Teru Talk
Newsletter
Volume I, Issue
20
-
July 11,
2011
Teru Talk
by Michael Theroux
(pronounced
"Terú")
In a
previous life, er, career,
I was a Field Botanist, a
plant ecologist, a plant
taxonomist. I learned that
a "weed" was best described
as "a plant out of place".
Following that idea,
perhaps "waste" is a
resource out of
place. Now, a Plant
Ecologist doesn't spend
time moving a weed to its
proper "place”. Yard
Service (at my house,
that's still me) comes
along and puts that weed in
its proper place: in the
trash heap or at best, in
the compost pile. At
my house, the veggie
part of what to others
might be called Food Waste
also goes into the compost;
those radish tops aren't
waste around here, they are
food for the Compost
Beasties. Next year,
they'll be "repurposed" as
mulch for the garden, to
grow … more
radishes.
Last
week's Trash Talk ruminated
on the ruckus to be raised
by applying for a
residential biogas plant
permit. No such animal, but
consider: the weed seeds I
add will tend to go right
through my meager
composting process, but
they'd never make it out
the back end of a small
digester. We've got 5.67
kWe of solar panels on our
roof, spinning our meter
backwards on sunny days;
why not add a few more
kilowatts on a 24/7 basis,
cranking electrons out of a
generator fueled with
Biogas? Seems to work for a
lot of less "sophisticated"
folks than we … Like I've
said before: we're not
there yet. But we're
getting there, we're
getting there.
Hey
Rube!
Keep an eye
on California's
under-construction Cap and
Trade mechanism. We hear that
pages A-64 thru A-66 (Section
95852.2 Emissions without a
Compliance Obligation) of ARB's
proposed
regulations contain some
serious discrepancies
related to clean conversion
of municipal solid waste
sourced feedstock. Here we
go
again.
The Week's Extra
Reading
Conversion
technology: A complement to
plastic
recycling, an
April 2011 publication
funded by the American
Chemical
Council.
The Week's
News
Nipawin
Biomass to Convert Mine
Clearance Timber Waste to
Ethanol
A Memorandum of Understanding
has been signed between
Canadian companies Shore Gold
Inc. and Nipawin Biomass
Ethanol New Generation
Co-operative Ltd., providing a
feedstock supply to Nipawin
Biomass for their
cellulose-to-ethanol
operations.
07/10/2011
CEC Awards
$29+ Million to 7
Transportation Biofuels
Projects
The California Energy
Commission (CEC) has approved
the award of more than $29
million for seven biofuels for
transportation projects,
totaling $29,675,072 funded
through the Commission's
Alternative and Renewable Fuel
and Vehicle Technology Program
(AB 118).
07/10/2011
DOE
Schedules Webinar on
Renewable CHP Using Biomass
Feedstock
The US Department of Energy's
(DOE) Gulf Coast Clean Energy
Center (GC RAC) is hosting free
webinars focused on Combined
Heat and Power (CHP).
07/09/2011
MW Power
Supplies Waste Heat Recovery
Boiler to Vantaa WtE
Plant
The Metso Corporation –
Wärtsilä joint venture MW Power
has been selected by Vantaan
Energia to provide the heat
recovery and steam generator
(HRSG) for their 62 megawatt
electric (MWe), 99 MW thermal
waste-to-energy (WtE) plant
under construction near Vantaa,
Finland.
07/09/2011
AE Biofuels
Acquires Zymetis and
Z-microbe for Direct Biomass
Conversion
Cupertino, California based AE
Biofuels has completed
acquisition of Maryland-based
Zymetis Inc., including their
patented "Z-microbe".
07/09/2011
Dynamotive,
ROC, and CRC Partner with
Virgin Australia for
Aviation
Biofuel
Canadian pyrolysis specialist
Dynamotive has announced their
partnership with Virgin
Australia airlines for
development of sustainable
aviation biofuel.
07/09/2011
Viridor
Celebrates Transition to
"Next Generation" Waste
Management
Viridor just celebrated the
opening of the final landfill
gas system installation as
their turning point toward
"next generation" waste
management.
07/08/2011
UK
Organizations Launch Global
Biogas
Program
The trade organization
Anaerobic Digestion and Biogas
Association (ADBA) and the
registered charitable
organization Raleigh
International Trust have teamed
to launch a global biogas
initiative promoting anaerobic
digestion (AD) of organic
household and farm waste for
biogas production.
07/08/2011
Cambi THP
Plant at Washington, DC WWTP
Will Be World's
Largest
Norwegian company Cambi AS will
construct the first Cambi
Thermal Hydrolysis Processing
(THP) plant in the United
States and their largest to
date at the Blue Plains
advanced wastewater treatment
plant (WWTP) in Washington, DC.
07/07/2011
ASTM Issues
Bio-derived Component
Revisions to Aviation Fuel
Standard
ASTM International (ASTM),
formerly known as the American
Society for Testing and
Materials, has revised ASTM
D7566-11, Specification for
Aviation Turbine Fuel
Containing Synthesized
Hydrocarbons.
07/07/2011
French
Enzyme Breakthrough for
Continuous Biodiesel
Production
Continuous economical
production of biodiesel is now
achievable, thanks to
breakthrough enzyme work at the
Paul Pascal research center of
France's Centre National de la
Recherche Scientifique (CNRS).
07/07/2011
EPA Signs
Final Biogenic CO2 Rule with
Three Year
Deferral
On July 1, 2011, the US
Environmental Protection
Agency's (EPA) Administrator
Lisa Jackson signed the
"Deferral for CO2 Emissions
from Bioenergy and Other
Biogenic Sources under the
Prevention of Significant
Deterioration (PSD) and Title V
Programs: Final Rule", and has
released the pre-publication
version.
07/06/2011
Japanese
Deep Sea Discovery May
Impact Rare Earth Metals
Recovery
Prospects
Japanese researchers published
results of deep sea bed
exploration in the current
issue of the journal Nature
Geoscience, showing that
deep-sea mud (around 20,000
feet below the surface)
contains high concentrations of
rare-earth elements and yttrium
at numerous sites throughout
the eastern South and central
North Pacific.
07/06/2011
New European
Energy Fund to Support
Small-Scale Renewable
Projects
The European Energy Efficiency
Fund (EEEF) was launched July
1, 2011 in Bussels
collaboratively by the European
Commission, the European
Investment Bank (EIB), the
Cassa Depositi e Prestiti
(CDP), and Deutsche Bank.
07/06/2011
Vadxx Energy
and Greenstar Recycling JV
for Waste Plastics to
Crude
Ohio-based Vadxx Energy and
Texas company Greenstar
Recycling are forming a joint
venture (JV) for conversion of
post-recycling waste plastics
to synthetic crude oil.
07/05/2011
Tetronics
Targeting Precious Metal
Recovery from E-Waste
through
Plasma
UK's Tetronics Ltd has entered
into a partnership with Taiwan
precious metal refining company
Solar Applied Materials
Technology Corporation to
investigate opportunities to
use plasma for extraction of
precious metals from electronic
wastes and industrial /
automotive catalysts.
07/05/2011
Neutral
Fuels to Make Biodiesel from
McDonald's UAE Waste Cooking
Oil
McDonald's used cooking oil
from across the United Arab
Emirate (UAE) will be collected
for Dubai-based Neutral Fuels
LLC to convert into biodiesel
under a long-term contract.
McDonald's UAE will use the
100% biodiesel in their fleet
vehicles.
07/05/2011
The Week's
Action
Items
Due
07/21/2011: Intent to Offer
on SCE ES&M 2011 All
Source
RFO
Southern California Edison has
issued a 2011 Energy Source and
Management Power (ES&M) All
Source Request for Offer (RFO)
with participation
requirements, documents to be
submitted, and a detailed
schedule of required
submittals.
07/08/2011
Due
08/19/2011: Project
Proposals with New Emissions
Reduction
Technologies
The San Joaquin Valley Air
Pollution Control District
(SJVAPCD) in California has
released a Request for
Proposals (RFP) under their
Technology Advancement Program
(TAP).
07/10/2011
|
