1st INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON RECENT ADVANCES IN BIO-ENERGY RESEARCH (ICRABR-2015) February 25-28, 2015 Sardar Swaran Singh National Institute of Renewable Energy (An Autonomous Institution of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Govt. of India) Kapurthala, (Punjab) India ABOUT THE INSTITUTE Sardar Swaran Singh National Institute of Renewable Energy (SSS-NIRE) is an autonomous Institution of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), Govt. of India. The Institute is an up-coming R&D centre with its mandate to focus on Bio-energy and develop innovative technologies in the area of renewables and biofuels. The vision of the Institute is to carry out state-of-the-art R&D covering the entire spectrum of bioenergy leading to commercialization and their integration with other renewable energy technologies. One of the important roles envisaged for the institute is human resource development at all levels in the field of Bio energy. R&D activities have already been initiated in the area of Biomass and Energy Management, Thermochemical Conversion, Biochemical Conversion, Chemical Conversion, Electrochemical Processes including hybrid energy systems. SCOPE Energy security and environment are the primary and important issues to any country. The exhaustive use of fossil-fuel sources has raised the serious concerns worldwide not only about energy security but also for negative impact on environment. Now there is a need to shift the current energy spectrum to green energy by creating the advance technologies to utilize the renewable resources (agro-forestry biomass) for bioenergy production to keep the pace with the growing demand of energy for sustainable development. The research activities in the area of bio-energy including biodiesel, bioethanol, biomethanation, biomass gasification, biomass cookstove, etc. is receiving unprecedented attention all over the world due to their potential in finding replacement of fossil fuels. Agricultural biomass is an abundant renewable resource, which can be converted not only into liquid biofuels but also attracting the R&Ds to create alternative biofuels as potential substitute to fossil fuels. This natural biomass consists of highly complex polymer called lignocelluloses. Key barriers in the production of biofuels from biomass are the processes that release valuable sugars entrapped in lignocelluloses and advanced conversion technologies that utilize all the components of lignocelluloses. Three National Conferences on 'Recent Advances in Bio-energy Research' have been organized at the Institute since 2011; these captured government policies, field experiences, and R&D efforts in the development and promotion of bio-energy in India. As part of our efforts to extend the scope of these conferences to cover global scenarios, the first 'International Conference on Recent Advances in Bioenergy Research' ICRABR-2015 will be organized at the Institute between February 25-28, 2015. VENUE SSS-NIRE is located in India at the latitude and longitude of 31° 22' 45" N / 75° 23' 4" E in the state of Punjab on Jalandhar-Kapurthala Road, 18 km away from Jalandhar city towards Kapurthala. The Institute is located between Punjab Technical University and Pushpa Gujral Science City and it is well connected by both railways and roadways with the nearest railway station at Jalandhar City and Jalandhar Cantt. and nearby airports at Amritsar, Chandigarh and New Delhi. The climate of Kapurthala during February varies between 15oC to 25oC with the humidity in the comfortable range. IMPORTANT DATES Submission of Abstracts Intimation of acceptance Submission of full length paper Registration 15.11.2014 30.11.2014 15.01.2015 31.01.2015 CALL FOR PAPER Original research/status papers, research findings, etc. are invited from academicians, researchers, research scholars and industry in the area but not limited to the following:  Biofuels Policy and Strategies  Economic Evaluation of Bioenergy Processes and Systems  Biomass Resource Assessment  Feedstock availability  Life Cycle Assessment  Mapping and GIS systems  Area selection  Supply Chain Management  Biomass Collection  Transportation  Storage  Biomass Characterization  Pretreatment  Solid biomass  Briquetting  Pelleting  Algal and Marine Biomass  Algal Cultivation  Algal Harvesting and Extraction Systems  Products from Algal Refining  Bioenergy Production, Optimization and Planning  Biomass Combustion, Gasification and Pyrolysis  Clean Development Mechanism (CDM)  Improved Biomass Cookstoves  Bioethanol Production and Separation  Biobutanol Production and Separation  Biohydrogen Production  Microbial Hydrogen Production  Biomass Reforming  Photobiological Hydrogen Production  Biogas  Production  Cleaning  Bottling  Genetic Modifications for Improvement in Biofuels  Integrated biorefineries  Metagenomics for Biofuels  Aviation Biofuel  Biodiesel  Production  Purification  Engine Testing  Techno-economic Evaluation  Hydrocracking for Green Diesel Production  Catalysis for Biofuels  Electrochemical Processes  Hydrogen Fuel Cells  Microbial Fuel Cells  Methanol Fuel Cells  Alkaline Fuel Cell  Biomass based value-added products  Techno-economic Modeling of Biofuels Systems  Socio-economic issues for sustainable development  Waste Water Treatment  Conversion Technologies for Municipal and Industrial Wastes to value-added products  Hybrid/Integrated and New Energy Systems  Climate Change  Merits and Demerits in Bioenergy  Ecological and Biodiversity Issues REGISTRATION FEES Fee Category Academicians/ Researchers Research Scholar/ Students Persons from Industry & Corporate sector Accompanying Persons Till Jan 31, 2015 National International INR 5,000 USD 400 After Jan 31, 2015 National International INR 6,000 USD 450 INR 2,000 USD 150 INR 2,500 USD 200 INR 10,000 USD 600 INR 12,000 USD 650 INR 3,000 USD 150 INR 3,000 USD 150 The guidelines for abstract and full paper submission are available on the website ‘www.icrabr.in’. The abstract, full paper and registration will be made online through the website The registration fee must be deposited through NEFT before registration. The details are available at the conference website. PUBLICATIONS AND SPOSORSHIP The selected full length papers will be published as conference proceedings through internationally reputed publisher. A souvenir will be distributed to all the delegates along with the kit. The sponsors from Industries/ stakeholders are encouraged to support the conference and will be advertised in the souvenir. The details are available on the web site ‘www.icrabr.in’. INTERNATIONAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE  Dr. Robert Dekker, Lakehead University, Canada  Prof. Mohammed Farid, University of Auckland, New Zealand  Prof. S.C. Bhattacharya, International Energy Initiative  Prof. B. S. Pathak, SPRERI, India  Prof. Rajesh Sani, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, USA  Prof. Toshinori Kojima, Seikei University, Tokyo, Japan  Prof. Rakesh Bajpai, University of Luisiana, USA  Prof. S. K. Sharma, PU Chandigarh, India  Dr. Samir K. Khanal, University of Hawaii, USA  Prof. Mohammad J. Tahezadeh, University of Boras, Sweden  Dr. M. O. Garg, Director, IIP, Dehradun, India  Dr. Giuliano Grassi, European Biomass Industry Association  Prof. Giuliano C. Premier, University of South Wales  Prof. I. M. Mishra, IIT Roorkee, India  Dr. Badal C. Saha, US Department of Agriculture, USA  Dr. Lalini Reddy, CPUT, South Africa NATIONAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE        Dr. Praveen Saxena, Adviser, MNRE Sh. A. K. Dhussa, Adviser, MNRE Prof. Subhash Chand, IIT Delhi Prof. S. Dasappa, IISc Bangalore Prof. A. K. Jain, CUP, Bathinda Prof. U. C. Banerjee, NIPER, Mohali Prof. V. Sivasubramanian, Director-Tech, PERC, Chennai  Dr. D. K. Adhikari, IIP, Dehradun  Dr. Dilip Ranade, ARI, Pune           Prof. D. Das, IIT Kharagpur Prpf. Pranab Goswami, IIT Guwahati Prof. V.K. Vijay, IIT Delhi Prof. M. M. Ghangrekar, IIT Kharagpur Prof. M. K. Jha, NIT Jalandhar Dr. Ashok Pandey, NIIST, Trivandrum Dr. D. K. Sahoo, IMTech, Chandigarh Dr. R. K. Behl, HAU, Hisar Dr. S. S. Sooch, Director, SES, PAU, Ludhiana Dr. Kaustubha Mohanty, IIT Guwahati ORGANIZING COMMITTEE CHIEF PATRON Sh. Piyush Goyal, Minister, Power, Coal and New & Renewable Energy PATRON Sh. Upendra Tripathy, Secretary, MNRE CO-PATRON Dr. N.P. Singh, Adviser, MNRE CHAIRPERSON Prof. Yogender Kumar Yadav, Director, NIRE CONVENERS Dr. S. K. Tyagi, Scientist ‘E’, NIRE Dr. A. K. Sarma, Scientist ‘D’, NIRE Dr. Sachin Kumar, Scientist ‘B’, NIRE CONTACT DETAILS Sardar Swaran Singh National Institute of Renewable Energy, Jalandhar-Kapurthala Road, Wadala Kalan, Kapurthala-144601 (Punjab) India E-mail: [email protected] / [email protected] Web: www.icrabr.in / www.nire.res.in Tel. +91 1822 507415; Fax: +91 1822 255545; Mob. +91 93160 27800 /9988864647