PFI AnnuAl ConFerenCe The Pellet Fuels Institute Annual Conference is taking place July 28 to 30, 2013, and will highlight the various applications of densified biomass fuel. The event attracts a broad range of individuals from the industry, and features two days of educational ses- sions and more. The conference will provide discussions on several key areas affecting pellet producers including: day-to-day operations issues faced by pellet mills, emerging and growing markets, and understanding and meeting sustainability requirements. The keynote speaker of the PFI conference is Carlton Owen of the U.S. Endowment for Forestry & Communities. For more than 30 years, Owen has worked within the forestry industry, including positions with the Sustainable Forestry Board, American Forest Council and the American Forest Foundation. Attendees who register as Diamond or Platinum level exhibitors or sponsors may give a presentation on new products or technologies during the conference’s general session on July 29. These presentations are offered on a first come, first served basis and will be limited to either five or 10 minutes. Visit, www.pelletheat.org for more information on the conference. IGPC ethAnol buys ICM teChnoloGy ICM announced that IGPC Ethanol, based in Aylmer, Ont., has purchased its patentpending Selective Milling Technology (SMT), which also gives IGPC Ethanol a license to use the technology. “Our ICM-designed ethanol plant is located in the middle of Ontario's corn country, and it enables us to produce over 160 million litres of annual ethanol production, as well as produce distillers grains that are marketed and transported to area beef, dairy and pork operations,” said Jim Grey, CEO of IGPC Ethanol. “With ICM's new SMT product, we look forward to benefiting from the product’s ability to increase both ethanol production and oil recovery.” IGPC Ethanol is one of the largest agricultural cooperatives in Ontario and will use the new technology to offer higher efficiency and capacity benefits. UbC's bbrG holdInG Pellet workshoP In VanCouVer For 10 years, the Biomass & Bioenergy Research Group (BBRG) has researched wood pellet production, storage, handling and more, on the new generation of torrefied pellets. It is holding a 1.5-day pellet work-shop in conjunction with the Wood Pellet Association of Canada (WPAC) annual general meeting being held Nov. 18 to 22 in Vancouver. Attendees will participate in sessions outlining wood pellet research and feedstock engineering, including the work being done at the new biomass gas- ification plant on the University of British Columbia’s campus. Some of the topics to be covered are self-heating initiation and spread of heat in wood pellet storage and ways of designing and managing storage to mitigate it, innovations in online measuring of biomass compositional properties, and opportunities to reduce the pellet cost using blends of low quality feedstock. For more information on the workshop visit www.biomass.ubc.ca. Low-CArbon Fuels In the CeMent Industry A new multi-company partnership has invested $8 million in Lafarge Canada’s cement plant in Bath, Ont., with the goal of helping the cement industry adopt low-carbon fuels quickly. The investment is intended to help the Canadian cement industry become more competitive while providing better local value to local communities and reducing carbon emissions. The organizations in the partnership – Lafarge Canada Inc., Natural Resources Canada, the Queen's Institute for Energy and Environmental Policy, and Carbon Management Canada – are looking to reuse as low-carbon fuels local surplus materials and other energy-containing materials not currently recycled. RenewAble dIesel MandAte The Ontario government has said that there will be meetings in the near future to discuss the possibility of a renewable diesel mandate becoming part of its budget, confirming its commitment to renewable fuels. The discussions will seek a renew- able content standard for diesel, and consider the carbon intensity for any qualifying fuel. The budget announcement is the first step in the creation of the mandate, wel-come news for biofuels producers and consumers, according to the Canadian Renew- able Fuels Association (CRFA). The CRFA is recommending a 2% renewable content standard in the Ontario diesel fuel market, and a carbon intensity of at least a 50% improvement over a life-cycle basis. Doing so would require that at least 160 million litres of renewable product be blended in Ontario and could create the equivalent greenhouse gas reduction of removing 100,000 vehicles from Ontario’s roads.