Teru Talk Newsletter
Volume I, Issue
42, December 12,
2011
Teru Talk by Michael
Theroux (pronounced
"Terú")
Teru's Trash Talk
Here's a shaker: We, the
Human species, are Energy
Addicts. Not necessarily
Oil addicts, just any ol'
Energy will do. And we're
not about to change, just
clamor for more as our
numbers rise. The "smarter"
we get and the more
sophisticated the Third
World becomes, the faster
the demand for energy will
increase. Are we running
outta oil? Probably; well,
most certainly, sooner or
later. Should we all just
up and change over to
fracked natural gas? Clean
Coal? Nuclear? Green
Energy? Not likely to
happen, and certainly not
overnight. The truth is, we
probably need a little of
everything we can get our
hands on just to feed this
Energy Addiction, 'cause
the Energy DTs are nothing
we want to see on a global
basis. All that whining and
groveling …but like
anything else addictive, it
isn't the fault of the
substance, it's how we use
it.
So let's just focus on
Waste Conversion and how
well we can make more
electricity, fuels, and
chemicals from the stuff
we've been throwing away.
As with everything we do,
we can do it clean, or we
can do it down and dirty.
Is a Gasifier nasty? Well,
if you don't keep the
temperatures right and
forget to attend to the
residence time, the
feedstock breaks down into
stuff you really don't want
to cope with. Anaerobic
Digestion? Hey, we're now
training absolutely Deadly
Bugs to ferment sugar
straight into drop-in
fuels, and I'll guarantee
that we'd better keep the
pipes clean on those
systems. How about
Composting? Yeah, it has
its own problems too when
done poorly. We're in a
learning curve, and it
takes time to go from a
rock and bailing wire to
moon-shots. Now, I coaxed a
jeep out of the panhandle
of Texas with a well-shaped
rock and a length of
clothes-hanger wire, so
don't knock the simple
tools. Try it, modify it,
try it again, and each time
strive to make the thing
work cleaner, leaner, more
efficiently. ISO 9001 calls
it "Continual
Improvement."
An example? Let's pick on
Incineration (everyone else
does). In its simplest
form, Incineration means
you light a match, step
back and let 'er roar,
"rendering to ash,"
but even incineration
can be be done cleanly. By
comparison, there's
Conversion, requiring that
you add two key steps: (1)
first you make a system
that allow you to interrupt
the process to test the
intermediary products
before final use, and then
(2) you sample the char,
goo, gas or whatever and
re-adjust the system to
make cleaner end-product.
But remember - it's not
just having a cool tool:
it's how well you operate
it.
Hey
Rube!
We in the US
of A may not be Member States
of the European Union (yet),
but we can certainly look over
their collective shoulder, add
our two cents, and maybe learn
a thing or two in the process.
Numerous open EU programs run
concurrently, and the EU
Commission is always calling
for comments. Yes, sometimes
you may need to be Continental,
but most of those very
transparent "programmes" don't
say "No Americans Allowed". If
you are working on BioChar and
the UK is making up BioChar
standards, it just makes sense
that you should watch what's
going on. Teru Talk takes the
position we ALL need to be
engaged, and we try to serve up
the "Programmes" needing our
input, US, UK, EU or
wherever.
The
Week's News
Tox21 Robot
Ready to Screen 10,000
Chemicals for Health and
Green
Chemistry
Understanding
chemical toxicity in pursuit of
"Green Chemistry" moves forward
with the announcement that
Tox21 is beginning to test
10,000 chemicals with a
high-speed robotic screening
system for potential toxicity,
including consumer products,
food additives, chemicals found
in industrial processes, and
human and veterinary drugs.
12/11/2011
Mascoma,
Valero JV for Hardwood
Cellulosic Ethanol Facility
in Michigan
New Hampshire-based Mascoma
Corporation has announced
definitive agreements with
independent oil refiner and
ethanol producer Valero Energy
Corporation to develop and
operate a 20 million gallon per
year cellulosic ethanol
facility in Kinross, Michigan.
12/11/2011
Biffa and
Wetherspoon Pubs to Expand
Food Waste Recycling
Trials
United
Kingdom (UK) waste management
company Biffa has announced
expansion of a long-standing
partnership with one of the
largest of the country's
restaurant and pub companies,
JD Wetherspoon (JDW), to
conduct food waste connection
and recycling trials.
12/11/2011
California
ARB Releases Final Draft
LCFS 2011 Program Review
Report
California
Air Resources Board (ARB)
staff has released the Final
Draft of the Low
Carbon Fuel Standard 2011
Program Review
Report, which was
submitted to the ARB as
mandated by Section 95489 of
the Low Carbon Fuel Standard
(LCFS) regulations.
12/08/2011
Rainier
Biogas Dairy Manure AD Plant
Schedules
Groundbreaking
A
groundbreaking ceremony is
scheduled for the Rainier
Biogas Dairy Manure Digester
Project on December 12, 2011 at
the Ritter Dairy just outside
Enumclaw, King County,
Washington.
12/08/2011
MagneGas
Expands Presence to Michigan
for Syngas Production and
Operations
Florida
based MagneGas Corporation
announced expansion of
production and operations
into Michigan with lease of
an industrial complex in
Rochester Hills for
installation of a large 300
kWh MagneGas refinery by
January 2012.
12/08/2011
AeroThermal's
Autoclave-to-AAD Project
Approved for Devon County
Waste
On November
30, 2011, the Devon County
Council granted planning
approval for AAD (South
West) Ltd, a subsidiary of
British engineering firm
AeroThermal Group (ATG), to
develop a non-hazardous
commercial and industrial
(C&I) Waste conversion
facility in Lee Moor, South
Devon.
12/08/2011
Spanish
Researcher Extracts PHAs for
Bioplastics from Olive Skin
Residues
The Spanish
olive oil Denomination of
Origin (DO) Sierra de Sigura
has announced that Jesus
Zorilla, a researcher
assisting the DO's
regulatory board, has
successfully extracted the
bioplastic precursor polymer
polyhydroxy alcanoate (PHA)
from oil mill olive skin
residues in collaboration
with the lab of the 10
Potosi S.A. olive oil mill.
12/05/2011
UN's FAO
Releases "Energy Smart Food"
Issue
Paper
The Food and
Agricultural Organization of
the United Nations (FAO) has
published an Issue Paper
entitled, "Energy Smart Food
for People and Climate",
utilizing detailed analyses of
per-country and global food
production demand for energy,
emissions of greenhouse gas
(GHG) and economics.
12/05/2011
The Week's Action
Items
Due
12/23/2011: Comments on
CEC's 2011 Integrated Energy
Policy Report
The
California Energy Commission
(CEC) has released a
preliminary draft of its
2011 Integrated Energy
Policy Report (IEPR) for
public comment (docket
number 11-IEP-1A). The CEC
adopts an IEPR every two
years with an update every
other year.
12/06/2011
Due
12/23/2011: Comments to ARB
on Changes to Carbon
Intensity Lookup
Tables
The
California Air Resources
Board (ARB) has released a
Notice of Availability with
the details of the most
recent text modifications
for the Carbon Intensity
(CI) Lookup Tables as a
continuation of the
Rulemaking governing the
implementation of the Low
Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS).
12/08/2011
`
Due
12/30/2011: Comments to CEC
on Renewable Energy
Challenges in
CA
The
California Energy Commission
(CEC) is exploring
implications of Governor
Brown's signing and
subsequent passage in April
2011 of legislative mandates
that dramatically increase
goals for renewable energy
development in California,
and requiring electric
utilities to purchase at
least 33% from renewable
generators by 2020.
12/08/2011
Due
02/28/2012: Proposals for
Implementation of EIBI
Bioenergy
Demonstrations
The
European Industrial Bioenergy
Initiative (EIBI) continues
close collaboration with the
European Commission and Member
States. Two Calls have been
released by the
collaborative on topics to
advance the EIBI's 7th
Framework Programme (FP7)
goals.
12/11/2011
Due
04/03/2012: Proposals for
EIBI Commercial
Lignocellulosic Ethanol
Demo
The
European Industrial Bioenergy
Initiative (EIBI) continues
close collaboration with the
European Commission and Member
States. Two Calls have been
released by the
collaborative on topics to
advance the EIBI's 7th
Framework Programme (FP7)
goals.
12/11/2011
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