Integrated Biorefinery lecture

Delmar Raymond, a highly decorated spokesman for the chemical engineering community, spoke to a room full of students and professors from around the northeast Saturday, March 27th. Raymond was elected as the keynote speaker for the American Institute of Chemical Engineers conference held at the Wells Conference Center on the University of Maine campus in Orono. He was the perfect candidate to speak because he was born and raised in Maine as well as receiving three degrees from the University of Maine. One of his finest achievements was helping found the Forest Bioproducts Research Institute. His expertise on pulp and paper processing was on full display during his presentation titled "Integrated Biorefinery".
Raymond believes that paper mills are "facing tough times" as it is hard to keep up with the downward sloping economy. Many of the paper refineries from 10 to 15 years ago are now gone because of the lack of national knowledge on how to maintain and innovate them. However, he claims that with enough innovation and efficiency, they will make a strong recovery. He gave multiple reasons as to why wood processing has higher returns than a lot of other types of energy. His biggest point was "wod has a much better energy ratio that corn" and other ethanol products. The majority of the lecture was geared towards informing the audience of his views on making smarter moves towards processing wood products for the future.
Delmar Raymond received a respectful applause at the end of his presentation. He said that he was very happy to be there, after traveling from the west coast. His global popularity was not gained by accident. He has made great strides within the pulp and paper industry around the world. Raymond seemed pleased to be there and excited to share his wisdom with an audience that will surely follow in his footsteps one day.