Supporting programme

Pre-conference dinner
(22 September 2026 | 18:00)

The pre-conference dinner will take place on Tuesday, 22 September 2026. Details will be available shortly.

Get in touch Session
(23 September 2026 | 16:15)

In our Get in touch session, we give you the opportunity to discuss important key topics related to doctoral studies with your peers and attending professors. This offers you another opportunity to make new contacts.

Networking evening
(23 September 2025 | 18:15)

After the first day of the event, we invite our participants to end the day with good food, music and company.  You can use this time to connect and follow up on topics of the day.

Participation in our networking evening is included in the conference fee.

Guided Tours
(23 September 2026 | 17:15)

As part of the Doctoral Colloquium BIOENERGY AND BIOBASED PRODUCTS, you will have the opportunity to go on various site visits and see facilities for up-to date bio-economy R&D. You will have the chance to visit the following institutions and discuss there with leading scientist.

Freshly pressed & long heated

The ‘Freshly pressed & long-burning’ tour includes the following stops/key topics:

•    HKA10
Small, flexible wood gasification CHP plants can be used specifically to bridge winter gaps in heat and electricity supply using small amounts of biomass. In future, the remaining biochar is also to be used for soil improvement and carbon sequestration.

•    Pelletisation
Increasingly low-grade wood residues, agricultural by-products and landscape management materials – right through to peatland crops from rewetting projects – require appropriate homogenisation and moisture content adjustment for high-quality use in the energy transition. Pellets are an ideal form of transport, particularly for small-scale plants, offering a level of convenience similar to that of liquid fuels.

•    Briquetting
Briquetting is a suitable option for reducing costs and for larger plants. It also offers the opportunity to switch to greater use of wood residues as a replacement for logs in the 11 million existing single-room fireplaces.

Refined

The ‘Refined’ tour showcases the DBFZ’s biorefinery pilot plant. This comprises pilot plants in the following areas:

•    Hydrothermal processes
We conduct research into biomass digestion and conversion under pressure (up to 200 bar) and at high temperatures (up to 350°C). The following can be seen:

Ø    A cascade of batch reactors (0.5 L, 10 L, 100 L)

Ø    A continuous tubular reactor with a throughput of 0.6–8 L/h

•    Separation processes
The separation and purification of bio-based products from aqueous solutions and suspensions is an essential part of biorefineries. We offer you an insight into our equipment:

   Decanter centrifuge, screw separator

   Membrane filtration (UF, MF, NF and UO)

   Adsorption columns

   Liquid–liquid extraction

   Thin-film evaporator

•    Gasification & Synthesis
High-quality fuels and chemicals can be synthesised from bio-based synthesis gas (CO + H₂). Our pilot plants for biomass gasification and subsequent synthesis are also part of this tour:
Fixed-bed and fluidised-bed gasifiers
Synthesis reactors

The marvelous world of anaerobic microorganisms
The guided tour ‘The Wondrous World of Anaerobic Microorganisms’ covers the following stops/key topics:

•    Research biogas plant

The DBFZ’s research biogas plant complements the range of application-oriented research aimed at improving our understanding of the process and increasing the efficiency of biogas production. The scale of the digesters allows experiments to be carried out on an industrial scale, thereby ensuring that the results are readily transferable to practical applications. Come and experience the DBFZ’s research biogas plant ‘live and up close’.

•    Biogas Laboratory

The biogas laboratory is equipped to simulate industrial-scale processes on a laboratory and semi-industrial scale, accompanied by the relevant analytical testing. The objectives are to optimise processes and to expand our fundamental understanding of the sub-processes involved in methane formation. To this end, extensive (continuous and batch) pilot plants with reaction volumes ranging from 0.25 to 500 litres, as well as the research biogas plant, are available. We look forward to showing you the biogas laboratory during the tour.

Please note that you can only take part in one of the guided tours. Please make your choice in advance on the registration form.