Teru Talk Newsletter with current news, action items, and some trash talk on matters of waste conversion for resource recovery.

Teru Talk News
 

Teru Talk Newsletter

Volume I, Issue 9 -  April 25, 2011 
Teru Talk by Michael Theroux (pronounced "Terú") 
 
Teru's Trash Talk 
 

What is "Green Technology", after all? What do folks think of, when they Think Green? This week at the Green California Summit and Expo, touring the Exhibit Hall and chatting up the hundred plus vendors, it' easy to see what they think Green is: lights and insulation, natural soaps and bio-products, and Recycling, in all its many-splendored Thingies (stay tuned: Teru Talk will post a Report on the Summit this coming week).

 

Waste Conversion is making headway, if not into the Main Stream, at least from eddy to eddy along the banks. Waste oil to Biodiesel got vendor representation; we even had a MBT come over from Carson City (yes, they musta let 'em past the blockade). As logical as closed loop conversion of on-site waste to combined cooling, heating and fuels might seem, there is no Seat at the Table as a LEEDs player, nor are there any hints of even voluntary encouragements in California's Building Standards community. Ah, well … we just have to keep pushing, and keep showing off our Highly Successful Projects. And yes, we DO have "highly successful projects": just keep an eye on Teru Talk News!

  

Hey Rube!

 

You've got about one month now to file an application with the EPA to help assess ways we can put Renewables on some of the 11,000 contaminated sites they track. Here's a thought we're working on: plant stuff that sucks up contaminants out the dirt and water (phyto-remediation) and "bio-crop" it as fuel for energy generation in clean conversion systems. We've posted an article on the idea, focused on the muck and goo south of the Salton Sea in Imperial County.

  

The Week's News

 

Lignol Completes Commercial Biorefinery Design Package

Canadian advanced biofuels and green chemicals company Lignol has developed an engineering design package for an economical, commercial-scale Biorefinery. 04/23/2011

 

Update: LCFS Posts Draft Guidance on Ultra-Low Carbon Fuels

The California Low Carbon Fuel Standards (LCFS) Advisory Panel has posted a draft outline and guidance document on Ultra-Low Carbon Fuels to their website in preparation for their meeting on April 26, 2011. 04/23/2011

 

Update: Adama Tech Selling Romanian MSW Gasification Project

Israeli based Adama Technologies has signed a non-binding term sheet to sell its assets in its proposed municipal solid waste (MSW) gasification plant in Bucharest, Romania. 04/23/2011

 

AE Advanced Fuels Keyes Receives $1.88MM Grant from CEC

AE Advanced Fuels Keyes Inc (AE Keyes), has been awarded a $1.88 million matching funds grant by the California Energy Commission (CEC) to accelerate the commercial implementation of its enzyme based cellulosic ethanol production technology. 04/23/2011

 

MHI to Make Ethanol from "Soft Cellulose" Rice and Barley Straw

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) has successfully completed technology, product and economic verification to meet Japanese Automotive Standards Organization (JASO) standards for production of ethanol transport fuel from rice and barley straw "soft cellulose". 04/23/2011

 

KBR Awarded Two Contracts for Renewable Energy Facilities

KBR, Inc has received a contract award from KiOR, Inc to provide engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) services to build a biomass to liquid fuel facility to process approximately 500 tons per day of wood biomass and produce over 11 million gallons of fuel per year. 04/22/2011

 

BioGas Processing Facility Breaks Ground at Point Loma WWTP

Construction has begun on the Trident BioFuels Energy Gas Processing Facility at the 240 million gallon per day capacity Point Loma Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) in San Diego County, California. 04/20/2011

 

Governor's Special Advisor for Renewable Energy to Speak at Summit  The Green California Summit and Exposition runs from April 19-20, 2011 in Sacramento, covering "green paths to economic recovery". 04/19/2011

 

London Borough's Food Waste Collection Pilot a Success

The London Borough of Southwark Council and their waste management contractor Veolia Environmental Services have deemed their food waste collection pilot program a success, and are ready to expand the service beyond the initial 10,000 properties. 04/19/2011

 

TPA Launches South African Biogas Program

Trade Plus Aid (TPA) has invested in Swiss anaerobic digestion (AD) company Acrona Engineering to establish the TPA Biogas Programme. Acrona develops combined heat and power applications based on their AD designs, and is a distributor for Capstone microturbines. 04/19/2011

 

Followup: LCFS Draft Workplan Available for Review

The Low Carbon Fuel Standard Advisory Panel will review the LCFS Draft Workplan Version 1, which has just been made available on the Advisory Panel's web page, at their April 26, 2011 meeting. 04/19/2011

 

GPRE Cuts Ribbon on Ethanol Waste to Algae Facility

Green Plains Renewable Energy (GPRE) hosted Agricultural Secretary Vilsack this past week to celebrate the grand opening of BioProcess Algae's Phase II “Grower Harvester” algal photo-bioreactor. 04/18/2011

 

LCFS Program Schedules 2nd Full Advisory Panel Meeting

California's Low Carbon Fuel Standard program has scheduled the 2nd open meeting of the full Advisory Panel for Tuesday, April 26, 2011. 04/18/2011

 

The Week's Action Items

 

Due 05/31/2011: Pre-Applications for Biomass Initiative Funding

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Department of Energy (DOE) has announced a $30 million dollar joint funding program for advancement of biofuels, bioenergy and bio-based products, implementing in part President Obama's oil import goals. 04/18/2011

 

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