Viaspace, Inc. (VSPC)

[Tanne]

Viaspace, Rentech to present at Pacific West Biomass Conference & Expo
By Anna Austin


Posted November 20, 2009, at 11:44 a.m. CST

Carl Kukkonen, CEO of Viaspace Inc., and Michael Fatigati, director of biomass business development for Rentech Inc., will be presenting at the Pacific West BIOMASS Conference & Expo., the first of a series of regional biomass events that Biomass Magazine is sponsoring in 2010.

The conference and expo will be held Jan. 11-13 at the Hyatt Regency in Sacramento, Calif., and will focus on biomass utilization in California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Nevada. The conference will feature more than 60 speakers organized into 18 panels.

Kukkonen will appear on the panel called Feedstocks for Next Generation Biofuels and will inform conference attendees about Viaspace, which holds a worldwide license to grow and cultivate Giant China King Grass, a fast-growing perennial plant that can grow nearly four meters in 60 days and can be harvested four times a year, producing yields of up to 156 metric tons (172 tons) per acre.

The company currently has more than 1 million seedlings on 112 acres in the Guangdong Province in southern China, and recently signed a memorandum of understanding with Beijing-based biomass power provider DP Cleantech to supply the grass for testing at a 30-megawatt power plant.


Article Continues After Advertisement
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Kukkonen will be joined by Fatigati, who will detail Rentech’s biomass gasification process, which can convert multiple biomass feedstocks into synthesis gas for production of renewable fuels and power. The company is currently developing a renewable synthetic diesel plant in Rialto, Calif. Rentech also has an alliance with Honeywell’s UOP LLC to combine technologies for a solution to produce synthetic fuels from biomass feedstocks.

Dallas Hanks of FreeWays to Fuels and Scott Johnson, president of Sustainable Oils Scott Johnson will complete this panel.

“Delivering massive quantities of biomass to refineries for power production has proven to be quite a challenge with a number of considerations that need to be made,” said Tim Portz, BBI International program manager. “The speakers on this panel are taking a number of different approaches to solve that problem.”

Conference attendees will also have the opportunity to visit an operating biomass power facility, a wastewater treatment plant capturing and utilizing biogas, and a private technology development laboratory housing multiple biomass technologies in various stages of development.

To register or to see the agenda for the Pacific Northwest Biomass Conference & Expo, go to http://pacificwest.biomassconference.com.

Biomass Magazine is also holding the 2010 International BIOMASS Conference & Expo May 4-6 in Minneapolis. To find out more about this conference, visit the Web sit at www.biomassconference.com.