Teru Talk
Newsletter
Volume I, Issue
14
-
May 30,
2011
Teru Talk
by Michael Theroux
(pronounced
"Terú")
Power from the
People … that's right, food
waste power, Doggy Bag
power, supermarket dumpster
power and poop sludge
power. Just LOOK at all the
goody old
stuff we throw
away! Cities around the
globe are wising up to the
Money to be made by
converting that goo to
biogas, instead of just,
well, flushing
it.
Municipalities are setting
up collection programs to
tap thousands of "sources"
for cast-off table scraps
and out-of-day Pork Pies
(really, there's this UK
project…). Pre-treat with
enzymes, and almost
anything can be digested to
make biogas. Wastewater
Treatment Plants are
figuring out how to add 10%
of waste Fat-Oil-Grease
(that's FOG) right into
their big Digester tanks.
After a mere decade of due
diligence, DC Water's gonna
pay Norway's Cambi to do
their hydro-treat magic on
Our Nation's capitol
flushings. "Co-Digestion":
our Word of the
Day.
Just like all the old Petro
refineries sitting
half-idle around the
states, we've got a whole
lot of out-of-date
wastewater treatment
facilities needing
attention. Throwing money
at old infrastructure may
not make sense, but an
upgrade for co-digestion
that nets enough Biogas to
bring about a five year
pay-back starts looking
pretty
serious.
But here's a thought: all
those plastic collection
containers will need
cleaning. Try to use
"natural" cleaners that
won’t kill off the very
(anaerobic digestion) bugs
you are
feeding.
Hey
Rube!
On this Memorial Day,
please honor the members of
our Armed Forces who have
served our country and
fought for our
freedom.
The Week's Extra
Reading
Teru's new
article, External
Verification of
Conversion
Technologies,
takes the Hamilton
Project proposal to the
next level and offers a
plan designed to remove
the key barrier to CT
advancement.
Also, don't
miss the
nice things
people
have been saying about our
website!
The Week's
News
Dow Converts Waste Plastic to
Natural Gas Equivalent
Energy
In kiln tests at Dow Chemical's
Midland, Michigan facility,
thermal conversion of waste
sheet plastic recovered 96% of
the available energy.
05/27/2011
UK's Farmgen Switches On First
Anaerobic Digestion Plant at
Carr
Farm
Farmgen’s £3m first phase
Anaerobic Digestion (AD) plant
at Warton, near Preston, Lancs,
has officially been switched on
to start generating 800kW of
electricity.
05/27/2011
USDA's BCAP and REAP Program
Funding in
Peril
This week the House
Agricultural Appropriations
Subcommittee submitted a draft
Agricultural Appropriations
bill to the main Appropriations
Committee, in part recommending
against 2012 budget
appropriations necessary for
funding the Biomass Crop
Assistance Program (BCAP) and
the Rural Energy for America
Program (REAP).
05/27/2011
Endicott and Holly Form Sabine
Biofuels for 30 MGY Biorefinery
in
Texas
Endicott Biofuels, LLC (EBF)
and Holly Biofuels, a
wholly-owned subsidiary of
Dallas-based petroleum refiner
Holly Corporation (NYSE-HOC),
have formed Sabine Biofuels LLC
to partner on a 30 million
gallon per year (MGY)
biorefinery under construction
in Port Arthur, Texas.
05/26/2011
UPS Begins Using Biodiesel at
Kentucky Worldport
Facility
United Parcel Service (UPS)
began using biodiesel blends at
its hub in Louisville, Kentucky
this month with installation of
a 30,000 gallon biodiesel fuel
tank and fueling station at its
Worldport facility.
05/26/2011
Jacobs Wins EPCM Contract for
Biomass to Biomethane Plant in
Sweden
Jacobs Engineering Group Inc.
has received a contract from
Goteborg Energi AB for the
GoBiGas-project, a 20 megawatt
biomass gasification and
methanation demonstration
project in Goteborg, Sweden.
05/26/2011
DC Water Breaks Ground on
Biosolids to Energy, Nutrient
Management
The District of Columbia Water
and Sewer Authority (DC Water)
has started construction on two
waste conversion / resource
recovery projects at the Blue
Plains Advanced Wastewater
Treatment Plant (WWTP).
05/25/2011
Ceres, Inc Files for $100MM
IPO
Bio-crop specialist Ceres, Inc
has filed for a $100MM initial
public offering (IPO) with the
Securities and Exchange
Commission, to be underwritten
by Goldman Sachs and Barklays
Capital.
05/25/2011
ZeroPoint Completes
Gasification Commissioning in
Germany
New York based ZeroPoint Clean
Tech, Inc. has completed the
initial field commissioning of
its biomass gasification
technology at a project site in
Schwarze-Pumpe, Germany.
05/25/2011
USDA Releases
Fact Sheet for BCAP Project
Area
1
Earlier this month, the US
Department of Agriculture's
(USDA) Farm Services Agency
(FSA) designated the first
Biomass Crop Assistance Program
(BCAP) "Project Area", up to
50,000 acres in a 39-county
area located in central and
western Missouri and eastern
Kansas.
05/24/2011
SCE Starts Review Process for
Small Renewable Energy PPA
Templates
Southern California Edison
(SCE) has initiated a formal
stakeholder review process for
reform of power purchase
agreement (PPA) contract
templates for their California
Renewable Energy Small Tariff
(CREST) program.
05/24/2011
CleanTech Secures 500 KW
Gasification Interconnection
Agreement
Nevada based thermal conversion
company CleanTech Transit, Inc.
announced that their 500
kilowatt Merced, California
biomass gasification project
has passed interconnection
tests and is now connected to
the grid, securing a Feed-in
Tariff (FIT) 15-year
interconnection agreement.
05/24/2011
WSU Gets "Feedstock Agnostic"
Biofuels Grant for BioChemCat
Pilot
The
Department of Energy (DOE) has
awarded a grant of $1.5 million
to Washington State University
Tri-Cities to research ways to
produce biofuel from varying
kinds of agricultural waste.
05/23/2011
EPA Delays CISWI and Major
Source Boiler MACT
Rules
The Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) is delaying the
effective dates for two final
maximum achievable control
technology (MACT) rules for an
indefinite time.
05/23/2011
The Week's
Action
Items
Due 06/07/2011: Public Comments
to CEC Draft 2011-2012
Investment
Plan
The Transportation Committee of
the California Energy
Commission (CEC) held an
Advisory Committee meeting and
public workshop for the
Alternative and Renewable Fuel
and Vehicle Technology Program
to consider a draft 2011-2012
Investment Plan.
05/25/2011
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