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Teru Talk News

Teru Talk Newsletter                Follow TeruTalk on Twitter

Volume I, Issue 26, August 22, 2011
Teru Talk by Michael Theroux (pronounced "Terú") 

Teru's Trash Talk

We're glad the US Military has decided it’s a Good Thing to be able to make fuel out of, well, something other than mid-eastern oil. It's high time too. The Army wants to replace opium with biofuels crops in Afghanistan. The Navy wants aviation and marine biofuels. The Marines are turning kitchen grease into biodiesel. What's next, wringing gas from a stone? (Wait: that's called "clean coal"…)

 

I'm grateful the federal government has wised up. Alternatives to dinosaur juice are the Big Thing for the Hummers and F-78s (or whatever they are up to now). This is the kinda break our industry needs, something to light the fuse. The USDA and DOE secretaries already "have a plan" to ramp up some of the more promising pick-o-litter advanced biofuels, take our idle national Petroleum Refinery brain trust and hardware and put 'em back to work turning waste turnips and corn cobs into Mach 9 fighter jet fuel. While we're at it, let's leap-frog over the existing Corn to Ethanol industry, and revamp those cookers for isobutanol. We just take out the old Yeastie Beasties, add a few of these here "special bugs" from the National University of GMO and let 'em rip.

 

Somewhere in the information flood we go through every week, we read that this is the sort of shift that pulled America out of the last toilet, that the Industrial-Military Complex got purchase on new technology "back in the day" and the World Economy changed, rather abruptly. Just keep in mind, dear readers, the cautionary tales of Kurt Vonnegut in Cat's Cradle, "The world didn't end with a Bang, it ended with a whimper …" Let's pay attention this time and try to keep the Tiger in the Tank.

Hey Rube!

Solicitations for California's AB 118 Alt Fuels funding for 2012 are scheduled to be released next month with around $36 million to become available for production of diesel substitutes, gasoline substitutes, and bio-methane. The Energy Commission's draft 2011-2012 Investment Plan for the Alternative and Renewable Fuel and Vehicle Technology Program (released May of this year) outlines the coming program, while last year's Plan provides a glimpse at past awards. Stay tuned; we'll keep you posted.

 

2011-2012 Priorities:

" The Energy Commission will continue to provide funding to accelerate developing and introducing clean, efficient low carbon technologies that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and petroleum dependence, and increase alternative and renewable fuel use and in state biofuels production. Achieving these policy objectives requires a portfolio of fuels and vehicle technologies including electric drive and fuel cell vehicles, low carbon biofuels, natural gas and propane vehicles, and improved vehicle efficiency."

The Week's News

CHP2011 Conference and Trade Show Scheduled for October 17-19, 2011 CHP2011 is the only nationwide conference and trade show dedicated solely to combined heat and power (CHP), cogeneration, tri-generation, and waste heat recovery. 08/21/2011

 

CTSI's 2011 Top 10 Defense Technologies Includes Waste Conversion to Energy The Clean Technology and Sustainable Industries Organization (CTSI) has selected 2011's top 10 technologies ready for Defense applications out of a field of 220 global energy companies vetted. 08/20/2011

 

California ARB LCFS Advisory Panel Meets on August 25-26, 2011

The California Air Resources Board (ARB) has issued a notice with location and contact information for the third Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) Advisory Panel Meeting on August 25 and 26, 2011. 08/20/2011

 

INEOS Closes on $75MM to Complete Advanced Waste to BioEnergy Facility INEOS New Planet BioEnergy (INPB) has finalized a $75 million round of private financing, backed by their just-issued USDA loan guarantee from the 9003 Biorefinery Assistance Program. 08/20/2011

  

HDSI Acquires License For Carbon Capture and Algal Biofuel Technology  Rhode Island base  HDS International (HDSI) has entered into an acquisition agreement with Hillwinds Ocean Energy, LLC (HOEL), a privately-held carbon capture, carbon sequestration and algae-for-biofuels technology company, and wholly owned subsidiary of Hillwinds Energy Development Corporation (HEDC). 08/19/2011

 

Greenstar Wins Akron Contract for Recycling & Waste Plastics Conversion The City of Akron, Ohio, has awarded a recycling contract to Texas company Greenstar Recycling for construction of a single-stream recycling processing center for the City's curb-side pick-up of recyclable goods. 08/19/2011

 

Water Buffalo Rumen Enzymes Characterized for Cellulosic Ethanol Production Taiwanese researchers' work published this month in BioMed Central's Biotechnology for Biofuels describes gene and enzyme activity of a newly-isolated W5 strain of Neocallimastix patriciarum, an anaerobic fungal organism found in water buffalo digestive tracts. 08/19/2011

 

Synthesis Energy Successfully Tests Gasification of Low-Grade Chinese Coal Houston-based Synthesis Energy Systems, Inc. (SES) has announced successful 5-day testing of its advanced gasification system at its Zaozhuang joint venture plant in Shandong Province, China. SES licenses the U-GAS® system from Gasification Technology Institute (GTI), focusing on the clean conversion of low-grade feedstock including biomass and coal, leaving "better" fuels for less resilient technologies.  08/18/2011

 

Dynamotive Seeks Expansion of BioOil Pyrolysis Technology to SE Asia Canadian pyrolysis specialists Dynamotive Energy Systems Corporation (“Dynamotive”) has announced signing of a non-binding six-month extendable Memorandum of Understanding (“MOU”) with Genting Bio-Oil Sdn Bhd (GBO) of Malaysia, a subsidiary of Genting Berhad, to explore market development of the company's pyrolysis oil technology in the Southeast (SE) Asia Region. 08/18/2011

 

FuelCell Power Plant Converts Wastewater Biogas to H2 and Electricity A public/private partnership that includes FuelCell Energy (FCE), Air Products and the National Fuel Cell Research Center at the University of California, Irvine has announced a commissioning event of a Direct FuelCell (DFC®) power plant that converts wastewater treatment biogas from the Orange County Sanitation District (OCSD) into 250 kilowatts of electricity to run the main facility and pure hydrogen (H2) for on-site vehicle fueling. 08/18/2011

 

Construction Starts on Lethbridge Organic Waste to Biogas Facility

After a decade of planning, ECB Enviro North America Inc. and Canadian anaerobic digestion (AD) specialists PlanEt Biogas Solutions Inc have formed the new partnership, Lethbridge Biogas LP, and have announced start of construction on their 2.85 megawatt biogas plant. 08/17/2011

 

DOE, USDA, Navy Partner to Accelerate Advanced Drop-in Biofuel Production Responding to President Obama's Blueprint for A Secure Energy Future, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), together with the Departments of Energy (DOE) and the Navy,have announced a three-year initiative with a $510 million budget to speed development of large-volume biorefineries that can produce drop-in aviation and marine biofuels for military and commercial transportation. 08/17/2011

 

LanzaTech and Harsco Form Alliance to Convert Steel Mill Emissions to Ethanol  New Zealand based LanzaTech has formed a strategic alliance with Harsco Corporation for their first agreement outside of Asia. 08/16/2011

 

ZeaChem and Chrysler Sign MOU to Fast-Track Non-Food Cellulosic Biofuels Colorado-based ZeaChem Inc has announced signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Chrysler Group LLC for a strategic alliance focused on accelerating development of non-food cellulosic ethanol. 08/16/2011

 

NABC Selects Two Drop-In Biofuel Technology Approaches for Pilot Projects Ending their first year of assessment funded by the US Department of Energy (DOE), the National Advanced Biofuels Consortium (NABC) has chosen two advanced biofuel technologic approaches for development support that produce engine-ready "drop-in" biofuels. 08/16/2011

 

Veolia Landfill Gas to Energy Project in Wisconsin is Starting Up

Veolia Environmental Services North America will host start-up ceremonies at Veolia Environmental Services' Hickory Meadows Landfill in Hilbert, eastern Wisconsin; the ribbon-cutting ceremony is set for August 16, 2011. 08/15/2011

 

DOE Researchers Identify Critical Gene for Ethanol Production

A broad collaboration of researchers working through the Department of Energy's BioEnergy Science Center (BESC) has identified a single bacterial gene critical to ethanol production. 08/15/2011

 

Austrian Researchers Develop Fungal Enzymes that Break Down PET Plastics The Austrian Centre of Industrial Biotechnology (ACIB) has announced development of fungal-sourced enzymes that decompose polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastics into their initial material complement. 08/15/2011

The Week's Action Items

Due 09/02/2011: Comments on Refined 4RFI Proposed Action Plan

The US Forest Service is seeking public comment on their refined action plan for the Four Forests Restoration Initiative (4RFI), a plan for restoration activities on about 600,000 acres of the Coconino and Kaibab National Forests in central and eastern Arizona. 08/19/2011

  

Due 09/15/2011: Applications for Funding of Biomass Boilers in UK Social Housing The United Kingdom's Department of Energy and Climate (DECC) has established a £3 million fund to help put biomass fueled "eco-heater" boilers in government-run low income "social housing", as part of the UK's £15 million Renewable Heat Premium Payment budget. 08/17/2011

  

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Featured Events:

2011CHP Combined Heat and Power Conference & Trade Show  

CHP2011 COMBINED HEAT AND POWER CONFERENCE AND TRADE SHOW
October 17-19, 2011
Houston, Texas

 

 

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Teru Talk is an online publication of JDMT, Inc with the goal of opening the dialogue and providing current news and commentary on issues and successes associated with waste conversion to renewable energy, biofuels and other bio-based products for resource recovery.

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The Teru Talk Newsletter is published weekly or more or less frequently, primarily depending on what is going on in the world of waste conversion or ours.