The ICPS series started 10 years ago with four successful conferences in a row showing the possibilities of polygeneration concepts for an efficient use of biomass to generate various bio-products via gasification. After a break of six years it is now urgently necessary to show again the progress made in these years in this field. The introduction to the first conference is still valid and today even much more important:

“Biomass gasification is a key technology for biomass utilization in the future. By conversion of solid biomass into a producer gas or syngas all important energy forms currently used in our energy system can be produced: heat, electricity, synthetic biofuels, and chemicals. …... Syngas production, syngas cleaning and syngas utilization are subject of large research programs in several countries worldwide and enormous progress have been achieved in this field in the recent years.”

This was the statement 10 years ago and it is valid even more today. The climate targets set in the Paris Agreement need urgent actions and gasification based polygeneration can help to mitigate these problems. Now we are interested in the outcome and the results of the scientific research as well as in the experience gained from industrial implementations in the last years. 

The trend in the last years are characterized by the use of bio-waste, application of different gasification agents (among those also CO2), advanced gasifier design, optimized gas cleaning and upgrading systems, and a broad variety of synthesis processes. Furthermore, integrated concepts for bio-refineries, bio-based circular economies, combined with carbon capture and utilization (CCU) are as well part of these polygeneration strategies. 

Therefore, the main aim of the conference is to present the current state-of-the-art of these developments and successes during the last years. National and international researchers, industrial representatives from the manufacturer and utility side are invited and welcome to contribute to the success of this conference. The conference offers a platform for the exchange of innovative ideas, unconventional concepts, new conversion processes, optimized process combinations, integrated plant concepts and also surprising measurement results. 

After the conference the Scientific Committee will develop key messages extracted from the presentations for further research and development needs in order to efficiently contribute to mitigate the climate change. 

On behalf of the organizing committee, I take the pleasure to invite you to the ICPS19 in Vienna, Austria the most worth living city in the world (“Economist” ranking 2018).