Teru Talk Newsletter
Volume II, Issue
15, April 9,
2012
Teru Talk by Michael
Theroux (pronounced
"Terú")
Teru's Trash Talk
New York
grabs an idea, puts some
serious money to it, and pretty
soon, another waste problem
becomes an
energy-fuel-commodity benefit.
California gets a waste
conversion program going, and
then finds ways to either study
the thing to death or so
complicate the pathway that
nobody can make it through to
project completion. Now, is
that really necessary?
Californians live in such a
pretty place; too bad it is
almost impossible to get
anything done.
Ah, well, we
learn to work with what's at
hand, I suppose. And at hand,
still, are veritable mountains
of waste generated by the
megaton in our teeming cities,
resources we all pay for when
we purchase, and continue to
pay for after disposal. Now, a
lot of people are seriously
struggling to make ends meet
and have been for quite some
time. Before these same people
have to break up the furniture
to feed the furnace, all of us
need to ask our Leaders why we
aren't communally converting
every last scrap of waste back
into Goods or Energy. Here's
one for you to consider: India
is busy putting in literally
hundreds of thousands of
small-scale anaerobic digesters
at farms and residences,
converting veggie waste and
poop to cooking fuel and power.
Try getting THAT past your
local planning
department.
The technical
tools are out there to turn
just about anything we're done
using back into stuff we need.
And we can't continue the old
gripe that "nobody does this"
when global communications let
us watch over our neighbor's
shoulder to see indeed how they
are converting their waste and
residues into heat and power,
fuel and chemicals, whether
that neighbor is in Edinburgh
or East Lansing. Let's face it.
The only thing missing is
Political Will.
Hey
Rube!
Agencies around the San
Francisco Bay have been trying
to figure out what can be done
with the left-overs from their
wastewater treatment plants,
pushing for conversion of the
residues into energy, while
getting pushed to cut
greenhouse gas emissions. The
Bay Area Biosolids to Energy
(BAB2E) Coalition now tallies
over 20 sewage plant agencies.
They have gathered their
collective wits and issued a
Request for Qualifications (see
Action Items below) to see what
companies and methods might be
brought to bear on the
quandary. If that many agencies
are willing to sit around a
table and seek common
solutions, our industrial
sector needs to respond
whole-heartedly. Think Big: we
have the opportunity here to
envision and implement a
world-class example of
integrated, collaborative Waste
Conversion.
The
Week's News
USDA, DOE,
Navy Will Host Advanced
Biofuels Industry
Roundtable
US
Department of Agriculture
(USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack
has announced an Advanced
Biofuels Industry Roundtable in
Washington D.C. on May 18, 2012
being hosted by the USDA, the
Department of Energy, and the
Department of Navy.
04/07/2012
Oregon DEQ
Releases Agenda for April
12th Meeting on CT
Rulemaking
The Oregon
Department of Environmental
Quality (DEQ) is engaged in a
Rulemaking to define and
establish guidelines for
Conversion Technologies, or
CTs, and has posted an Agenda
and supportive documents in
preparation for its April 12,
2012 Advisory Meeting.
04/07/2012
Rentricity
Receives NYSERDA Funds for
Wastewater to Energy
Recovery
Designs
New York
City-based renewable energy
company Rentricity Inc. has
announced receipt of funding
from the New York State
Energy Research and
Development Authority
(NYSERDA) to further develop
energy recovery systems for
wastewater treatment plants.
04/06/2012
Viridor
Starts Construction Phase
for Trident Park WtE
Facility in
Wales
The United
Kingdom (UK) waste management
and resource recovery firm
Viridor has announced signing
an agreement with a joint
venture between the French
waste-to-energy (WtE)
specialist firm CNIM and
UK/Irish company Lagan
Construction for construction
of the Trident Park WtE
combined heat and power (CHP)
plant in Cardiff, Wales.
04/05/2012
SITA UK
Awarded Long-Term Supply
Contract for RWE's Scotland
Biomass
Plant
SITA UK has
announced securing a
long-term recovered wood
supply contract to provide
up to 50% of demand to RWE's
£200 million biomass
combined heat and power
(CHP) plant near the town of
Markinch, at Fife, Scotland.
04/05/2012
WRAP
Launches Wood Waste Quality
Standards
The United
Kingdom (UK) Waste &
Resources Action Programme
(WRAP) has announced
completion and
release of the country's first
quality guidance for recovered
wood waste) in collaboration
with the UK's Wood Recycler's
Association
(WRA) and many other
agencies, industries and
associations.
04/05/2012
Technip and
CIMV Sign Collaboration
Agreement for Biomass to
Chemicals
France's
engineering and construction
global giant Technip has signed
an agreement with the Compagnie
Industrielle de la Matière
Végétale (CIMV) to collaborate
on commercialization of CIMV's
non- food biomass-sourced green
chemistry process.
04/05/2012
Some
Questions Answered on CEC
Suspension of RPS
Eligibility of
Biomethane
The California
Energy Commission (CEC) has
published the final version of
Resolution No. 12-0328-3
documenting the March 28, 2012
suspension of Renewables
Portfolio Standard (RPS)
eligibility of biomethane.
04/04/2012
Lakeside
Energy Makes Strategic
Equity Investment in
InEnTec
Oregon based
InEnTec, Inc has announced that
Lakeside Energy LLC of Chicago
has made a strategic equity
investment in the company, and
is now a significant
shareholder in InEnTec.
04/04/2012
Cereplast
Bioplastic Receives 3rd
Party LCA Validation of Low
Impact
California
based Cereplast has announced
that a third-party Life Cycle
Assessment (LCA) of its Hybrid
101 Bioplastic finds the
environmental impact of energy
and materials used, wastes
generated and emissions
released to be substantially
less than for all
petroleum-sourced
"conventional" plastics.
04/03/2012
Wheelabrator, SSE
form JV for Waste to
Combined Heat and Power
Plant
United Kingdom
energy company Scottish
Southern Energy plc (SSE) has
announced formation of
Multifuel Energy Ltd (MFE), a
50/50% joint venture (JV) with
US-based Wheelabrator
Technologies Inc. to develop a
£300m, 68 megawatt electric
(MWe) waste to combined heat
and power (CHP) plant.
04/03/2012
Viridor
Starts Construction on £10
million Food Waste
Plant
United Kingdom
waste management and recycling
company Viridor has announced
start of construction on a food
waste processing and anaerobic
digestion (AD) conversion
facility at the company's
Walpole landfill site near
Bridgewater.
04/02/2012
Sapphire
Energy Raises $144MM in
Series C Funding
Round
San
Diego-based algae-to-biofuel
company Sapphire Energy, Inc
has announced it has secured
the final tranche of a $144
million Series C funding from
investors including Arrowpoint
Partners, Monsanto, and all of
its major Series B investors.
04/02/2012
The Week's Action
Items
Due 05/01/2012: LOI to DOE for
Bio-Oil Stabilization and
Commoditization
R
The US
Department of Energy (DOE) has
announced the availability of
up to $15 million for support
of research and development
(R&D) of thermochemical
liquefaction technologies to
produce a bio-oil that can be
blended with traditional
petroleum fuel products and
integrated into existing oil
refinery processes.
04/06/2012
Due 06/19/2012: Qualifications
for Bay Area Biosolids to
Energy Project
The Bay Area
Biosolids to Energy (BAB2E)
Coalition has released a
Request for Qualifications
(RFQ) to pre-qualify proposers
for one or more
design-build-own-operate (DBOO)
contracts at Coalition
facilities.
04/06/2012
Due
06/19/2012: IIP-SBIR
Proposals to NSF for
Bioenergy,
Biomaterials
The National
Science Foundation issued
Request for Proposals 12-548 on
March 22, 2012 under the
Industrial Innovations and
Partnerships (IIP), Small
Business Innovative Research
program (SBIR).
04/02/2012
|
