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Teru Talk News

Teru Talk Newsletter

Volume II, Issue 32, August 6, 2012 
Teru Talk by Michael Theroux (pronounced "Terú")  

Teru's Trash Talk

So here's how businesses can turn this new rat's nest of Climate Control regulations to their advantage. The government wants to reduce emissions, so everyone look at every bit of waste shipped off down some highway, whether its paper or plastic or lunch scraps, and figure out how to convert that crud into something of value on-site. Remember, until you empty the trash can into the dumpster at the curb, that stuff isn't "waste", its, ah … By-Product, and it still belongs to you.

Modest scale industrial digesters and the reciprocating engines that run on their biogas kick out some pollution. Yes, even a little 10 kilowatt APL gasifier makes some emissions. Compare those off-gases to black plumes from heavy truck, train, and marine engine exhaust pipes when those discarded items are transported to somewhere else. Now count up the thermal and electrical energy you can generate from that stuff, and compare those same on-site emissions on a per-kilowatt basis to the crud coming out of a coal plant in Utah that sells the power to the Big Utility. Sooner or later, Cap & Trade's gonna have everyone counting every bit of the greenhouse gas produced by each business, not just the Big Guys. Now is the time for Distributed Generation, powered by your own by-products. Think of them as "opportunity fuels".

Let's say I make tennis shoes. There's always some that get made goofy, and can't be sold. Then I get customers to put their dead tennies back in the box they came in and ship them back to me. I take 'em apart, save what I can for re-use, and convert the rest of the synthetics into fuels and chemicals. Maybe I run a ten-unit residential complex. California's AB 341 says if my tenants put four cubic yards or more total to the curb, I need to "arrange for recycling services" (don't get me started on that one) - but the law also encourages me to make use of that stuff right there, never letting it become, legally, "waste". Food scraps and yard trimmings: set up those worm beds and tumbler composting units, and plow it right back into the landscape, or maybe even a small digester. Get that Scout Troup to gather up the cans, glass, cardboard and anything else they can sell for a few cents to pay for their meeting snacks. The rest goes right into the hopper (not the dumpster), to turn it into thermal and electrical energy.

Stiff laws govern over-the-fence "wheeling" of the electricity I produce on my own property, but there are actually rules that promote "district heating." That's where I push steam through underground pipes to heat and cool neighboring businesses. Everyone seriously needs to re-think what we are doing with our resources … not the remote kind, but the stuff we already have in our possession. So, what's the heating, cooling, and power demand of the strip mall where your yoghurt shop abides? How much of that could be off-set by converting the crud that goes into those 40-cubic yard dumpsters, into combined cooling, heating and power? How much emissions would be eliminated, compared to shipping it of to a landfill? If you don't know, don’t kick yourself too much; few DO know. Maybe we need to start figuring it out.

Hey Rube!

Every day, there are new and smaller tools capable of cleanly turning the stuff that is  tossed into stuff that can be used. Teru Talk tries to highlight the systems, the companies that are commercializing them, and the places where smart ideas become money-making resource recovery projects. Read the News, check the companies out, and call 'em up. Tell 'em, "We Need Your Help."

The Week's News

Oregon DEQ Schedules Next Conversion Technology Rulemaking Meeting

The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) has scheduled a public meeting in the ongoing Conversion Technology Rulemaking, for August 16, 2012 in the agency's Northwest Regional Office in Portland. 08/05/2012

RES Polyflow Formed to Advance Plastic Waste Conversion Systems

Ohio based Polyflow LLC. has announced formation of a joint venture Renewable Energy Systems of Polyflow, or RES Polyflow. 08/05/2012

Solazyme Receives EPA Fuel Registration for Algal-Derived Soladiesel®RD

California's heterotrophic algae to biofuels and bioproducts company Solazyme Inc has announced completion of all testing and receipt of EPA part 79 registration of its algal-derived biodiesel, Soadiesel®RD. 08/03/2012

AFS BioOil Wastewater-to-Algae Oil: $2 per Gallon at 1MM Gallons per Year

South San Francisco based AFS BioOil has announced that initial testing confirms a price of about $2.00 per gallon for production of biodiesel when produced at small commercial plant scale of only 1 million gallons per year. 08/03/2012

Genomatica Completes $41.5MM Funding Round, Drops IPO Plans

San Diego's integrated bioprocessing company Genomatica has announced successfully raised an additional $41.5 million in a Series D round of preferred stock financing, while withdrawing last year's registration statement from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for an initial public offering (IPO). 08/03/2012

Argus Launches California LCFS Credit Commodity Price Assessments

United Kingdom (UK) based market price analysts Argus Media has announced the launch of the first published market price assessment for credits issued under the California Air Resource Board's (ARB) Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS), including weekly spot-market assessments of traded credits. 08/03/2012

Bion Receives Final WQ Permit for Dairy Farm Nutrient Recovery System

Colorado based Bion Environmental Technologies Inc. has announced receipt of a full and final Water Quality Management Permit (WQMP) for Bion’s micro-aerobic livestock waste treatment facility located at the Kreider Dairy Farm in Manheim, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. 08/03/2012

USDA Bioenergy Program Awards $19.4MM to Advanced Biofuel Producers

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has announced payments totaling $19.4 million to 125 advanced biofuel producers and business owners across the country. Awards are in support of production from non-food sources, including a wide variety of waste-sourced feedstock. 08/02/2012

$9MM Awarded in Rural Jobs and Innovation Accelerator Challenge

The US Department of Commerce Economic Development Administration (DOC/EDA) and the US Department of Agriculture Rural Development Office have announced winners in the multi-agency Rural Jobs and Innovation Accelerator Challenge program, selecting 13 winners from 62 applicants across 12 states. 08/02/2012

NIB Finances New EUR 67MM Bioenergy CHP Plant in Växjö Sweden

The Nordic Investment Bank (NIB) has announced approval of a loan totaling SEK 600 million (EUR 67 million) to the Swedish energy company Växjö Energi AB. 08/02/2012

Furuya Selects Tetronics GasPlasma to Recover Platinum Metals from Waste

United Kingdom based Tetronics Ltd has announced selection of its GasPlasma technology for reclamation of Platinum Group Metals (PGM) from waste catalysts by the Japanese precious metals production specialist Furuya Metal Company Ltd. 08/01/2012

Total Reaffirms Partnership with Amyris and Commits $82MM for Biofene

California based Amyris, Inc has announced signing an amendment to its existing agreement with Total S.A. that extends their existing research and development partnership for deployment of Amyris' patented Biofene. 08/01/2012

All Power Labs Announces Global Authorized Representative Program

Berkeley's open-development All Power Labs (APL) has announced the launch of its Authorized Representative (AR) Program, a key step in commercialization of its wood gasification technology and support system. 07/31/2012

The Week's Action Items

Due 08/30/2012: Comments to ARB Cap & Trade Proposed Provisions

The California Air Resources Board (ARB) has posted the presentation on two technical aspects of the Cap and Trade program that were addressed in the Emissions Leakage Workshop held July 30, 2012. 08/01/2012

Due 09/11/2012: Comments to DTSC on Proposed Green Chemistry Regs

The California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) has announced release of proposed regulations for Safer Consumer Product Awareness with the start of a 45-day public comment period from August 27, 2012 to September 11, 2012. 07/30/2012

Due 09/18/2012: Applications to Defra for Rare Metals Recovery from Waste

The United Kingdom (UK) Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has announced funding for an Innovation Challenge to encourage development of local community closed loop efforts that recover high-value metals and minerals from waste. 08/01/2012

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Recommended Reading:

Municipal Solid Waste to Energy Conversion Processes: Economic, Technical, and Renewable Comparisons by Gary C Young

"Municipal Solid Waste to Energy Conversion Processes: Economic, Technical, and Renewable Comparisons" by Gary C Young

"Waste-to-Energy, Second Edition: Technologies
and Project Implementation" by Marc J Rogoff and Francois Screve

 

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Teru Talk is an online publication of JDMT, Inc with the goal of opening the dialogue and providing current news and commentary on issues and successes associated with waste conversion to renewable energy, biofuels and other bio-based products for resource recovery.

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The Teru Talk Newsletter is published weekly or more or less frequently, primarily depending on what is going on in the world of waste conversion or ours.