IRVINE, Calif., May 12 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- BlueFire Ethanol Fuels, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: BFRE - News), a company changing the world's transportation fuel paradigm through the production of ethanol from non-food cellulosic wastes, has announced that the company's President and CEO, Arnold Klann, will participate in a panel discussion titled "From Field to Wheels: What's Going to Work in Biofuels?" on Thursday, May 21 at the BIO 2009 International Convention, the largest global event for the biotechnology industry, which will be held at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta.

The esteemed panelists chosen to participate in the discussion alongside BlueFire CEO Arnold Klann include Harrison Dillon, President and Chief Technology Officer at Solazyme; Kinkead Reiling, Co-Founder and Senior Vice President of Corporate Development at Amyris; Aristides Patrinos, President at Synthetic Genomics, Inc., and moderating the discussion will be Laurence Alexander, Managing Director at Jefferies & Company, Inc.

"BlueFire Ethanol is pleased to participate in this panel discussion with other prominent industry leaders to discuss the viability of the various emerging solutions to the question of what is going to work in biofuels," said Arnold Klann. "BlueFire's cellulosic conversion process provides a commercially-viable method of generating biofuels from a variety of non-food source feedstocks, thereby offering a cost-effective method to offset the import of energy and reduce petroleum consumption. In light of the recently-announced federal support for biofuels initiatives, we are optimistic that technologies such as ours will soon become commercially available and help pave the way towards energy independence."

With the goal of expanding biotech innovations that help "heal, fuel, and feed the world,"BIO 2009 International Convention will deliver the partnering tools, licensing tips and other industry resources necessary to meet current economic challenges and to strengthen biotech businesses for the future.

BlueFire Ethanol is currently focused on developing its first ethanol biorefinery in Lancaster, California. The Lancaster facility will use post-sorted cellulosic wastes diverted from landfills in Southern California to produce 3.9 million gallons of fuel-grade ethanol per year. The company was also awarded $40 million from the U.S. Department of Energy for construction of a second plant in Southern California, and has received the first installment of funding from the DOE for the development of the BlueFire Mecca, LLC plant in Southern California.

BIO 2009 International Convention will take place May 18-21, 2009 at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta. For more information or to attend the conference, visit http://www.convention.bio.org.