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Vol. 30 No. 2
March-April 2008
Where 2B &Y |
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Announcements of conferences, symposia, workshops, meetings, and other upcoming activities. |
Humic Substances
14–20 September 2008, Moscow to
St. Petersburg, Russia
This conference is the 14th International Meeting of the International Humic Substances Society (IHSS-14) and will be held on 14–19 September 2008 in Russia aboard a ship traveling from Moscow to St. Petersburg. The satellite exhibition, “Humic Materials—Resources for the 21st Century,” will be part of the conference.
With topics ranging from molecular understanding to innovative applications of humic substances, this conference aims to demonstrate the growing importance of humic substances in the context of global climate change and highlight how to draw the attention of industrial chemists to the conversion of huge resources of humified biomass to alternative feedstock for biobased products. Sources encompass different stages of biomass humification, from mature lignites, peats, and, sapropels to young composts and humic materials that occupy a niche between fossil rocks and fresh biomass.
The most striking feature of humic materials in a biobased economy is the constellation of such properties as nontoxicity, biocompatibility, resistance to biodegradation, and polyfunctionality. Diverse functional and hybrid materials can be derived on the basis of humic materials. These materials—such as bioplastics and green specialty chemicals (dispersants, flocculants, chelators), elicitors, immunomodulators, and others—would be competitive on the market of biobased products.
The aim of this conference is to expand the view of humic substances as the components of organic matter in soil and water to a broader understanding of the potential of humic materials as alternative feedstock for a biobased economy. A conference resolution for formulating a strategic research agenda for humic science and technology will be presented for adoption.
See Mark Your Calendar for contact information.
www.ihss-14.humus.ru
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last modified 24 March 2008.
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