLC360™ coverage, or through ABLC Network360™, where we turn the tables on traditional conferences and focus on presenting you and your goals to connect you with like-minded partners, advisors, suppliers, policymakers & regulators, customers, future employers or financiers.

Who’s new? Who’s hot? Who’s a must-know. ABLC is famed as a networking and deal-making haven for the advanced bioeconomy.

Save via the Early-Bird

Five complete conferences in one

ABLC is a connected series of 5 conferences on the most important issues in the Bioeconomy right now.

These conferences-within-a-conference are:

1. The 8th Annual Advanced Fuels Summit

We’ll be concentrating on two dynamic forum for fuels this year.

Advanced Biomass Diesel and BioCrude Forum. Advanced technologies, feedstocks and strategies driving down prices and driving market share for diesel engines – including the latest in pyrolysis, esterification, enzymatic conversion and hydrotreating, as well as feedstocks from conventional oilseeds to advanced algae.

Advanced Alcohols and Alternatives to gasoline Forum. Making cellulosic ethanol, biobutanol, CNG or other alternatives from hydrogen to fuel-cell vehicles? We’ll look at bolt-on, retrofit, and co-product technologies that add value to conventional ethanol plants. We’ll also look at use of existing infrastructure assets — rail, power, logistics, feedstock supply, terminals and fueling stations, that support the deployment of greenfield plants to support the dramatic expansion of fuels under the Renewable Fuel Standard. And we’ll preview new drivetrain options in hydrogen and fuel cells that offer extended range, domestic energy and dramatic emissions reductions.

2. The 7th annual Renewable Chemicals Summit

Two dynamic forums on chemicals this year.

First, the Organic Acids Forum: where can renewable chemicals beat low-cost oil by targeting oxygenated renewable chemicals, used to make higher-value building blocks, lacquers, coatings, sealants, plastics, flavors and fragrances.

Second, the 1-Step to Higher Value Chemicals Forum: using biotechnology to directly produce high-value complex molecules at high yield and purity that must be made in multiple steps from petroleum — e.g. BDO. Big molecules and simpler ones. The focal point: where can renewable chemicals beat low-cost oil through lower-cost, less intense, production processes.

3. The 8th annual Aviation Biofuels Summit

In association with the Commercial Aviation Alternative Fuels Initiative: What’s driving jet fuel to scale? We look at deployment-ready technologies using waste oils, MSW, cellulosic and conventional sugars, veggie oils, woody biomass and more — and signature offtake and investment agreements with the likes of United Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Southwest, Alaska Airlines — and the collaborative support of companies like Boeing and research consortia around the country.

4. The 3rd annual ABLC Feedstocks Summit

In association with the US Department of Agriculture, a one-day session on March 1st at the USDA, focused entirely on developing a sustainable, affordable, reliable, available supply chain for the advanced bioeconomy. How to aggregate at the lowest cost. How to transport it, store it, crush it, prep it, chop it, and time it. On stage- policymakers, financiers, technology developers, owner-operators, media, consultants, and suppliers — looking at MSW, woody biomass, biogas and methane sources, crop residues, waste fats, oils & greases, new energy crops from algae to dedicated energy crops such as sorghum and switchgrass.

5. The 1st ABLC Gas Conversion & Markets Summit

In this session: fuels, chemicals and feed made from methane, CO2, carbon monoxide or syngas. Some use biotechnology for conversion, some use renewable feedstocks, many use both. All are advanced strategies to access extreme low-cost feedstocks and produce viable margins in fuels and exotic margins for chemicals and protein. Where are the markets, what are the prospects? What’s real, what’s hype?

The organisms include advanced yeasts, cyanobacteria, bacteria or algae. The feedstocks either captured in a gas state or gasified from low-cost biomass including wood or MSW. The speakers will cover the selection aggregation and development of feedstocks, the development path for conversion technologies – and address “novel vs off-the-shelf” questions all through the supply chain — and how to build a value chain with investors and customers.

6 Special On-Site Networking and Recognition Events

Plus, this year we have 6 special events in all.

1. The Hot Party™. Celebrating the Hot 40, announcing the 50 Hottest Companies in the Bioeconomy for 2017 and celebrating the Hot 40 announced this month in San Francisco.

2. The Energy Security Forum. Anyone can attend this free event, sponsored by The Digest, where our four high-level speakers address renewable fuels in the context of energy security. We look at dangerous times from the Middle East to the South China Sea, and where and how renewable fuels both domestic and abroad can address supply chain risk, price volatility, alternative supply for crisis periods, and more.

3. The Financing & Investment Workshop. Raising equity or debt now, or soon? Our expert panel overviews the best sources of government, private, and public financing. From using the new JOBS Act to raise capital, all the way to accessing private equity, family offices, sovereign funds, loan guarantees, the bond market, venture capital, strategic investment and more. What works for who, and when and why?

4. The BioFrenzy: ABLC Network360™ — Structured Networking sessions

In these sessions, the Digest will conduct structured networking and introductions built around specific value and supply chains. In a few minutes each day, meet dozens of potential R&D partners, investors, clients, customers, suppliers, deployment advisors as well as representatives from all the major US agencies and departments active in renewables.

5. The Bioeconomy Leadership Award. Prior winners include outgoing Navy Secretary Ray Mabus and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. Who will be the winner this year? Who is providing the most visible leadership for renewable fuels as we enter the Trump Era? We’ll see on-stage at ABLC.

6. The Holmberg Award for Lifetime Achievement. Prior winners include bioenergy legend Col. Bill Holmberg, for whom the award is named, Beta Renewables founder Guido Ghisolfi, and Ensyn chairman Robert Graham. Who will bring home the award representing a lifetime of activity in the sector? From the US, or abroad? A producer, a policy-maker, a supplier, a scientist? We’ll see on-stage at ABLC.

It’s a Global Event

Global Q&A

Both during and after the event, a live global Q&A hosted by the Digest will foster understanding and follow-up both with delegates on the floor and viewers and readers around the world. No opportunity will go unexplored.

Broadcast globally on BioChannel.TV

Selected portions of the conference will be televised globally on BioChannel.TV, and all sessions will be recorded for delegates to review during and after the event. Live new episodes of The New Voices will also be debuted at the event.