Presenters
Advanced Biofuels: Industry Perspectives will feature presentations from the leaders of four of today's successful advanced-biofuels companies.
William Frey, CEO, Qteros
Prior to joining SunEthanol, Dr. Frey led DuPont Biofuels, a worldwide business development effort to commercialize advanced biofuels and new cellulosic process technologies. He has broad partnership experience with industry leaders such as BP, British Sugar, Statoil and Genencor, as well as significant experience working with various government agencies, including the U.S Department of Energy. He has served as a board member for Vivergo Fuels, the DuPont representative on a 100M+ gal. capacity biofuels joint venture in the UK with BP and British Sugar.
Doug Rivers, Director of R&D, ICM
Dr. Rivers oversees ICM's laboratory and pilot plant operations in St. Joseph, Missouri, and directs the company's laboratory at its headquarters in Colwich, Kansas. Prior to joining ICM, he was responsible for a variety of successful development, scale-up and commercialization efforts, including starch and cellulose conversion to ethanol. While at ADM in Clinton, Iowa, Dr. Rivers implemented the first commercial-scale application of adsorption/desorption technology, made dramatic improvements in the production of thermostable αlpha-amylase, and directed installation of yeast propagation systems for fuel and potable ethanol production.
Jason Pyle, CEO, Sapphire Energy
Dr. Pyle holds an appointment as adjunct professor of bioengineering at Vanderbilt University where he has worked to develop cross-disciplinary programs of biological and engineering research. He holds numerous pending and issued patents and has worked in diverse cross-discipline areas such as nanofabrication, optical engineering, and structural biology. Dr. Pyle has established numerous corporate partnerships between small technical companies and some of the world's largest corporations and has completed finance, technical and manufacturing transactions in Singapore, Japan, and China.
Paul T. Anastas, CTO, Greenleaf
Widely regarded as the father of green chemistry, Dr. Anastas directs the Yale Center for Green Chemistry and Green Engineering and is the Teresa and H. John Heinz III chair of Chemistry for the Environment at Yale University. Prior to founding and directing the Green Chemistry Institute in Washington, D.C., he was Assistant Director for Environment at the White House Office of Science and Technology. He began his career at the U.S. EPA, where he was the Chief of Industrial Chemistry before joining the White House staff. Dr. Anastas currently serves on the National Advisory Council for Environmental Policy and Technology.
Presenting Companies:
Qteros, a fast-growing Massachusetts company based on the research of Dr. Susan Leschine, is scaling up a unique microbial solution for converting non-food plants and waste into clean transportation energy. The company's proprietary Complete Cellulosic Conversion (C3) platform uses the Q Microbe™ to convert cellulosic plant material to ethanol through a process that is nearly carbon neutral. The microbe can be utilized with a wide variety of feedstocks and low-grade agricultural waste, making it versatile, economical, and efficient.
ICM, Inc., a privately held Kansas company founded by Dave Vander Griend, has focused on sustaining agriculture through innovation by engineering, building, and supporting the renewable fuel industry's leading biorefineries. ICM is developing new technologies through the testing of a biomass gasifier to convert various waste feedstocks into a valuable producer gas for power generation in industrial and commercial applications.
Sapphire Energy, a California company founded by Drs. Jason Pyle, Kristina Burow, and Nathaniel David, is pioneering an entirely new industry—Green Crude Production—with the potential to profoundly change America's energy and petrochemical landscape.
Greenleaf Biofuels of Connecticut, founded by Gus Kellogg, was one of the first biodiesel distributors in New England. The company is developing a biorefinery to convert waste vegetable oils into fuel for use as transportation and home heating oil.