Leipzig, a major commercial centre in the state of Saxony to the east of Germany, is the location for the Sixty Seventh Annual Technical Conference. The timing is the traditional mid May period so the registration deadline is April 14 2008 and the hotel deadline for a guaranteed room is April 24 2008. Registration is now open, the List of Papers, the Spousal / Guest Program and the Detailed Program have all now been published.
This year, a group of German companies is arranging both a pre-conference visit to Berlin and a post-conference visit to Braunschweig [Brunswick].
Germany
Germany is one of the EU's major beet sugar producers so does not have any port refineries. Instead, this year's host is Südzucker's factory at Zeitz, about 40 km south west of Leipzig.
Saxony is an historical dukedom immediately north of the Czech Republic so it descends from a mountainous region at the border to the black soil plains further north which are so good for growing sugar beets. Some people reading this will have at least faint genetic connections with Saxony as it was from here that the Saxons of Anglo Saxon England came from. Leipzig was the hometown of Johann Sebastian Bach : he was the city's musical director and choirmaster of the St Thomas' Boys Choir between 1723 and 1750. Today it is the home of the world famous Gewandhaus Orchestra which was founded in 1743.
There is a multilingual Leipzig website and you can find out more about Germany in general at the government's official tourism website.
Hotel
The Meeting will be held at the Westin Leipzig hotel in the heart of the city and conveniently close to the train station. You can find out more about the hotel at its website and you can use the booking form on this web domain to reserve your room at the hotel.
Visas
Germany is a member state of the EU and part of the 'Schengen' zone, a group of 24 countries with a common boarder and no passport control between countries. The Schengen countries are: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden. All except Norway and Iceland are European Union members. The USA has a visa waiver programme with the Schengen zone.
What it means is that if you are not a citizen of an EU country or of Norway, Iceland or the USA, you will probably need a visa. On the other hand, you don't have to land in Germany, you could for instance arrive in Amsterdam - or even Reykjavik [although travel to Leipzig will definitely be easiest from Frankfurt]. Please note that the UK is not a member of the Schengen zone so you may need a visa for there as well if you intend to visit.
You can find out more about visa requirements at the government's multilingual visa website.
Travel
Frankfurt [300 km away] is the major arrival airport for Germany although there are international arrivals into Berlin [150 km away] and, to a much lesser extent Leipzig itself and Dresden [100 km away]. Frankfurt is well served by international airlines including the national airline Lufthansa which is a member of the Star Alliance.
You then have several options from Frankfurt:
If you are joining the pre- and/or post-conference tours then some of the transport is included : please see separate details.
Reservations for train and flight tickets are recommended.
| Saturday, May 24, 2008 | |
| 12 Noon - 4:00 pm S.I.T. Hospitality | Leon Anhaiser's suite |
| Sunday, May 25, 2008 | |
| 9:00 am - 4:00 pm S.I.T. Hospitality | Lobby, Ground Floor |
| 9:00 am - 5:00 pm Registration | Lobby, Ground Floor |
| 5:00 pm - 5:30 pm S.I.T. Executive Committee Meeting | Ballroom C, First Floor |
| 5:30 pm - 6:30 pm S.I.T. Directors Meeting | Ballroom C, First Floor |
| 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm SIT Mixer Reception | Blubar, First Floor |
| Monday, May 26, 2008 | |
| 9:00 am - 5:00 pm Ladies Hospitality | Foyer Ballroom A/B First Floor |
| 8:00 am Spousal /Guest Program Departure for Tour / Luncheon to Dresden | Departure from Lobby; return at 19.00 h |
| 8:00 am - 5:00 pm Registration | Foyer Ballroom A/B First Floor |
| FIRST TECHNICAL SESSION | Ballroom A/B First Floor |
| Stephen Clarke - Presiding | |
| Florida Crystals Corporation |
| 8:30 am | Address of Welcome | Donald Ryan, President, Sugar Industry Technologists |
| 8:40 am #936 | Keynote Speaker: "Südzucker – a European Food Group" | Professor Dr. Markwart Kunz, Director, Südzucker AG |
| 9.10 am #937 | "Biotech in Sugarbeet and Sugarcane: Current Status" | Dr Charley Richard, SPRI, New Orleans LA and Tom Schwartz, Beet Sugar Development Foundation, Denver CO, USA |
| 9.40 am #938 | "Beet Thick Juice Degradation During Storage" | Gilles Schrevel, Raffinerie Tirlemontoise SA, Tienen, Belgium |
| 10:10 am | Coffee Break/Poster Presentations | |
| 10:30 am #939 | "Successful Implementation of an Automated Certificate of Analysis System" | Michael Burchell, American Sugar Refining/C&H Sugar, Crockett CA, USA |
| 11:00 am #940 | "A Comparative Evaluation of Carbonatation and Phosphatation" | Ahmed Vawda, Savola Sugar Middle East, Cairo, Egypt |
| 11:30 am #941 | "Direct Processing of Carbonated Melt - Economics and Benefits" | Martin Herrmann, Putsch Gmb & Co, Hagen, Germany |
| 12:00 Noon | Annual General Meeting of the Corporation of Sugar Industry Technologists, Inc. | |
| Election of Board of Directors | ||
| 12:15 pm | S.I.T. Reception and Luncheon | Restaurant Brühl, First Floor |
| SECOND TECHNICAL SESSION | Ballroom A/B First Floor and Potsdam, First Floor |
| 2:00 pm #952 | "Sugar: Booming Business!" | Ake Harmanny, StuvEx nv, Kontich, Belgium |
| 2:30 onwards #942 - SYMPOSIA | |
| Amelia Ferraz - Chairman | |
| RAR - Ref de Açúcar Reunides |
| Session A "Exhaustion of Refinery Molasses - What does the Purity of Molasses Signify and How Low Should it Be?" | ||
| Moderator: | Peter Rein | Emeritus |
| Panelists: | Pete Maraia | American Sugar Refining |
| Dave Meadows | Tongaat-Hulett Sugar Ltd | |
| Mike Getaz | Fives Cail Group | |
| Session B "Liquid Effluent in a Sugar Refinery - How to Minimize and Treat it" | ||
| Moderator: | Ahmed Vawda | United Sugar Company |
| Panelists: | Stephen Clarke | Florida Crystals Corporation |
| Xavier Lancrenon | Applexion/Novasep | |
| Kanada Korea | Al Khaleej Sugar Co | |
| 5:00 pm New Board of Directors Meeting | Ballroom A/B First Floor |
| Tuesday, May 27, 2008 | |
| 8:00 am - 3:00 pm Ladies Hospitality | Foyer Ballroom A/B First Floor |
| 9:30 am Spousal /Guest Program Departure for Tour / Luncheon to Leipzig | Departure from Lobby |
| 8:00 am - 3:00 pm Registration | Foyer Ballroom A/B First Floor |
| THIRD TECHNICAL SESSION | Ballroom A/B First Floor |
| Uwe Schwanke - Presiding | |
| BMA |
| 8:00 am | Poster Presentations | |
| 9:00 am #943 | "Südzucker AG, Mannheim - Ochsenfurt, Factory Zeitz" | Philipp Schlüter, Südzucker AG, Zeitz, Germany |
| 9:30 am #944 | "Storage and Production of VHP and VLC Sugars" | Michael Saska and Vadim Kochergin, Audubon Sugar Institute, St Gabriel LA, USA |
| 10:00 am #945 | "The Ups and Downs of Energy Savings at Redpath Sugars" | George Carter, Repath Sugars, Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
| 10:30 am | Coffee Break/Poster Presentations | |
| 11:00 am #946 | "Modern Concepts for Sugar Drying and Cooling" | Hartmut Hafemann and Burkhard Bartels, BMA, Braunschweig, Germany |
| 11:30 am #947 | "Screening Solutions to Face the Development and Transformation of the Sugar Industry" | Frank Spanknebel, Rotex Europe Ltd., Wavre, Belgium |
| 12:00 Noon | Luncheon | Restaurant Brühl, First Floor |
| FOURTH TECHNICAL SESSION | Ballroom A/B First Floor |
| Dave Demone - Presiding | |
| American Sugar Refining |
| 2:00 pm #948 | "Latest Developments in Liquor Decolorization Using Ion Exchange and Chromatography" | Bernd-Christoph Schulze Escon GmbH, Berlin, Germany and Dennis Costesso, Amalgamated Research Inc. Twin Falls ID, USA |
| 2:30 pm #949 | "The Power of One - Integrating the Business and Control Systems of Disparate Refineries" | Ben Bernard, American Sugar Refining, Chalmette LA, USA and John Thorburn, Florida Crystals Corporation, South Bay FL, USA |
| 3:00 pm #950 | "The Microwave Premium-Package for Determination of Brix and Density" | Ulrich Klute, Berthold Technologies GmbH & Co. KG, Bad Wildbad, Germany |
| 3:30 pm #951 | "Zero Discharge Technologies for Alcohol Distillery with Energy Recovery" | Chi Chou, Dr. Chou Technologies, NY, USA, Wen-Hong Gao, South China Univ. of Tech., China, and Hua-Ming Huang, Guangdong Zhounneng Alcohol Co., China |
| 4:00 pm | Invitation to India | PKN Singh, S.T.A.I., New Delhi, India |
| 4:30 pm | President's Closing Remarks |
| 7:00 pm Reception | Ballroom Foyer, First Floor |
| 8:00 pm Banquet | Potsdam/Meißen, First Floor |
| Wednesday, May 28, 2008 | |
| 9:00 am Buses leave for Tour of Zeitz | |
| 9:00 am Guest/Spouse Bus leaves for sightseeing Merseburg/Naumburg then lunch at Zeitz | |
| 12:30 Lunch | |
| 2:00 pm Buses leave for Leipzig and Westin | |
| 2:00 pm Bus leaves for Braunschweig Post-Congress Visit |
Our German hosts have planned an excellent programme for the two days of the technical meeting :
| Day 1 | Dresden City Tour |
| Dresden is the capital city of the German Federal Free State of Saxony and is situated in a valley on the River Elbe. The city has a long history as the capital and royal residence for the Electors and Kings of Saxony who, for centuries, furnished the city with cultural and artistic splendour. The controversial bombing of Dresden in World War II, plus 40 years in the Soviet influenced German Democratic Republic has substantially changed the face of the city. Since German reunification in 1990, Dresden has emerged as a cultural, political, and economic centre in the eastern part of Germany. | |
| Day 2 | Leipzig City Tour |
| Leipzig is, with a population of over half a million, the largest city in Saxony. It is situated at the confluence of the Rivers Pleiße, White Elster and Parthe and is well-known for its university and its trade fair. Germany's first labour party was founded in the city so it is no surprise to learn that the 1989 ‘Peaceful Revolution’, which led to the reunification of Germany, was initiated in Leipzig. The city's rich tradition in music and culture is mainly based on the work of Johann Sebastian Bach and Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy. | |
| Day 3 | Merseburg/Naumburg |
| This is a morning tour which will terminate at the Zeitz factory for lunch with the delegates. |
