Houston Photos

The week in Houston has, of course, come to an end. But here are a few photos from the event and subsequent tours of Texas A&M University's facilities and Verenium's cellulosic conversion plant in Louisiana. Enjoy!

As noted in a previous post, the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology and UDSA signed an agreement to cooperate on biofuels research.

Exchanging gifts after signing the agreement.

Attendees had charter bus transportation to Texas A&M University in College Station, about an hour and a half's drive from Houston.

Dr. Bill Rooney, an expert on sweet sorghum production, demonstrates the enormous height of some of the sorghum varieites he works with.

Dr. Rooney spoke to a large crowd inside a machine shed while tour attendees dodged rain showers. Dr. Steve Searcy is studying how to use existing equipment and infrastructure to "bale" cellulosic sorghum for transport, similar to the way cotton is baled for transportation.

Crowds listened to presentations on agronomics and infrastructure outside the barn.

Dr. John Mullet offered a tour of the Norman Borlaug Center for Southern Crop Improvement where cutting edge sorghum research is happening every day.

Q: Just how tall can sorghum get? A: At least as tall as the greenhouse ceiling! This sorghum plant has outgrown its home but not its potential.

Dr. Norman Borlaug, Nobel Peace Prize winner, still visits the Center for Southern Crop Improvement regularly.
His portrait and some of his many recognitions and awards hang in the lobby.

The fantastic camera crew which came in from Chicago to film the event, capture some shots of the pilot facility that is turning cellulosic material to a gasoline-like product.

The Conference also provided ample opportunity for networking between people from all parts of the world with a range of interests in sorghum-to-ethanol technology.

Friday, attendees toured Verenium's cellulosic conversion plant at Jennings, Louisiana.

Energy cane, shown here, is used in the plant for conversion to ethanol. Thanks to Dominique Roche for the Verenium photographs.

Biofuels Conference Wraps Up

The International Conference on Sorghum for biofuels concluded today after a week of exciting events in Houston, Texas. The Conference provided an opportunity for scientists, industry, members, consultants, producers, and others to collaborate on the development of biofuels from all types of sorghum.

Plenary sessions on Tuesday highlighted the newest research and technology in the use of sorghum for biofuels. Wednesday allowed conference participants to break into small groups to discuss industry issues. Recommendations from their sessions were presented late on Wednesday.

Thursday, conference attendees toured Texas A&M University’s research plots and facilities in College Station, Texas as well as a tour of a pilot scale cellulosic conversion plant that turns sorghum and other cellulosic materials to a gasoline-like product. Among others, conference attendees heard from Dr. John Mullet, Director of the Norman Borlaug Center for Crop Improvement, from Dr. Steve Searcy who is using modified cotton baling equipment to compact cellulosic sorghum for transport. Between intermittent rain showers, attendees from all over the world saw exciting new research with their own eyes.

Friday highlighted the Verenium cellulosic conversion plant in Jennings, Louisiana. Verenium is conducting cutting-edge research on cellulosic conversion technologies and just broke ground on a 1.4 million gallon per year cellulosic ethanol facility.

Over the next few weeks, watch for video footage of the conference as well as for links to power point presentations given during the plenary sessions.

Reporting After Day 1

Day one of the International Conference on Sorghum for Biofuel will be wrapping up in the next hour or so and I wanted to update you on a few of the things that have happened here in Houston today.

Over 200 attendees registered for this first conference day and the ballroom is packed. It's a reporter's dream...all of the world's experts on one subject are crammed into one room. It's a captive audience and that means tracking down information is as simple as standing up and hollering your question across the room. Ok, not really. The conference has really been fabulously put together and noone has yelled across the room.


Tomorrow, however, will be the day for yelling questions across the room. This bevy of brilliant minds will spend Wednesday collaborating on how to solve some of the industry's most pressing issues so that all types of sorghum can be brought to full commercial market production in coming years.

Thursday and Friday will be field trip days, giving conference attendees the opportunity to see sweet sorghum and cellulosic sorghum plots at Texas A&M University and Verenim's biomass conversion plant at Jennings, Louisiana.

HIGHLIGHTS:

"This conference is a major step for the sorghum industry. The world is taking notice of this crop in a big way and this conference is a meeting of the minds, so to speak, of some of the finest scientists and entrepreneurs in the world. We will all need to work together to solve the energy crisis and this meeting moves us in the right direction."
Tim Lust, NSP CEO

"The case for biofuels rests on the proposition that it can enhance national security and economic well being."

Mr. David Fleischaker, Oklahoma Secretary of Energy, keynote speaker

The International Conference on Sorghum for Biofuels is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Texas A&M University, the National Sorghum Producers, Brazil's Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuaria, the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, and Tsinghua University in the Peoples' Republic of China, and the National Science Foundation.

DDG's from an ethanol plant that uses sorghum.

Chinese Ministry and USDA

Gale Buchanan, USDA Under Secretary for Research, Education and Economics, and Liu Yanhua, Vice Minister of MOST from the People's Republic of China sign an agreement to cooperate on sweet sorghum and other biofuels research.

The Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology signed an agreement about 10:00 AM CT to collaborate on biofuels research initiatives including sweet sorghum and cellulosic sorghum research.

I caught up with the Conference organizer for some background on the agreement:

“We have an existing cooperation between USDA and the Chinese Ministry for Science and Technology,” said Eileen Herrera, Acting Deputy Director for the Office of International Research Programs at USDA’s Agriculture Research Service (ARS). “We cooperate on several initiatives. Signing this protocol represents formal cooperation in the area of biofuels research.”

This conference and the corresponding agreement is a major step forward for the sorghum industry which is getting long-overdue domestic and international attention. Sorghum is a really viable option for ethanol production because it can be grown on so much of the world's lands (80%!) and because it is a very low water usage crop.

Welcome

Welcome to the National Sorghum Producers' "National Sorghum Now" blog. We'll be using this blog to post regularly from the International Conference on Sorghum for Biofuels next week. Exciting!