The American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) has announced that at its annual conference, it will offer attendees a variety of breakout sessions covering the latest technology updates, strategic planning advice and tips on how to make ethanol plants more profitable.
The conference will take place in Omaha, Neb. from Aug. 10-12, and the breakout sessions will be held concurrently in three rounds on the afternoon of Thursday, Aug. 11.
This year’s breakouts are split into three tracks: leadership and management, technology and carbon. Breakout sessions include:
Leadership & Management Track — Optimization Tactics for Company Processes
All Things HR: Ethanol Plant Labor Challenges and Ways to Overcome Them — Christianson Benchmarking, Pinion, Southwest Iowa Renewable Energy:
- This timely panel will provide insights into today’s hiring practices — what it takes to attract and retain solid team members — and an assessment of data gathered from ethanol plants across the country, as part of Christianson’s annual labor survey, to understand standard practices and discover how labor can impact financial opportunities.
Board Training & Planning: What Has Changed and What Needs To — Pinion:
- Learn how the process, timing and content should change as the industry evolves, companies mature and boards potentially face significant turnover.
Incorporate IT Security into Every Aspect of Your Business — GBQ Partners:
- Understand how to assess IT security and gain ideas on how to set a path forward toward a safer tomorrow.
Technology Track — Advances to Improve Producer Operations
Corn Oil: Getting All the Liquid Gold from Your Plant — Fluid Quip Technologies:
- Getting as much oil from corn as possible favors the bottom line, especially with rising corn oil prices. The FQT team will walk through its newest DCO+ proprietary separation technology.
Driving Value to Agriculture Through Low Carbon Biorefinery Solutions — ICM:
- Learn about beneficial products from low-carbon technologies including diversified feed options, which can be tailored to specific markets, and biochar, which can bring soil benefits to farmers through better nitrogen efficiency.
Producer/Vendor Collaboration Leads to Evaporator System Optimization — Husker Ag, SUEZ:
- This interactive session will provide key learnings from a case study of a successful producer/vendor collaboration and a conversation around best practices from partnerships that have improved producer operations.
Carbon Track — It’s all about Carbon: Capturing it, Reducing it, Scoring it
Carbon Capture and R&D Tax Credits: Worth the Investment? — Eide Bailly:
- Developers, investors and lenders stand to gain significant federal tax credits with the 45Q Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS) and R&D tax credits. Gain clarity around these topics to provide the foundation for identifying and claiming the R&D credits and lowering your company’s tax burden.
Cogeneration to Complement Your Carbon Reduction Strategy — P&E Solutions, RENTECH Boiler Systems, Solar Turbines:
- Utilizing ethanol plant data and modeling, this session will cover how a properly designed CHP system can work in concert with CCS to further carbon benefits and lower the operating expenses associated with it.
Carbon Scoring: The Benefits Outweigh the Costs — ACE, Dakota Ethanol, Christianson PLLP:
- Combined with an overview of ACE’s carbon calculator tool to demystify CI, Christianson experts will help attendees understand California’s LCFS and CCS certification and verification process, including reporting requirements, updating CI scores and farm GHG emission reporting and challenges.
