Conferences

Argus Biomass Asia Conference

Singapore
24-26 February 2025
View pricing
5剩余天数

Speaking opportunities

For speaking opportunities contact:

Shyla Bector
Conference Producer
Email: shyla.bector@argusmedia.com

Featured speakers in 2025 include:

Tuan Haji Zainal Abidin Bin Haji Abdullah
General Manager, Sarawak Timber Industry Development Corporation

Tuan Haji Zainal Abidin Haji Abdullah became the General Manager of the Sarawak Timber Industry Development Corporation (STIDC) on 1st. August 2023. With over 30 years of experience in the forestry and timber sectors, he brings extensive expertise and strategic insight. He began his career in 1992 as a Forest Officer with the Sarawak Forest Department, later taking on leadership roles at Sarawak Forestry Corporation Sdn Bhd (SFC), including Deputy General Manager in 2018. Tuan Haji Zainal played a key role in the development of the 2019 Forestry and Timber Industry Masterplan for Sarawak and later became General Manager of Harwood Timber Sdn Bhd. He was appointed Chairman of the Malaysian Timber Council in 2023. Tuan Haji Zainal focuses on sustainability, addressing industry challenges, and aligning with the state’s Post COVID-19 Development Strategy (PCDS) 2030 to drive Sarawak's growth. He holds degrees in Forestry and Business Administration.

Yoshinobu Kusano
Founder and CEO, YK Partners

Mr. Yoshinobu Kusano established his own consulting company, YK Partners, Inc. in 2018 and took the position of CEO. He also takes a position of Senior Asian Policy Advisor to FutureMetrics from 2018. Before that he joined RENOVA as Executive Advisor in 2017 and is going to leave Renova at the end of January 2025. Prior to that, he worked for Sumitomo Corporation head office as well as offices in Saudi Arabia and in Johannesburg (Republic of South Africa) as its representatives. He has been involved in the start-up of overseas plantation forest management and operation joint ventures as Director. From 2003, he has been intensively focusing on biomass fuel development and sourcing as a head of Biomass Group of Sumitomo Corporation. He holds a BA in Law from Waseda university.

Hiroaki Goto
Manager for Fuel Procurement and Sales, Erex

Mr. Goto joined Erex in December 2016 and has been doing procurement & sales activity of biomass fuel. From October 2019, he changed its activity base from Japan to Singapore where is more accessible to suppliers in Asia Pacific region. Prior to joining Erex, he worked for a Japanese trade house based in Tokyo, Osaka, Australia and Singapore in the fields of minerals & resources business and business development for over 20 years.

Thomas Meth
Head of Biomass, Javelin Commodities

Mads Thomsen
Director- Trading, CM Biomass

Mads works as a Managing Director for the world-leading value-adding biomass aggregator and producer, CM Biomass. His role revolves around managing the global biomass portfolio, logistics and freight (wood pellets in particular) with a key focus on caretaking the company’s commercial activities in Latin America, Mediterranean and Asia-Pacific. His activities strive towards balancing supply and demand through flexible and efficient logistics solutions in a market characterised by constant change and volatility, where adding value throughout the value chain from the suppliers to the end-users is considered vital. With a strong diversified portfolio along with a continued growth of own-production, CM Biomass is positioned to expand its network further around the world. Before joining CM Biomass 6 years ago, he spent several years working within the shipping and commodity industry already back then focusing on energy commodities, in particular.

Dominique Kuehner
Industry Director, Biofuel, Andritz

Dominique Kühner is an accomplished professional with over 25 years of experience delivering equipment, systems, and comprehensive solutions for various industrial applications in Mining/Minerals, Chemical, and Agriculture. After obtaining his Process Engineering degree from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich, he began his career as a Project Manager and Commissioning specialist at W. Kunz dryTec AG in 1996. Mr. Kühner quickly advanced to the role of Managing Director before moving to GEA Barr-Rosin in 2006, where he served as a Senior Business Development Manager. In 2012, he relocated to the UK, assuming the role of global Director of Sales Responsibility. Subsequently, in 2016, Mr. Kühner joined the Moret Industries Group as Director of Sales and Technology, initially supporting Promill S.A.S in France before transitioning to VetterTec Ltd in the UK. In 2021, Mr. Kühner became part of ANDRITZ Feed & Biofuel as Industry Director for Biomass, Waste and Industrial Application. Leading a diverse global team spanning Denmark, The Netherlands, France, and Brazil, he is responsible for developing and executing the global strategy for Biomass, Waste, and other Industrial Applications within the ANDRITZ Feed & Biofuel product portfolio. Additionally, he spearheads the development and implementation of a Plant Solution-based approach optimized to meet the evolving needs of the company’s customers worldwide.

Dato Leong Kin Mun
President, Malaysia Biomass Industries Confederation

John Teal
Vice President, TSI

Carsten Huljus
Chief Executive Officer, Sustainable Biomass Program (SBP)

Carsten Huljus is Chief Executive Officer of the Sustainable Biomass Program (SBP), a not-for-profit multi-stakeholder organisation that has developed an independent third-party certification system to provide assurance that biomass is sourced from legal and sustainable sources. Initially trained as a forester he has been working in the voluntary sustainability certification sector with schemes like FSC, PEFC and SBP in global forest industries for more than 22 years, in various management positions.

Kelvin Hong
Chairman, Great Resources

Hong Hao is the founder and chairman of Great Resources New Energy, a company provides comprehensive solution to the need of bioenergy with business range covering biomass fuel trading, biomass boiler design and manufacture, and bioheat plant operation. Over the past 17 years, Hong has contributed significantly to the wider use of bioenergy in China by supplying carbon neutral bioheat to industrial, commercial and residential customers. His pioneering work by supplying bioheat to biopharma cluster and constructing CHP plant has helped emission reduction greatly. He also played an important role in setting biomass boiler emission standard at local and national level.

Fumie Akiyama
Manager, Sumitomo Corporation

Fumie has over five years of experience as a biomass pellet trader and marketer. Since joining Sumitomo Corp after graduating in 2017, she has developed expertise in the field, including experience in the North American market.

Marco Kim
Global Cooperation Adviser, STX Corporation

Marco is the head of STX Forest Malaysia for managing manufacturing and trading woodpellet in Malaysia. He has been in the biomass business for more than 10 years in various roles, as a woodpellet plant manager in SK Forest, as a trader for Genco’s co-firing market in Korea and as a developer for dedicated biomass power plants. His insights on the global market has been expanded with experiences in Malaysia especially on availability and sustainability on biomass resources in SEA. Now he is works as Global Cooperation Advisor in Korea Forest Biomass Energy Association, specializing in Korean market demand and supply from domestic and biomass resources from abroad.

Rob Aaravold
Commercial Director, Swire Bulk Pte Ltd

Dharmesh Kumar Kewat
Executive - National Biomass Mission (SAMARTH), NTPC Limited

Dharmesh Kumar Kewat is an accomplished learner, consultant, clean energy advocate, and environmentalist specializing in biomass energy. With over ten years of diverse experience, he has been at the forefront of advancing sustainable and clean energy solutions. Currently serving at NTPC Limited, Dharmesh plays a pivotal role in India’s National Biomass Mission, focusing on policy development, stakeholder engagement, and pioneering energy strategies. His career includes impactful roles at organizations such as Ernst & Young, where he worked on energy transition, climate change, and project execution in renewable and thermal energy systems. With advanced qualifications in thermal engineering, energy management, and global training in energy finance and strategy from Spain and Hungary, Dharmesh offers a global perspective on local challenges. His expertise spans biomass utilization, decarbonization, ESG, and clean energy technologies. Driven by a passion for sustainability, he is committed to transforming the energy landscape through innovative and impactful solutions.

Mai Ly
Wood Pellet Factory Director, Tam Sen Group

Starting her career as a Production Manager Assistant in the biomass industry, Mai Ly rapidly advanced to become Director of a 200,000-capacity factory in Vietnam within just two years. Driven by a passion for renewable energy, she aspires to create employment opportunities in rural Vietnam and contribute to environmental sustainability.

Sasank Goli
Renewable Energy Director, Nike

Sasank Goli has over 25 years of experience spanning technology, operations, and finance in energy and sustainability. As Principal for Climate and Energy at Nike, he leads global supply chain energy strategy, driving cost-effective and scalable decarbonization initiatives including rooftop solar, offsite power purchase agreements, cleaner fuels, and energy efficiency at Nike supplier factories worldwide. In earlier roles, Sasank served as energy investments consultant at Asian Development Bank, Technical Director at GE Energy, and Program Manager at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, where he focused on advancing clean energy technologies and climate change initiatives.

Miho Okuno
Sustainability Manager, Renova

Miho Okuno is a Sustainability Manager of RENOVA, Inc. in Tokyo. She joined RENOVA as consultant in 2009 and has provided consulting services for central/local governments and private sector in the fields of recycling, biomass utilization, carbon crediting, energy efficiency projects in domestic and SE countries. In recent years, she is involved in the biomass sustainability and work closely with Biomass Power Association Japan (BPA). She obtained her master’s degree in molecular biology from the Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo.

Akito Kimura
Chief Engineer, Daigas Gas and Power Solution Co.,Ltd.

In 2020, Mr. Kimura joined the Thermal Power Department, Daigas Gas and Power Solution Co, Ltd as an engineer, where he was involved in digital transformation projects and technical study related to power generation plants. In 2023, he experienced the silo fire incident at dedicated biomass power plant and was in charge of the cause analysis and planning of preventive measures. Before this, he worked for 8 years as an EPC engineer to the development of the oxygen-blown Integrated Coal Gasification Combined Cycle Power Demonstration Plant in Japan.

Thareq Ariffin
Manager - Market Transformation, Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO)

Thareq is a Manager in RSPO, involved in Market Transformation strategies and planning to increase the production and uptake of Certified Sustainable Palm Oil and supporting the growth of biomass, biochemicals, bioenergy and advanced biofuels industries globally. In his past experience, he has worked with PETRONAS and multiple government agencies overseeing the biomass and waste-to-wealth policy implementation such as the National Biomass Strategy (NBS) and Biomass Industry Development Plan in 2016-2020 during his attachment with the National Innovation Agency. He was then transferred to Malaysian Investment Development Authority, involved in the strategic investment of high impact biomass and circular projects attracting sustainable high-quality investment into Malaysia. He has helped multiple industries to transition towards circular and sustainable businesses throughout his career.

Shimon Hama
Associate Director of Investments, New Forests Asia

Samuel Setiawan
Head of Centralized Biomass Business, Sinarmas Agri and Food

Samuel is the Head of Centralized Biomass Business at Sinarmas Agri and Food, the world leading integrated palm oil plantation company in Indonesia. He also serves as the CEO of PT Golden Biomass Energy, the trading arm of Sinarmas Agri, which supplies sustainable palm-based solid biomass, currently primarily Palm Kernel Shell (PKS), to both domestic and international markets. With over 20 years of experience in the power generation and renewable energy sector, Samuel has worked with Indonesian, Japanese, and European companies, bringing a global perspective to conventional and renewable energy solutions. His expertise lies in developing sustainable biomass supply chains, driving energy transition strategies, and fostering international partnerships to accelerate the adoption of renewable energy.

Chia-Chi Chang

Chia Chi Chang
Senior Researcher, Taiwan Bio-energy Technology Development Association

Chia-Chi Chang was awarded a PhD in Environmental Engineering by National Taiwan University (NTU) and is currently the director of the Taiwan Bio-energy Technology Development Association. He has research and application experience in bioenergy, environmental engineering, and waste-to-fuel conversion. Dr. Chang has been committed to promoting Taiwan's bioenergy industry for more than 15 years. He assists the government in developing bioenergy policy, solid biofuel regulations, and quality standards. With his extensive experience, he also assists the industry in planning the use of biofuels and coal-to-biomass.

Dipjay Sanchania
Director - Climate and Energy, Adidas

Ir. Ts. Dr. Gideon Tan
Head - Group Transformation Division, FGV Holdings Berhad

Ir. Ts. Dr. Gideon Tan, an MEng graduate from Imperial College London and a Doctorate in Business Administration, began his career as a Technical Executive in FGV's Downstream Division, mastering technical operations at oil and fats refineries and manufacturing plants. He later transitioned to a strategic role in FGV Holdings Berhad's Group CEO office, where he spearheaded group-level technical initiatives and executed improvement projects across the supply chain, including research and development, estate management, and production processes. In 2020, he was appointed Head of the Transformation Management Office at FGVHB, where he leads business efficiency enhancements and drives Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) initiatives integral to FGV’s Net Zero Agenda. A prominent advocate for sustainability, he has championed the integration of solar, biomass, and energy efficiency measures, representing FGV at international platforms.

Hector Ingram
Founder and Group COO, RAW Energy Ventures Pte Ltd.

Spent 23 years until 2007 with BP Chemicals including a stint as BP’s Synthetic Ethanol Product Manager in the mid 90’s. which was the start of an exposure to biofuels, leading to an interest in sustainable development in general. Family ties to farming kick-started an interest in how farming can quite literally change the world. Since 2010 have been working with partners looking at high yielding energy grasses in Asia and South America, leading to the founding of RAW Energy in Feb 2021 and its subsidiary companies. The intial project, RAW Solid Fuels, a Napier Grass farm (we term it ‘HTG’ or Hybrid Tropical Grass) and associated pelletisiation facilitiies located in Sarawak producing high calorie carbon-negative pellets for sustainable power generation with additional operations to open in 2026 in Suriname. This expanded into the establishment of RAW Biofuels for the wider assessment of sustainable biofuels from HTG, and the recent development of our self-build power generation entity called RAW Power, using our carbon-negative HTG feedstock.

Michael Wild
President, International Biomass Torrefaction and Carbonization Council IBTC

Michael Wild, economist, and engineer by education, is active in biomass and renewable energies for practically his entire 35 years professional career and a frontrunner in the bioenergy sector. Michael's expertise includes advising on biomass mobilization, processing, and upgrading, the handling of contractual and regulatory matters as well as the financial engineering on biomass processing or consuming facilities. He developed biomass fired district heating systems, worked with and for IFIs and EC in renewable programs, established the first ever online trading platform for biomass, initiated the acceptance of Palm Kernel Shell as power plant fuel and organized the first ever shipment and following continuous supply of PKS from Indonesia to Europe in 2003 in parallel to other ag biomass, wood chips and pellets. He led the development of one of the first continuous torrefaction processes and holds for 12 years the presidency of the International Biomass Torrefaction and Carbonization Council IBTC.

Nikunj Nangalia
Head of APAC, ReNew

Nikunj Nangalia is a senior leader in the clean energy space having more than 16 years of experience covering various facets of business development, corporate strategy, proposals and project development in oil and gas and renewable energy projects. In his current role, Nikunj is responsible for managing all strategic partnerships in the APAC region and building a customer base across all offerings of ReNew, such as green hydrogen, carbon projects, renewable energy and asset management services. Nikunj has more than seven years of experience at ReNew. Prior to joining ReNew, Nikunj spent three years at Larsen & Toubro (L&T) , a diversified business conglomerate, where he worked as lead proposal manager for oil and gas projects. Before that, Nikunj spent seven years with Engineers India Limited, India’s largest oil and gas engineering consultancy company. Nikunj studied electrical engineering at NIT Jaipur and pursued his MBA in strategy at IIM Lucknow.

Mohit Verma
Founder, Biomass Energeons India

Mohit Verma brings over 17 years of experience, including 6 years in the biomass industry as the founder of Biomass Energeons India. His work focuses on sustainable energy solutions such as CBG, torrefaction, MSW, biochar, and biomass pellets, with an aim to drive rural development and global carbon reduction. Mohit has held roles in Trade Marketing at Sony India Pvt Ltd., as Marketing Manager at Samsung India Electronics Pvt Ltd., and as Trade Promotion Manager at CERA Sanitaryware Ltd., establishing a strong track record in strategic, profitability-focused marketing. Biomass Energeons India aims to unify the biomass sector in India, streamlining procurement and enhancing accessibility to support a sustainable future through training, development programs, and consultancy services.

Prateek Tiwari
Managing Director, Alcom

ALCOM is a Singapore company focussing on developing waste agri biomass-based Carbon removals projects – (Biochar) Globally. As Founder and CEO of ALCOM, PRATEEK TIWARI brings over 20 years of global work experience in commodity trading and biofuels. He had previously worked for ED&F Man in London and in the Philippines, where he set up and managed a joint venture with Shell Philippines for biofuel supplies and distribution. He then worked in the trading teams for Bunge in UK and Singapore, Vitol (Singapore) and Trafigura (Singapore) before setting up ALCOM in Jan 2020. In addition, Alcom also specializes in various renewable energy streams including Green Methanol, Hydrogen and Biofuels where they are involved in the collection, processing(pre-treatment), and distribution of feedstocks for biofuel production. Prateek holds a Master’s Degree in Applied Economics and Specialist Master’s MSc in Energy, Trade & Finance from Bayes Business School London, UK (Formerly Cass Business School)

Jerome Debuc
Regional Director, Amandus Kahl

Bo Andersen
Area Sales Manager, C.F. Nielsen

Bo Andersen graduated with a master degree in Business and Administration from Aalborg University, Denmark in 1991. Since graduation Bo has been the Sales Manager of a welding automation company as well as Managing Director of a trading company in Denmark. In 2011 Bo joined C.F. Nielsen as Area Sales Manager for various markets in Europe and Asia Pacific. In 2015 he moved to Vietnam to focus on the Asian Pacific markets. He is well experienced with standard- as well as complete plants for wood and biomass briquetting. During the years in Asia a wide knowledge of the raw materials present here such as acacia, eucalyptus, rubberwood and agricultural biomass like bagasse, rice husk, corn, straws and many other raw materials has been developed. He as well have a good knowledge of torrefaction and biogas applications where briquetting is a main component.

Muhamad Fadhil
SVP Strategy and Business Development, Argus

Muhamad Fadhil is Senior Vice President, Strategy and Business Development at Argus, focusing on Asia expansion sectors and strategic initiatives. Before joining Argus, Fadhil was Head of Middle East Markets for ICIS in Dubai, where he led market engagement and strategy. He also previously worked for Channel NewsAsia, Hill & Associates and the O&S Group of Companies. Fadhil holds master degrees from IE Business School and the National University of Singapore. He is currently a doctoral student at Warwick Business School, specialising in energy transition.

Erisa Senerdem
Editor, Biomass, Argus

Erisa Senerdem is editor of the Argus Biomass Markets (ABM) report at global price-reporting agency Argus Media. ABM is a weekly that publishes price assessments for the industrial wood pellets, chips, residential pellets and palm kernel shell (PKS) spot markets globally, in-depth market commentaries and analysis, and related data. Erisa has been with Argus for over ten years and previously covered electricity, natural gas, coal and petroleum coke markets. Prior to Argus, Erisa worked as a researcher, university lecturer, journalist and a parliamentary consultant for EU legislation. She holds a Ph.D. in economics, with a special focus on the energy field.

Saurabh Chaturvedi
Deputy Editor - Asia Solid Fuels , Argus

Saurabh is deputy editor of the Asia Solid Fuels team at global price-reporting agency Argus Media. He has eighteen years of experience in the energy and commodity space and currently helps in Asia-Pacific thermal coal, biomass, and petroleum coke market coverage, as well as in the compilation of key benchmark price indexes. He joined Argus in 2019 from The Wall Street Journal/Dow Jones. Saurabh is the recipient of the prestigious Society of Publishers in Asia award for excellence in reporting. In the biomass sphere, Saurabh contributes to the Argus Biomass Markets report, a weekly that publishes price assessments for the industrial wood pellets, chips, residential pellets, and palm kernel shell (PKS) spot markets globally, and provides in-depth market commentaries and analysis, as well as related data.

Takeshi Maeda
Senior Reporter – Japan Biomass Markets, Argus

Takeshi Maeda is a senior reporter in charge of Japan biomass markets, at global price-reporting agency Argus Media. He currently contributes to the Argus Biomass Markets (ABM) report, a weekly that publishes global spot price assessments for industrial wood pellets, residential pellets, chips and palm kernel shells (PKS) and provides in-depth market commentaries, analysis, stories and related data. Before joining Argus in April 2024, Takeshi had fifteen years of experience in Journalism as a newspaper reporter in Japan. He received the Sakata Memorial Journalism Award in the international category as a member of the reporting team in 2016.