European Biomass Conference & Exhibition 2027 Exhibitor List

Former European Commission, DG Energy. EUBCE Industry Programme Coordinator.

Mehdi Lakhdari serves as an Economist at Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) Canadian Forest Service (CFS) . For more than 15 years, Mehdi has focused on innovation and international collaboration representing Canada and developing projects under Mission Innovation Integrated Biorefineries, managing the Sustainable Aviation Fuel competition “Sky’s the Limit Challenge”, but also supporting the development of technology firms. Mehdi also worked on international trade (Canada – US softwood lumber Agreement), green finance and sustainable finance. Mehdi started his carrier in the private sector working for a Geneva based firm investing into oil projects before creating its own company. Mehdi is always looking for new ideas and to develop new projects. Mehdi has 2 Master’s degree, Economics, and Industrial Relations.

Professor Li holds a PhD in Environmental Science and Engineering, from the Beijing University of Science & Technology. He also holds B.S. in Chemical Engineering Tianjin University. His field of expertise focusses on Advanced Biofuels Study including 1.5 generation (sweet sorghum ethanol) and 2nd (cellulosic ethanol, biogas), 4th generation biofules (photosynthetic hydrogen) biofuels research. Established a primary database of Biomass Chemical Engineering Thermodynamics and fundamental research system for solid state bioreaction at nm, μm, mm, and m levels, and successfully developed and tested the largest solid state bioreactor (55m long, 3.6m diameter) for bioethanol production in the world.

An Electronics Engineer by training had an illustrious career in Research, Marketing and business development. His journey on environment protection and Alternative Energy started in 1986 and is now completely devoted to the Bio Energy program. He Chaired the Task force on Biofuels in Karnataka. He later was made the Chairman of Karnataka State Biofuel development Board with the rank of a Minister. He was instrumental in setting up 30 Biofuel information & demonstration centers in the state of karnataka. He engaged over 400,000 farmers to plant and nurture over 45 Million tree based oil seed species in the state of Karnataka and was the architect of the Karnataka state Biofuel policy. He was appointed as advisor to the Government of India on Biofuels in 2014 and appointed Chairman of the Working group on Biofuels by the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural gas; Government of India in 2015. He has been instrumental in drafting the Indian “National Biofuel Policy 2018” and many Biofuel initiatives in India. He has also played a catalytic role in the formation of Indo–EU cooperation in Advanced Biofuels and in the formation of the Biofuture platform. Partner in BEST Associates (Bio Energy for Sustainable transformation) founded in Feb 2021. He has been serving the Industry as an advisor to Indian federation of Green Energy (IFGE) and is the Chairman of the IFGE CBG Producers Forum. He is also the founder Co-Chairman of the Low Carbon Biofuel Forum.

Jim has over 40 years of engineering, project management, business development and government affairs experience in the private sector and federal government. Jim served as the U.S. Department of Energy’s Bioenergy Technologies Office - System Development and Integration Program Manager for the last 12 years. In this role, Jim led the Bioenergy Program’s deployment and coalition development strategy for sustainable aviation fuels. His portfolio included the DOE investments in integrated biorefinery projects focused on advanced biofuels and bioproducts including sustainable aviation, marine and other heavy-duty biofuel applications. Jim also led the DOE Bioenergy international engagement activities, including serving as the Chair of the Biofuture Clean Energy Ministerial Initiative for the last four years, and also completed a 3-year term as the Chairperson of the IEA Bioenergy Technology Collaboration Program.

Paolo Frankl is the Head of the Renewable Energy Division (RED) at the International Energy Agency (IEA), which he joined in summer 2007. In this role Paolo Frankl coordinates the Division’s activities, encompassing the status and progress of renewable energy technologies; renewable energy policies and markets; and system-integration issues. A physicist by training, Paolo Frankl holds a Ph.D in energy and environmental technologies from the University of Rome. Previous positions held were in academia and in private Italian consultancy firms researching renewable energy, life cycle assessment and eco-labeling.

Sergi Alegre (Ph D. Contemporary History) is the actual Director General of Airport Regions Council. Due his position he has participated as speaker in plenty of conferences and events focused on the different topics of the relationships between airports and territories and has been involved in the development of numerous EU funded projects on these topics, especially on the environmental ones with like OLGA, TULIPS, STARGATE, ALIGHT, D-AIR, etc. At the present moment he is member of the advisory committee of 8 EU funded project He is member of the Advisory Committee of Aeroports du Paris Group and of some of the most important European initiatives like the Alliance for a Zero Emission Aviation, the FlyingGreen Stakeholder Engagement and Consultation Group (EUROCONTROL), the Renewable and Low-Carbon Fuels Value Chain Industrial Alliance and the Zero Pollution Stakeholder Forum.

Mr. Jean-Marie Mizzi joined FuelsEurope in August 2023 as Policy Executive in charge of fuels for automotive, aviation, maritime and heating oils value chains. He is seconded from ExxonMobil where he held a position as Low Carbon Fuels Policy Advisor for EAME during the development of the Fit-for-55 package, leading in parallel business development opportunities and performing advocacy with French authorities. Earlier in his career, Jean-Marie Mizzi held a variety of business transformation and business development positions at ExxonMobil. He led the conversion of the Esso branded service station network to a distributor model in France and was a forefront player in the centralization of ExxonMobil’s lubricants and specialties customer service activities in Europe. He also served a number of years in sales and sales leadership positions within ExxonMobil Chemicals and ExxonMobil Lubricants Divisions. Jean-Marie Mizzi has a degree in Mechanical Engineering from Arts-et-Métiers ParisTech | ENSAM.

Chemical Engineering in training, Dr. Marzouk Benali is a Senior Research Scientist and Research Manager at CanmetENERGY, Natural Resources Canada. With extensive national and international experience in process design, intensification, and sustainability assessment, he leads R&D on bioeconomy, clean fuels, hydrogen integration, and biorefinery technologies. His work supports the scale-up of low-carbon solutions, from lab to demonstration, including intellectual property transfer, standards development, and decision-support tools. Dr. Benali’s leadership bridges science, technology, and policy to advance decarbonization in hard-to-abate sectors through integrated, regionally tailored strategies. He is the Canadian delegate to IEA-IETS TCP.

Dr.SSV Ramakumar is currently the Chief Technology officer and Executive Vice President of AM Green- a company promoted by Greenko. In his current assignment, he is responsible for technology scouting, due diligence and adoption of various green technologies that will transform the company’s journey from green electrons to green molecules. He is also a member of the management committee (Board) of AM green, heading the subcommittee on technology & innovation. Previously, Dr. Ramakumar has been Director, (R&D) on the Board of Indian Oil Corporation Ltd., from Feb.2017- July 2023.

Shashi Menon is CEO of EcoEngineers, a clean energy consulting, auditing, and advisory firm recently acquired by leading global assurance partner LRQA. He holds more than 25 years of business strategy and business development experience in finance, investments, and renewable energy consulting. Mr. Menon established EcoEngineers in 2009 to steer low-carbon fuel producers through the complexities of emerging energy regulations in the United States. Today, he leads a global team of engineers, scientists, auditors, consultants, and researchers with deep expertise on global fuels policy, energy and carbon markets, and innovative technologies to meet energy demands. Visit ecoengineers.us.

Biljana Kulisic, PhD, is policy officer at the Unit C2 Decarbonization and sustainability of energy sources within European Commission Directorate-General for Energy. Biljana has over 20 years of experience in concerted policy and assessing socio-economic aspects of bioenergy that she brings to the European Commission. She is looking how scientific concepts can be transformed to the evidence-based policies in biomass use for the climate change adaptation and mitigation. The focus is to use biomass for bioenergy in its best and only when needed, while keeping the eye on the sustainable and circular bioeconomy. She has been involved in work with IEA Bioenergy TCP since 2005, now representing the European Commission. For this session, it is important to highlight that biomethane, either as biogas or its upgraded version, falls under her files.

Bella Zhang is Vice President at Envision Hongshan Carbon Neutrality Fund. Prior to this, she founded and led Plug and Play’s Energy & Sustainability programs in China, fostering corporate-startup collaboration. She holds a Master’s degree in Chemical Engineering from UC Berkeley and a Bachelor’s degree in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering with a Business minor from HKUST.

Alastair leads the sustainable aviation team at ICF, supporting companies and governments across the global industry to reduce the environmental impact from aviation. This includes development and implementation of decarbonization strategies, working with airlines and investors to understand, identify and contract for sustainable fuels, and developing aviation decarbonisation policies. In recent projects, he’s contributed to the EU and UK SAF policies, supported over $10 Billion of investments and offtakes in SAF, and has been a lead author for decarbonisation studies in Canada, US, Japan, Kazakhstan, Australia, Iceland, UK, and ongoing work in South America.