Teru Talk Newsletter
Volume II, Issue
2, January 9,
2012
Teru Talk by Michael
Theroux (pronounced
"TerĂº")
Teru's Trash Talk
This past week, we've seen
some very nice advances for
biodiesel, just before the
monster National
Biodiesel Conference
& Expo
in
February. Clean or
"virgin" vegetable oil
prices are skyrocketing,
driving forward
technologic advances
that can make more
efficient use of the
Good Stuff, and those
other pathways that are
far more tolerant of Goo
and Grime. "Opportunity
Feedstock": any time you
find something you can
use as a starting
material that costs
folks to throw away,
it's usually worth it to
put up with the bugs and
grit.
There's a fine line between
what is virgin feedstock,
and what is not. When we
hear of soy oil being
converted to biodiesel,
many cringe, worrying that
will raise the cost of
cattle food and even their
veggie-burgers. But Soy
Farmers make Waste too, and
the cost of managing that
part of food production
that isn't "good enough"
for the Big Market just
raises the price of what is
marketable. Studies are
showing that production
losses for field crops make
up an enormous amount of
the total Food Waste pie,
and any time that can be
turned into biodiesel (or
biogas, or syngas), we're
making economic
progress.
Some of the biggest and
most successful traditional
biodiesel shops have
decided it's time to open
the Public Funding flood
gates (Go Team, Go!). More
advanced processing
companies are gaining
ground as well, using less
toxic chemicals, less
expensive and more diverse
feedstock, and finding they
are often capable of
producing a much broader
array of products and
precursors. But then, any
biodiesel producer worth
its grease is going to be
very closely tuned into
those same advances. Just
as the leading first stage
ethanol plants are
beginning to integrate
advanced processes to make
second generation
cellulosic biofuels, you
can bet the biodiesel folks
are shopping for
hydrothermal pretreatment
and biocatalyst conversion
systems. Still, there's
something really special
about kids turning their
cafeteria grease into
biofuel that makes their
bus smell like French
Fries.
Hey
Rube!
Chime in on
the International BioChar
standards process, and then
watch as their Guidance
documents get finalized over
the next few months. Biochar
can be great stuff if it's made
right; when it has been made
from the wrong feedstock with
sloppy processing, it ain't so
pretty.
CalRecycle
may be on the move again.
Governor Brown's draft budget
for the next fiscal year is
calling for the department's
return to the CalEPA.
CalRecycle moved to the
Resources Agency in 2010,
remember? They haven't even had
time to unpack.
The
Week's News
CleanMetrics
Study: Climate Change and
Economics of US Food
Waste
The Oregon
think-tank CleanMetrics has
released a pre-publication
report detailing the many
environmental and economic
deficits of America's
disposal of food-sourced
organic waste.
01/08/2012
ZeaChem
Starts Core Facility
Operations at Oregon
Biorefinery
Colorado-based
multi-technologic biofuels and
chemicals developer ZeaChem has
announced completion of the
core components of its
Boardman, Oregon biorefinery on
schedule and under budget.
01/08/2012
US Commerce
Webinar on India's
Infrastructure and Energy
Opportunities
The US
Department of Commerce,
Commercial Service India has
scheduled a webinar on
India's Infrastructure for
January 11, 2012 at 10:00 AM
EST in preparation for a
trade mission in
March
2012. 01/07/2012
ZeroPoint
Completes BioPower to Grid
Trials at German Biomass
Installation
New York
based ZeroPoint Clean Tech,
Inc completed successful
combined heat and power
(CHP) trials for its biomass
fueled gasification
installation at Schwarze
Pumpe, Germany during the
last two weeks of 2011.
01/07/2012
TES New
Energy Introduces Small
Scale Waste Heat to Power
Modules
The
Japanese start-up TES New
Energy (Thermo Electric
Systems and NewEnergy
Company) has introduced
multiple new lines of its
novel heat-to-electricity
module with a
thermoelectric
generation technology
platform based on research
and development within the
National Institute of
Advanced Industrial Science
and Technology"s (AIST)
Kansai Center in Ikeda,
Osaka, Japan.
01/07/2012
Student-led
ReGenerate is Clean Energy
Challenge
Semifinalist
The Clean
Energy Trust (CET) has now
announced selection of 16
semi-finalists in the 2012
Clean Energy Challenge launched
last October for student-led
companies from eight
mid-western states.
01/07/2012
Rural
African Biogas Project
Converts Manure to
Energy
AlertNet
reports on an anaerobic
digestion (AD) project in the
Republic of Cameroon that is
part of a program sponsored by
the government and supported by
the Cameroon branch of Heifer
International.
01/05/2012
Renewable
Energy Group Sets IPO
Price
Iowa's
Renewable Energy Group, Inc
(REG) has amended its S-1
filing for an initial public
offering (IPO), setting per
share pricing between $13 and
$15. REG will offer 6,857,140
shares of Common Stock, and
some prior stockholders are
joining with sale of an
additional 342,860 shares.
01/05/2012
Springboard
Biodiesel Launches Support
for School Biodiesel
Programs
California
based Springboard Biodiesel
has announced a teaming
agreement with Washington
state's Pinnacle Capital for
innovative financing of
biodiesel production
programs for school
campuses.
01/05/2012
Emery Energy
Starts Up FlexFeed Gasifier
and Syngas Test
Facility
Utah-based
Emery Energy Company has
announced that it is ready to
begin coal and biomass
gasification operational
testing in its recently
commissioned 10 ton per day
FlexFeedTM Gasifier
Test Facility at the Western
Research Institute (WRI) in
Laramie, Wyoming.
01/04/2012
BASF Invests
$30MM in Renmatix for Woody
Biomass to
Sugar
German chemical giant BASF and
Pennsylvania-based Renmatix
have jointly announced BASF's
investment of $30 million in
Renmatix' current $50 million
financing round.
01/03/2012
BioTork
Converts Papaya Waste to
Biofuel for USDA Hamakua
Project
Florida based BioTork, LLC has
announced success in converting
Hawaiian papaya culls to fatty
acids for advanced biofuels
using microorganisms, algae,
and mushrooms.
01/03/2012
Foster
Wheeler Receives LNTP on
South Korean Waste to Energy
Project
International engineering and
construction firm Foster
Wheeler AG (FW) has announced
that a subsidiary of its Global
Power Group has been given a
Limited Notice to Proceed
(LNTP) by GS Engineering and
Construction on a South Korean
waste to energy project.
01/03/2012
Carbon
Sciences Turns Waste Gas and
CO2 Emissions into
CarbonCrude
California-based Carbon
Sciences, Inc has announced new
technology that turns waste
oilfield natural gas and carbon
dioxide emissions into more
crude, converting a strong
environmental and economic
liability into assets without
the need for expensive new
infrastructure.
01/03/2012
Intelifuel
Launches WVO Pricing Board
and Alternative Energy
Forum
Ecuador based biofuel company
Intelifuel has just established
two on-line aids for the
Alternative Energy industry.
01/03/2012
The Week's Action
Items
Due
02/10/2012: Comments to IBI
Biochar
Standards
The
International Biochar
Initiative (IBI) is seeking
stakeholder comment on its
proposed collaborative
Guidelines for Specifications
of Biochars by February 10,
2012. 01/08/2012
Due
02/21/2012: Nominations for
Forest Planning Rule
Advisory
Committee The
US Forest Service published
a corrected Federal Register
notice that officially
extended the due date until
February 21, 2012 for
nominations to the
newly-formed National
Advisory Committee.
01/05/2012
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