The 2nd annual Northwest Wood-Based Biofuels & Co-Products Conference is an opportunity for regional leaders to communicate research findings and promote collaboration to convert wood to biofuels with focus on supply chain development, environmental impacts, co-products development for economic viability, K-12 education, and workforce development. Although the focus of the two-day conference will be on regional efforts, a national and global perspective would also be included. 

Three themes will be highlighted at the conference:

A Look at the Bigger Picture: Providing an overview of large-scale national and regional projects established to develop a wood-based biofuel industry in the Pacific Northwest.

Into the Details: Outlining four parallel tracks featuring presentations and discussion relating to wood-based biofuels and co-products.

• Feedstock collection, transport and handling, and processing
• Pretreatment, conversion technologies and products, and co-products
• Economic, environmental, and social sustainability
• Bioenergy literacy in STEM education

Moving Forward: In the past decade, funding agencies (USDA-NIFA and DOE), stakeholder coalitions (SAFN), state agencies, and industry have invested millions of dollars and time to lay out a roadmap for a Pacific Northwest industry to use wood-based biomass to produce biofuel and other co-products. Multiple assessments are completed, and it is time to build a supply chain. This session will focus on transitioning from research and development to commercialization.

Speakers at the conference will include Climate Solutions' Ross Macfarlane, who will be discussing the importance of policy to increase the availability of clean fuels.