Fuel Ethanol Laboratory Manager Conference 2008 Kevin Smith
Videos: HPLC Setup Procedure (WMV, no sound, ~14.7MB) NIR Analysis (WMV, no sound, ~5.8MB) Sachh Cerivis Growth (WMV, no sound, ~3.9MB) Sonic Sifter (WMV, no sound, ~15MB)
Dr. Jerry King
CONFERENCE HELD FOR FUEL ETHANOL LABORATORY MANAGERS Omaha, NE – ICM Inc., Midwest Laboratories Inc., Novozymes and Midland Scientific Inc. sponsored the Fuel Ethanol Laboratory Manager Conference. The conference, held at the Hampton Inn & Suites Omaha-Downtown and Hilton Omaha in Omaha, NE on December 2-3, 2008, was dedicated to bringing together lab managers and lab professionals in the fuel ethanol industry to collaborate and learn information that can be utilized for improving laboratory practices and quality control. The event began late Tuesday afternoon with a tour of Midwest Laboratories, an independent testing laboratory that provides analytical services that encompass the entire ethanol production process. The tour was followed by a social gathering at the Hampton Inn & Suites Omaha-Downtown . The conference was held at Hilton Omaha on December 3. Speakers included the Lead Laboratory Trainer of ICM Inc., Ron Collins, the Manager of Process Quality for VeraSun Energy, Jill Moline, the QA/QC Officer of Midwest Laboratories, Dr. Jerry King, the Whiskey Technical Resource at Jack Daniel Distillery, Kevin Smith and the Workforce Development Coordinator at the National Corn-to-Ethanol Research Center, Dr. Jack T. Ballinger. Sterling Greni of Midland Scientific, a leading supplier to fuel ethanol laboratories, opened the conference and discussed the possibility of forming an association of lab managers for the fuel ethanol industry. David Ellis, also of Midland Scientific, introduced Kevin Smith, where Kevin’s primary responsibilities are maintaining yeast and lactic cultures and optimizing fermentation performance. Kevin’s thorough presentation focused on the f unctions, responsibilities and typical analyses of a distillery laboratory. The conference of nearly 100 lab managers and related professionals from the fuel ethanol industry enjoyed multiple networking breaks and a full lunch. Following lunch, David Ellis introduced Dr. Jerry King whose lively discussion outlined test methods, compliance & best practices in fuel ethanol laboratories. The end of the day included an open round table discussion with Ron Collins, Jill Moline, Dr. Jerry King, Kevin Smith and Dr. Jack T. Ballinger. Topics included the trends in instrumentation in fuel ethanol labs, optimizing antibiotic usage, development of training aspects and various other topics related to the responsibilities of a fuel ethanol plant laboratory manager. The conference concluded with a social gathering at Hilton Omaha. From the overwhelmingly positive response from the participants, future conferences are being planned with more specific topics related to fuel ethanol laboratory managers. “I was pleased that there was a conference specifically geared to fuel ethanol laboratory managers and look forward to future conferences,” said Jackie Andersen, Lab Manager of Southwest Iowa Renewable Energy.
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