Available at www.sciencedirect.com journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/he Technical Report International workshop on biohydrogen production technology (IWBT 2008), 7–9 February 2008, IIT Kharapgur The International Workshop on Biohydrogen Production Technology was a grand success with over a hundred participants from all over the world, working towards bioenergy and biohydrogen in particular. To be exact, there were twenty-six foreign delegates from Europe, America and Asia. Forty-four delegates from across India were actively involved in sharing their ideas and work. In addition, fourteen participants from IIT Kharagpur have also participated. Delegates from industry were also present for their encour- agement and interest towards the technology. Unfortunately, the ‘‘Bandh’’ (Strike), called by the local political party in the state at the eleventh hour, deterred some people from attending the workshop, but those who ventured into it, thoroughly enjoyed their stay. The workshop was organized at the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, under the chairmanship of Prof. Debabrata Das, Department of Biotechnology, IIT Kharagpur. Prof. T. Nejat Veziroglu, Director , Clean Energy Research Institute, University of Miami, and President, International Association for Hydrogen Energy, was the Honorary Chairman of the workshop, and extended generous support and encouragement. Padmashree Prof. K.L. Chopra, Ex-Director IIT-Kharagpur, inaugurated the three-day workshop. Distin- guished scientists, Prof. O.N. Srivastava, BHU, India; Prof. John R. Benemann, IEM, USA; Prof. J. Blackburn, SIU, USA; Dr. G. Wang, U Hawaii, USA; Prof. P. Hallenbeck, U Montreal, Canada; Dr. D. Levin, U Manitoba, Canada; Prof. S.H. Park, PNU, Korea; Prof. S.S. Cheng, NCKU, Taiwan; Dr. V. Sabar- atnam, UM, Malaysia; Dr. P. Prasertsan, PSU, Thailand; Dr. N. Azbar, Ege University, Turkey; Dr. N. Lymberopoulos, UNIDO- ICHET, Turkey; Prof. N.K. Berkland, U. Bergen, Norway; Dr. S. Sundaram, MCRC, India; Dr. S. Venkata Mohan, IICT, India, and several others were also present for the event. The presentations were distributed under six wide themes viz. biomass to hydrogen, microbial and genetic diversity of biohydrogen production, biohydrogen using dark fermenta- tion, photobiological hydrogen production, bioreactor design for biohydrogen production, and biohydrogen using microbial fuel cells (MFC). There was a total of four plenary sessions, seven technical sessions and a poster session. Eleven invited lectures, 12 oral and 10 poster presentations were included. High quality lectures, interlaced with the oral presentations, were highly appreciated. A keynote lecture, delivered by Prof. O.N. Srivastava, was interactive and very well received by the audience. A good brainstorming session occurred, followed by the interactive sessions that allowed the opportunity to understand the present scenario of the technology and project future directions. The workshop, being first of its kind in India on biohydrogen, was gratefully acknowledged by scientists, researchers and students from across the country for the platform it provided to interact with distinguished researchers. Eminent and distinguished scientists of the field held a panel discussion on the last day to discuss the present state of the art of different biohydrogen production processes, and determine ways of combating the major obstacles to the transition from petroleum to the hydrogen economy. The workshop ended with a visit to the Biohydrogen Production Laboratory where an 800 L pilot plant of biohydrogen reactor was installed. This was followed by visits to different laboratories of the Department of Biotechnology, IIT Khar- agpur. Faculty, research scholars, graduate and undergraduate students of the Department of Biotechnology, IIT Kharagpur, have extended generous manpower and technical support toward organizing this event. IIT Kharagpur also has provided its infrastructural support and local transport. This workshop aimed at summarizing the state of the art of biological hydrogen production, evaluating current progress on early stage applied science in this area of research and development, and in identifying promising research direc- tions for the future. From the feedback and appreciative comments made, we can proudly say that we have achieved huge success in meeting our goals of understanding the present challenges of the technology, and in developing recommendations for future policies and plans for clean energy production. This success is primarily due to the willingness and dedication of all delegates who put forth their ideas openly. This is an important milestone in the area of hydrogen research and reaffirms our commitment to sustainable development with inclusive growth by using our precious energy resources effectively and efficiently. ARTICLE IN PRESS doi:10.1016/j.ijhydene.2008.03.002 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HYDROGEN ENERGY 33 (2008) 2627– 2628