Teru Talk Newsletter
Volume II, Issue
20, May 14,
2012
Teru Talk by Michael
Theroux (pronounced
"Terú")
Teru's Trash Talk
I'd like to pick on
somebody new today… I know!
Since its Plant-a-Garden
time, how about we pick on
the companies that grind up
wood into mulch, put it in
a bag, and sell it as
Compost? Compost, well-made
rich degraded organic
material that has reached
equilibrium in its balance
of carbon and nitrogen and
has been "cured" to kill
off all the nasties, is a
very good thing. Yet
properly processed Compost
is one thing, and minimally
processed Mulch is quite
another, and there doesn’t
seem to be a good line
between the two, especially
when sold in bags to
inattentive would-be
gardeners. Is that a
problem? Well, yeah, and
here's how the story goes:
microbes eat organics, and
leave behind good stuff for
building up soil and
planting our veggies. It
takes moisture and it takes
the right balance of carbon
molecules and nitrogen
molecules to really get a
good Organics Feast going.
But it also takes time, and
if you hurry the process
too much, like stuffing
that ground-up woody mulch
in a bag before the
microbial conversion team
is done, you get
"unfinished compost", or
organics that continue to
degrade on the way to your
garden. Still, this
shouldn't be a problem,
right?
Wrong.
Now, just
suppose that company uses
Poop to add the nutrients
to the woody carbon, manure
with all those curious and
sometimes deadly
poop-microbe thingies still
in it. That's excellent, if
managed right. Compost,
done right, kills off all
those "pathogens". Done
wrong, the Poop Supplier
simply is out-sourcing
management of their
beasties to us, in our
homes and gardens. And
there's another cruel trick
that accompanies poor
processing of poop-rich,
ground-up wood. You see,
after the voracious
bacterial beasties have
their Day on the Heap,
Fungus gets a turn. Fungus
tends to like a drier pile
than the other microbial
break-down crew members.
But a funny thing happens
when THEY get hurried
along, forced to dry too
fast, and sealed in
plastic. They continue to
eat, and they do the Spore
thing: they quick-like put
up myriad almost-mushrooms,
and make a few gazillion
Spore Babies in that bag,
waiting … for silly, cheap
Customers (like me) who
will buy what LOOKS like
mature, finished Compost.
And take it home. And cut
the bag open. And spend the
next few happy hours on our
knees planting veggies in
the garden patch, with our
hands and faces right down
in that interesting
almost-compost. Buyer
Beware.
Hey
Rube!
Keep an eye
on the Canadians these days,
specifically those focused on
how to salvage their flagging
Timber industry. After a decade
or so of down prices and
minimal maintenance, Big
Problems are showing up,
blowing up mills, and doing in
good souls (our condolences, to
our northern neighbors). But
some of those plants Get It.
They figure, if they can ship
timber out by rail, they can
ship biofuels and bioproducts.
They’ve already got the supply
chain established, and have big
investments in iron and wires.
The transition from timber only
to multi-product has already
taken place, for many mills
that make both paper and
boards. Now, the leaders are
raising money and integrating
Conversion, eating up all the
mill residues and turning
liabilities into assets. Who
knows? Perhaps the old god
Timber might have to take a
back seat to biofuels … or at
the very least, share the log
deck.
The
Week's News
Iowa
Energy Center Awards 3 Grants
for Thermal Biomass
Conversion
Iowa State
University's Iowa Energy Center
has announced the award of
three grants to university
research teams, all focused on
the thermochemical conversion
of biomass to biofuels and
biochemicals.
05/13/2012
DOE Biofuels
Pathway Analysis Favors Fast
Pyrolysis for Green
Gasoline
Last month,
the Department of Energy (DOE)
Office of Biomass Program
released a little-heralded
presentation entitled "Biofuel
Design Cases", following its
presentation to the office's
Technical Advisory Committee
(TAC) to the Biomass Research
and Development Initiative
(BRDi). 05/11/2012
Emerald
Biofuels Licenses Honeywell
Green Diesel for New
Louisiana
Plant
Illinois based
Emerald Biofuels LLC has agreed
to license Honeywell's Eni
Ecofining biodiesel production
technology for its new 85
million gallon per year drop-in
biodiesel plant, "Emerald One."
05/11/2012
EdeniQ
Secures $30MM+ to Advance
Biomass Pre-Treatment for
Biofuels
California's
biomass feedstock pre-treatment
specialist EdeniQ has announced
a successful funding round,
securing over $30 million in
combined equity and debt
financing.
05/11/2012
California
Energy Commission Approves
RPS Guidebook
Changes
The California
Energy Commission unanimously
voted to adopt the Lead
Commissioner Carla Peterman's
proposed changes to the
Renewable Portfolio Standard
(RPS) Eligibility Guidebook and
to the Overall Guidebook during
its Business Meeting on May 9,
2012. 05/11/2012
BioTork
& NCERC Succeed in
Breeding New
Xylose-Converting
Yeast
Florida-based
BioTork LLC has announced that
the first stage of practical
research has successfully used
adaptive evolution techniques
to optimize a US Department of
Agriculture (USDA) genetically
modified yeast strain to
ferment the C5 sugar D-xylose
at high rates.
05/08/2012
Brazilian
Researchers Convert
Biodiesel Refinery Waste to
Commodity
A
collaborative research team
from several Brazilian
universities has released a
pre-publication paper in the
journal Biotechnology for
Biofuels describing successful
microbial conversion of the
complex wastes of biodiesel
refining to form high-value
products. 05/08/2012
Alter NRG
Converts Waste to Syngas to
Replace Fuel Oil in Coen
Boilers
The Canadian
company Alter NRG Corp, owners
of the Westinghouse Plasma
technology, has announced
successful completion of syngas
testing with Coen Company Inc.,
a global leader in design and
manufacture of combustion
systems. 05/08/2012
Xebec
Completes Successful Testing
for High N2 and O2 Removal
from
Biogas
Canadian gas
upgrading and purification
specialist Xebec Adsorption Inc
announced successful completion
of initial phase testing for
the removal of high
concentrations of nitrogen (N2)
and oxygen (O2) from both
landfill and wastewater
treatment biogas.
05/08/2012
US Forest
Service PNW Station Debuts
Forest Research Podcast
Service
Anyone seeking
to better understand modern
national forest research and
management in the western US
has a new information source.
The Pacific Northwest Research
Station (PNW Station) has
launched "PNW Ecotone", a
podcast series supported with
on-line images, a full
transcript and background
materials.
05/07/2012
Fibrek Mill
Signs PPA with Hydro-Québec
for 33.23 MWe
Bioenergy
The Canadian
pulp and paper company Fibrek
has announced entering a new
renewable power purchase
agreement with Hydro-Québec
Distribution for sale of 33.23
megawatts of bioenergy,
generated at its Saint-Félicien
mill. 05/07/2012
IEP Partners
with Government of Haiti for
30 MWe
Waste-to-Energy
Pennsylvania-based
International Electric Power
LLC (IEP) has entered into a
public-private partnership for
municipal waste management and
energy recovery with the
government of Haiti called
Project Phoenix.
05/07/2012
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