Teru Talk
Newsletter
Volume I, Issue
18
-
June 27,
2011
Teru Talk
by Michael Theroux
(pronounced
"Terú")
To
recover the goods from
waste, we generally need to
take the old goo apart
before we put the recovered
molecules back together
into something new. That's
Conversion. Some of the
most advanced integrated
biorefinery companies are
beginning to use a hybrid
of thermochemical
and biochemical
processing to accomplish
that conversion. It's
no simple task because
it calls for a balancing
act with diametrically
opposing forces. It's all
too easy to get entangled
in the minutia of technical
jargon in this field of
waste conversion, as it is
in the rest of Life.
Sometimes it is best to let
the really smart
folks break very complex
ideas down to common
language:
"Biological
processes occur well below
the boiling point of water,
while thermal processes are
usually performed hundreds
of degrees higher, which
makes it hard to imagine
how these processes can be
combined. In fact, these
differences in operating
regimes represent one of
the major advantages of
hybrid processing. High
temperatures readily break
down biomass to substrates
that can be fermented to
desirable
products."
-Robert C.
Brown, an Anson Marston
Distinguished Professor in
Engineering, the Gary and
Donna Hoover Chair in
Mechanical Engineering, and
the Iowa Farm Bureau
Director of the Bioeconomy
Institute
Dr.
Brown's been working with
waste conversion forever it
seems, teaching a long list
of students how to get New
Ideas ready for the real
world marketplace. He
orchestrates
grad students'
thermal / microbial
Hybrid Processing work
in the Biorenewables
Research Laboratory on
the Ames campus. Way to
go, Doc
Brown!
Hey
Rube!
CalRecycle is
in the final stages of full
certification of their Program
EIR for state-wide development
of anaerobic digestion (AD)
facilities to turn the organic
fraction of waste into biogas,
heat and power. Some companies
and municipalities are already
using the draft EIR as
guidance for their own
permitting and environmental
certification. If you have ever
had an interest in developing
AD in California, NOW is the
time to get familiar with
CalRecycle's
AD
Initiative.
The Week's
News
ISU Grad
Students Bridging the Gap
with Hybrid Conversion
Processing
Dr. Robert Brown's students are
bridging the long-standing
scientific abyss lying between
biological processing and
thermochemical processing in
their Hybrid Processing
Laboratory on the Ames campus
of Iowa State University (ISU).
06/25/2011
BlueFire
Completes Initial Site Work
for Mississippi Waste to
Ethanol
Biorefinery
California-based BlueFire
Renewables reports that their
contractor Century Construction
has completed site preparation
for construction of their 19
million gallon per year waste
to ethanol facility in Fulton,
Mississippi.
06/25/2011
Xergi to
Construct Biogas Plant in
France for META-BIO
Energies
The French fertilizer company
META-BIO Energies has selected
Xergi SAS, the French
subsidiary of Danish firm
Xergi, to design and construct
a biogas plant that will
convert multiple types of waste
biomass to green energy and
biomass residue for fertilizer.
06/24/2011
DECC
Publishes National Energy
Policy Statement,
Microgeneration
Strategy
The United Kingdom's (UK)
Department of Energy and
Climate Change (DECC) has
published their Energy National
Policy Statement (NPS) for
debate by Parliament, a complex
set of documents including a
Microgeneration Strategy
designed to promote
microgeneration and
decentralized energy
production.
06/24/2011
ROC Receives
Exclusive Dynamotive License
for Australia Per Joint
Venture
Canadian-based
thermal conversion company
Dynamotive Energy Systems
Corporation has agreed to an
exclusive all-Australia license
to Renewable Oil Corporation
Pty Ltd (ROC) of Melbourne,
Australia, and extended ROC's
current license covering New
Zealand and the pacific Islands
until August of 2013.
06/23/2011
Canada's
CCEMC Grants $15MM for Three
Biomass Conversion
Projects
The Climate Change and
Emissions Management
Corporation (CCEMC) has
selected three biomass thermal
conversion projects to receive
$5 million each in project
development grants.
06/23/2011
Inbecon
Study Supports North
American Ag Waste Conversion
to
Ethanol
A
technical feasibility study
completed for Danish
biorefinery company Inbecon has
confirmed for them that "…
North America's great abundance
of corn stover and wheat straw
is sufficiently concentrated in
the prime grain-growing regions
to make biomass collection
practical and economical," says
Benny Mai, General Manager,
Inbecon.
06/23/2011
Thesis
Chemistry and SMET Partner
for Green Chemical
Biorefineries
Canadian company Thesis
Chemistry and Wisconsin-based
SMET Construction Services are
partnering to design and build
commercial scale biorefineries
for manufacturing green
chemicals from lignocellulosic
biomass feedstock.
06/22/2011
CalRecycle
Releases Final MSW Anaerobic
Digestion
PEIR
The California Department of
Resources Recycling and
Recovery (CalRecycle) has
released the Final Program
Environmental Impact Report
(SCH No. 2010042100) for
"Statewide Anaerobic Digester
Facilities for the Treatment of
Municipal Organic Solid Waste".
06/22/2011
Domtar
Partners with Wisconsin
Energy for Biomass Energy
Plant
The Domtar Paper Company mill
in Rothschild, Wisconsin will
be the site of a $250 million,
50 megawatt biomass power
plant, after signing revised
agreements with Wisconsin
Electric Power Company (We
Energies).
06/22/2011
Ontario
Invests in Carcass
Gasification to
Energy
The Rural Economic Development
(RED) Program of Ontario,
Canada is supporting a plant to
sterilize and recover energy
from "dead stock", or animal
carcasses, with an investment
of $3,652,809.
06/21/2011
Addax Is
Funded for Sierra Leone
Integrated Sustainable
Biorefinery
Addax Bioenergy has signed a
€258 million loan agreement
with a consortium of European
and African development
institutions for an integrated
ethanol - bioenergy facility in
Sierra Leone.
06/21/2011
DOE to
Conduct Recycled Energy Tour
of Successful Utah CHP
Projects
The US Department of Energy's
(DOE) Intermountain Clean
Energy Application Center will
conduct a tour
on July 13,
2011 of two successful recycled
combined heat and power (CHP)
projects in Utah.
06/21/2011
Hybrid Waste
to Energy and Bioproducts
"Energy Works" Facility
Proposed in
UK
United
Kingdom (UK) developer C.
Spencer Ltd has submitted plans
to the Hull City Council for
"Energy Works", a £150m
integrated waste management,
resource recovery, and
renewable energy plant to be
built next to the River Hull on
the site of a former cocoa
factory.
06/20/2011
CEC Awards
$500K to UC Davis for
Community-Integrated AD
Project
The California Energy
Commission (CEC) has awarded a
$500,000 grant to the
University of California (UC)
Davis "West Village Energy
Initiative" (WVEI) to support
pre-construction engineering
and post-construction
monitoring for their
community-integrated anaerobic
digestion (AD) and bio-gas
utilization project.
06/20/2011
Cambi
Awarded Contract for
Newcastle WWTP Biosolids
Pretreatment
Norwegian thermal hydrolysis
specialist Cambi has been
awarded a contract to install
its Thermal Hydrolysis Process
(THP) for pre-treatment of
biosolids at the Northumbrian
Water's (NW) advanced
wastewater treatment plant
(WWTP) near Newcastle, United
Kingdom.
06/20/2011
Biffa Opens
120,000 Tonnes/Year Food
Waste to Energy AD
Plant
United Kingdom (UK) waste
management company Biffa has
opened what may be the largest
food waste anaerobic digestion
(AD) facility in the United
Kingdom, adjacent to its
Poplars landfill in the West
Midlands near Cannock,
Staffordshire.
06/20/2011
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