Teru Talk
Newsletter
Volume I, Issue
2
-
March 7,
2011
Teru Talk
by Michael Theroux
(pronounced
"TerĂº")
Teru's Trash
Talk
Mankind has been messing
with FrankenBugs, well,
forever. Microbial-sourced
biofuels advances have
caught our attention
recently. Alltech's massive
new algae operation opens
in Kentucky, while others
pursue different biofuels
pathways by coaxing
bacterial bio-butanol
production. W2Energy is
using their well-designed
algae photo-bioreactor to
grow naturally-occurring
Clostridium
acetobutylicum (different
species, same genus as
causes botulism),
collecting a soup of
bio-butanol, ethanol and
acetone on the back end.
Genomica's new Big Daddy
(as of last month) Waste
Management, has helped
orchestrate a multi-million
dollar cash influx, so they
can build their first plant
for FrankenBug to
1,4-Butanediol, a
high-value precursor to
n-butanol, and a lot of
other non-petro foundation
chemicals. Meanwhile, UC
Berzerkeley (sorry) reports
success in mushing
E. coli
bacteria genetics so they,
too, can produce
n-butanol.
Now, there may be fair
questions remaining about
whether we can corral the
modified genetic organisms
(GMOs) cut into a plant's
inner workings (in my
humble opinion, it's been
too late to worry about
THAT, for quite some time),
but the difference is now
that we've figured out some
of those more nasty bugs
actually can make the
Bio-Fuel we need! Butanol
appears to be more
functional as a drop-in
biofuel, needing little if
any further refining, than
most of the other biofuels
we've been producing. And
"bio-butanol" from algae
and bacteria just seems so
right: we feed 'em light
and dirty air and dirty
water, they ... ah ...
secrete ...
some seriously useful
fluids. Bees make honey;
Clostridium makes butanol
... with a little
TLC.
Hey
Rube!
Our first
newsletter (last
week)
included
the slew of
court-forced EPA Rules
releases, including
their initiation of
"Reconsideration"
proceedings. Get
prepared; there will be
another round of
stakeholder input
sought, probably next
month. Watch this space
... there's some real
fun ahead
...
Along
with the Rulemakings on
what is Waste and what you
can do with it (any
suggestions?), we see
rumblings in related
critical EPA corners: their
Science Advisory Board
recently completed its
reassessment of the
National Science Academy’s
reassessment of EPA’s
reassessment of dioxin, and
opened the door (briefly)
for public comment. See
this week’s News
Item on the EPA’s
Dioxin Reassessment, try
to catch up some on the
dialogue, and watch for
an Action Item here,
when the next round of
flailing is to occur.
Trust us: you’ll need
the lead
time.
And this
is a sleeper: In January of
this year, the
EPA released a
"tentative determination"
for the second time to deny
Sierra Club's petition for
reconsideration of the
Gasification Rule. Why
should you care? Because
"hydrocarbons is where you
find 'em", and if you can
find them by cleanly
recovering them
from our own oily,
gooey waste, instead of
having to go
to to the Middle
East with a bucket
in one hand and a gun
in the other, so much the
better. Once again, the
action is open for public
comment, see this week’s
Action
Item.
The Week's
News
Adama Tech
Signs Romanian MSW
Gasification
Contract
Israeli brownfields-remediation
company Adama Technologies is
expanding into waste to energy,
with signing of a final
agreement for gasification of
municipal solid waste (MSW)
residuals in Romania.
03/06/2011
ADBA
Proposes New Biomethane Carbon
Credit Trading
Platform
The United Kingdom (UK) based
Anaerobic Digestion and Biogas
Association (ADBA) has proposed
adoption of a Biomethane Carbon
Credit Trading Platform, as a
complement to the Parliament’s
soon-to-be implemented
Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI).
03/06/2011
EPA Holds
Public Meetings on SAB
Reassessment of
Dioxin
The US Environmental Protection
Agency’s (EPA) Science Advisory
Board (SAB) has released their
"Reanalysis of Key Issues
Related to Dioxin Toxicity and
Response to NAS Comments".
03/05/2011
Neste Oil
Increases Use of Waste in
Biodiesel
Production
Finland’s
Neste Oil announced that they
are increasing the percentage
of waste as raw material used
to produce their biodiesel
product, NExBTL®.
03/05/2011
RIT
Researchers Develop
Biodiesel from MicroAlgae
and Wastewater
Researchers at New
York’s Rochester Institute
of Technology (RIT) have
announced isolation of small
amounts of golden-colored
biodiesel produced by the
micro-alga strain
Scenedesmus, along with the
valuable lipids they
normally have been
extracting.
03/05/2011
Nexterra
Raises $15MM in Equity
Financing
Canadian
biomass gasification company
Nexterra Systems Corporation
has announced closing of a
$15MM round of equity financing
with investors Tandem Expansion
Fund and ARC Financial.
03/05/2011
Cyclone
Power Engine Receives 10th
International
Patent
Cyclone Power
has now received its
10th international
patent on its high-efficiency
“steam engine” and its
components, this time from
Mexico.
03/04/2011
California Leads in US On-Farm
Renewable Energy
Use
The US
Department of Agriculture
(USDA) has announced results of
a decade-long survey of on-farm
implementation of renewable
energy (RE) generation systems.
03/04/2011
ASU
Releases Report on Direct
Climate Effects of Perennial
Bioenergy
Crops
It’s not just about carbon
offsets, researchers at Arizona
State University (ASU)
announce. Replacing annual
plants with perennial biofuels
crops like Miscanthus and
switchgrass over large areas
lengthens the growing cycle,
and can cool the region by an
average of about one degree.
03/03/2011
Canadian
BioEnergy Centre Opens on
University of New Brunswick
Campus
The University of New Brunswick
(UNB) has announced that their
biomass testing laboratory has
been opened on the campus of
the Flemming Forestry Complex,
in a well-attended
ribbon-cutting ceremony.
03/03/2011
Genomatica
Raises $45MM for Green
Chemical
Development
The San Diego
based green chemistry company
Genomatica has announced that
it has raised an additional
$45MM less than a month after
signing a Joint Development
agreement with Waste
Management.
03/03/2011
TreeFree
Biomass Solutions Joins
Seattle's Innovation
Center
The McKinstry
Innovation Center has brought
seven emerging companies within
their incubator service in the
year since opening.
03/03/2011
UC
Berkeley Researchers Modify
Bacterium to Produce
Butanol
University of
California, Berkeley has
announced that researchers have
been successful in developing a
genetically modified organism
(GMO), modifying the bacterium
E.
coli
to secrete nearly 10 times more
n-butanol than other industrial
microbe systems.
03/02/2011
Itochu
Corporation Acquires 4% of
Benefuel for Asian Biofuels
Development
Illinois Based
Benefuel
Inc.
has
announced
that
Japanese commerce
giant
Itochu
Corporation
has acquired a 4% interest, in
order to utilize
Benefuel
’s
proprietary bifunctional solid
catalyst for Asian biofuels
production.
03/02/2011
OSGC Selects City of Green Bay
Site for MSW to Energy
Facility
The
tribally owned Oneida Seven
Generations Corporation OSGC
has acquired property in the
City of Green Bay, Wisconsin,
for a waste gasification to
energy facility.
03/01/2011
IBI Releases Biochar
Industry 2015 Vision
Document
The
International Biochar
Initiative
(IBI) Board of
Directors has released their
report of what it will take to
form a successful biochar
industry by 2015, the result of
a Board retreat sponsored by
the Packard Foundation.
03/01/2011
The Week's Action
Items
Due
03/14/2011: Comments on
EPA’s Second Denial of
Sierra Club’s
Petition
A notice published in the
Federal Register on January
28, 2011 (76 FR 19, et
seq.) informs the public
that the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) has
denied for the second time
a Sierra Club request under
RCRA section 7004, for a
Petition for
Reconsideration of the
“Regulation of Oil-Bearing
Hazardous Secondary
Materials from the
Petroleum Refining Industry
Processed in a Gasification
System to Produce Synthesis
Gas” known as the
Gasification Rule.
03/05/2011
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