Wolter Prins got his master degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Groningen in The Netherlands, his doctor degree from the University of Twente in Enschede, The Netherlands, and was then appointed in 1984 as an assistant professor in professor Van Swaaij's Reaction Engineering Group at the Department of Chemical Technology.

In 1992 he started the R&D group of BTG Biomass Technology Group bv in Enschede (www.btgworld.com) and stayed there as R&D leader in a 0.6 part-time position until 2008. In 2004 he became shareholder and director of BTG's shareholder company. In his other (0.4) part-time position as an associate professor at the University of Twente, he developed from 2000 to 2008 a new biomass research group together with his colleague dr. S.R.A. Kersten.

Recently the University of Ghent in Belgium offered him a position as a full professor in Bioresources Processing (appointment per  May 1, 2008 in the faculty of Bioscience Engineering)) with the mandate to start once again a research group in thermochemical biomass conversion. Wolter Prins published around a hundred papers in the area of novel gas-solid reactors, heat and mass transfer in fluidized beds, and thermochemical conversion of biomass. He was closely involved in the development of the so-called rotating cone technology for fast pyrolysis of biomass which was demonstrated in the past few years in Malaysia for bio-oil production from empty palm fruit bunches.

Robert C. Brown (senior personnel) is Distinguished Professor and the Bergles Professor of Thermal Sciences at Iowa State University (ISU. Over the last five years Dr. Brown has built multi-disciplinary teams at ISU around several promising thermochemical platforms including bio-oil production and upgrading, syngas production and upgrading, bio-oil and syngas fermentation, and biochar production and application.  Dr. Brown is the founding director of the Bioeconomy Institute (BEI) which coordinates ISU’s research, educational, and outreach activities related to biobased products and bioenergy.  He also initiated ISU’s Biorenewable Resources and Technology (BRT) graduate program, the first such degree-granting program in the United States.  Dr. Brown is also the director of the Center for Sustainable Environmental Technologies, a center within the Institute for Physical Research and Technology that conducts multi-disciplinary, multi-investigator research into thermochemical conversion of biomass.

Dr. Brown is a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineering.  He received the ISU Alumni Association’s Impact Award in 2007 in recognition of his role in increasing the visibility of ISU.  He was the recipient of the David R. Boylan Eminent Faculty Award for Research at ISU in 2002.  He has developed eight patented inventions, one of which received a R&D 100 Award from Research and Development Magazine in 1997                                      

Dr. David Laird is a Lead Scientist with the USDA-ARS-National Soil Tilth Laboratory and Professor USDA-Collaborator in the Department of Agronomy and Environmental Science Program at Iowa State University in Ames Iowa.  Dr. Laird earned a B.S. in Geology from the University of Kansas, a M.S. in Soil Science from Oregon State University, and a Ph.D. in Agronomy from Iowa State University.  He is an active member of the Soil Science Society of America, the Clay Minerals Society, the American Society of Agronomy, and the American Chemical Society.  Dr. Laird is a fellow in both the American Society of Agronomy and the Soil Science Society of America.  Currently he is Chair of the Soil Chemistry Division (S2) of the Soil Science Society of America, nominee for President-Elect of the Clay Minerals Society, and serves on the Board of Directors for the Nevada Iowa Public School District.   He has served as Associate Editor for both Clays and Clay Minerals and Soil Science Society of America Journal.  Dr. Laird is author or co-author of 66 refereed journal articles and 6 book chapters.  Research interests include the chemical, mineralogical, and surface properties of soil clays, interactions of pesticides and other organic compounds with reference and soil clays, development of field-mobile near infrared diffuse reflectance spectroscopy system for mapping soil properties, nature of soil humic substances, clay-humic interactions, carbon sequestration in soils, use of pyrolysis to process biomass into bioenergy products, and use of bio-char as a soil amendment. His current research is heavily focused on the influence of bio-char amendments on soil properties carbon sequestration and crop production.  Dr Laird is leading the USDA-ARS Biochar/Pyrolysis Initiative.