Teru Talk - 2011 Newsletter V-I-22

Microbes have awfully small mouths and nibble away at the outside edges of their food. Most of the stuff we try to feed them comes in big, tough pieces. If we intend to get these bugs working double-time, we need to get their food scaled down to their mouth size. We need to find ways to dissolve the foodstuff, to grind it to a pulp or powder, to literally disintegrate it. We can also pry the chunks apart to open cracks and crevasses, so the microbe-beasties can work their way in and nibble from the inside. When we get their food-things cut down to their size, we increase the conversion rate and efficiency, leaving less residual. That's the essence of pre-treatment of feedstock prior to microbial conversion, something we hit on in last week's trash talk.

Thermo-chemical processes work about the same way: get the stuff you want to convert busted down enough, pulled apart enough, and the reactions find more surface area to work on. Gasifiers can more quickly and completely change solid and liquid feedstock to synthetic fuel gas when the input is homogenous and finely divided. Pyrolysis can act as a "molecular grinder" in front of a gasifier, tearing complex physical structures down to their simpler molecular components. Gasification then can break the heavy molecular chains from the pyrolyzer down to an even flow of carbon and hydrogen rich syngas.

Now we get to integrated biorefineries: Run that syngas through a mesh of metal catalysts and out drips liquid fuel, but try not to clog up the catalyst matrix with any chunks. Or … cool the syngas and bubble it through vats of microbes, and you can train them to convert that hydrocarbon source to short-chain alcohols, like ethanol and butanol. Pyrolyze, gasify, cool and catalyze or ferment, and you can turn just abut any kind of waste into renewable energy.

Size does matter, after all.

People and organizations that want to stop everything from being built anywhere find ways to get their minion deep inside the planning processes that, eventually, determine the Rules. Plenty of those critical planning processes are going on right now, right here in California with the Clean Energy Future, Green Chemistry, and Low Carbon Fuel Standard. National planning is under review; EPA alone must have half a dozen Rulemakings up for comment at any one time. Europe certainly has opened their process, especially with the Biofuels Technology Platform. This is a general call to "planning" arms: look around, pick your battles, and get engaged.

Ammonia Pre-Treatment Makes Cellulosic Biomass Five Times More Digestible Collaborative research between the US Department of Energy's Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), and the Michigan State University's Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center (GLBRC) has revealed that the molecular-level activity of ammonia pre-treatment loosens cellulosic structure of biomass and greatly facilitates hydrolysis. 07/23/2011

Iowa State's MycoMeal Process of Thin-Stillage Improves Ethanol Production Iowa State University (ISU) researchers have moved "MycoMeal" from lab to pilot scale and the process works better. The research team is growing the fungus Rhizopus oligosporus on the wash-water left from standard ethanol fermentation with the MycoMeal process. 07/23/2011

Dow Chemical Company and Mitsui & Co, Ltd., of Tokyo, Japan are forming a new joint venture (JV) with a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to develop and supply sustainable bioproducts. 07/22/2011

Cathay Industrial Biotech Files for IPO to Expand Biobutanol Production Chinese biobutanol producer Cathay Industrial Biotech Ltd has filed Form F-1 Registration Statement and preliminary prospectus with the US Securities Exchange Commission toward an Initial Public Offering of American Depository Shares (ADSs). 07/21/2011

A multi-University, The Hertz Foundation Fellows-led team has been selected as one of eight grant recipients in the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation "Reinvent the Toilet Challenge" (RTTC). 07/21/2011

The collaborative BIOSYNERGY project has released its findings in a detailed brochure, Biorefinery Development for Europe. 07/20/2011

Los Angeles County Releases Q&A Summary for Waste Conversion RFEI A Summary has been released of Questions & Answers (Q&A) associated the last month's Los Angeles County issuance of Requests for Expression of Interest (RFEI) to waste conversion technology providers, project developers and financiers. 07/20/2011

California Air Resource Board Hosts First LCFS Public Update Meeting The California Air Resources Board (ARB) has released a Meeting Notice and Agenda for its first public update meeting for July 25, 2011 on the progress of the Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) program's Advisory Panel. 07/19/2011

Eco-Solids Cellruptor Pre-Treatment of Food Waste for Conversion Looks Good Organics pre-treatment technology specialist Eco-Solids International (ESI) is seeing early positive results in an extended research and development program lead by the UK's University of Southampton to assess effectiveness of their Cellruptor process for preparation of food waste prior to anaerobic digestion (AD). 07/18/2011

Marine base Camp Lejeune is receiving their first shipment of biodiesel today, coordinated by the North Carolina Eastern Region's Military Growth Task Force through a program called Fuel the Force. 07/18/2011

Due 08/31/2011: Proposals to CARB for Industrial Sector GHG Benchmarking The California Air Resources Board (CARB) has released a Request for Proposal (RFP) seeking one or more firms for industrial sector assessments necessary to set greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions efficiency benchmarks under the State's 2010-adopted Cap & Trade program. 07/21/2011

Details are now available for submission of proposals to Energy Call FP7 released by the European Industrial Biofuels Initiative (EIBI). Non-binding Expressions of Interest (EOIs) are due September 30, 2011. 07/22/2011

Due Now to 04/30/2012: Biomass/Biogas to Energy Grant Apps to Illinois DCEO The Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) is now accepting applications for the Biogas and Biomass to Energy Grant Program; applications will be accepted through April 30, 2012 or until grant funds are expended. 07/18/2011

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