Breakout Session III
Biomass Pyrolysis, Biochar and Nutrient Recycling
Johannes Lehmann 
Johannes Lehmann is an associate professor of soil fertility
management and soil biogeochemistry at Cornell University. Prior to joining the Cornell
faculty in 2001, he coordinated an interdisciplinary research project on nutrient and carbon
management in the central Amazon for the Federal Research Institution of Forestry, and the
University of Bayreuth, Germany. His work experience includes applied and basic research in
Sudan, Togo, Tanzania, Kenya, Malawi, Brazil, Colombia and Ecuador. Professor Lehmann's
publications range from dryland research and nutrient cycling in irrigation systems to the
rehabilitation of highly weathered soils in the humid tropics, from research on phosphorus
dynamics in heavily manured soils to basic principles of carbon cycling in soils.
Stephen Joseph 
Stephen Joseph is a visiting professor at the University of New South Wales, Australia, and a senior researcher at Sydney University. An Australian Institute of Energy Fellow, he has been a senior adviser to both government and non-government organisations in renewable energy and sustainable agriculture and forestry. Dr. Joseph has extensive international experience in developing processes and technologies that convert waste into energy and value-added products. These include charcoal, agri-char, plastic/wood composites, additives for high-strength concretes, biodiesel and bio-oils.
He was the senior project manager (Biomass Energy and Products) for a Research and Development Organisation in Britain from 1978-1983. He was the managing director of Biomass Energy Services and Technology Pty Ltd from 1983 to 2006. During this time, the company has carried out over 100 R and D projects for a range of clients including BHP, Alcoa, Pacific Power, CSIRO, The World Bank, various UN agencies. He was part of a team that was awarded a Shell International Environment Award for the development of smokeless fuel efficient stoves for women in Ethiopia (over 1,000,000 have been built and sold). He has also been awarded a Green Globe Award from the NSW Government (SEDA) for his involvement in the renewable energy industry.
Rob Anex Rob Anex is an Associate
Professor of
Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering at Iowa State University.
He holds a BS and MS in mechanical engineering and a PhD in environmental engineering from the
University of
California, Davis. Dr. Anex is an expert on biofuel production
systems considered from “field to fuel”. He is the principal investigator of
projects assessing the
impacts of the widespread adoption of lignocellulosic biomass conversion technology; developing
productive,
efficient, and sustainable strategies for using corn stover biomass as a feedstock; and nutrient cycling in coupled
agricultural and industrial systems. He is the Associate Director of the Office of
Biorenewables Programs at Iowa
State, a member of the editorial board of the International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment,
and an editor for the
Journal of Industrial Ecology.