Teru Talk Newsletter
Volume II, Issue
50, December 10,
2012
Teru Talk by Michael
Theroux (pronounced
"Terú")
Teru's Trash Talk
We're
interested in Third World
waste conversion technology
that might fit into North
America. All over Asia
right now, communities are
getting guidance and even a
little money to put
together "Domestic Biogas"
systems. Really, these
anaerobic digesters are not
much more complex than a
standard septic tank,
except that they are made
so the stuff that rots
inside makes biogas you can
accumulate and use for
heating, cooking, and power
generation.
You make
a tank with a top part that
can swell up, add a valve
and a hose on the very top
that can let gas out when
you want it. You put food
waste (and maybe some
manure?) in a chute that
dumps into the bottom and
you seal 'er up to keep out
the air. Those microbial
beasties get busy and up
bubbles methane-rich gas.
Not as clean and powerful a
fuel as straight natural
gas, granted, but certainly
enough to make a flame and
heat water, or to cook
dinner. Each day, you add
more goopy organic waste:
potato peels, carrot tops,
and the leavings from your
pet pot-bellied pig. Most
of our households toss out
from one to five pounds of
kitchen waste a day. In a
really simple digester,
that'll make enough biogas
to cook dinner and maybe
lunch, or to boil perhaps
10 gallons of
water.
Now, if
you add an extra water
heater in front of the one
now in your home or
business, and you have a
balloon-like storage
thingie to store up biogas
to keep a flame lit under
that "pre-heater", you can
raise the temperature of
the water that goes into
your main tank and save
money. Your family may not
toss enough goopy food
waste to heat up all the
water you need, or to cook
your meals AND heat your
water, but it’s a start.
That puts your biogas
contraption in the same
category as those Solar
Water Heater panels you
bolt onto the roof, but
then those panels don't
convert your food waste
into fuel and
fertilizer.
Now, it
doesn't take too much
imagination to see that
this system could be scaled
up to convert more poundage
of food scraps into more
cubic meters of biogas.
Once the system starts
getting bigger and you get
the mechanics down pat, add
a small Jeep engine and
you've got your own green
back-up generator. Tie in
with your PV solar panels
and make more of your own
power on-site. Make and
store more biogas, make
more electricity, and your
"interconnection" can push
extra electrons right back
into the Power Grid,
something you can maybe get
paid for. Ta-da!
"Distributed Waste
Conversion for Renewable
Biogas Fueled Power
Generation!"
Indeed,
the larger scale
"commercial" digesters that
eat from 20 to 100 tons of
organic goopy a day and
generate a whole lot more
biogas are starting to
become acceptable in polite
society. Perhaps it's time
for that "3rd wave" of
commercialization, where
the goods make it all the
way down to our own homes.
So here's a cool Popular
Mechanics project: Build a
Do-it-yourself Domestic
Biogas unit scaled to eat
up all your food scraps.
Teach it to make biogas,
store the biogas in a
balloon affair, and use the
fuel gas to run your
outdoor kitchen / B-B-Q and
make more food scraps. Now,
I'd call that
Recycling!
Hey
Rube!
There's bound
to be other folks out there who
are interested in fiddling with
a small digester. We know there
are in India, in Vietnam, and
in the UK: We've reported on
'em. If you have experience or
at least an abiding interest in
small scale biogas kits, and
think maybe it's time for a
Domestic Biogas revolution,
sing out and let Teru Talk
know.
The
Week's News
NCF Uses
Sunlight to Convert
Industrial CO2 to Gas and
Liquid
Fuels
The newly formed company
NewCO2Fuel Ltd (NCF), a
spin-off from the Weizmann
Institute of Science, is
finding success with a new
approach to producing liquid
fuel from carbon dioxide laden
industrial emissions, according
to non-profit news service
Israel21c.
12/08/2012
Solena
Secures British Airways
10-yr OffTake Agreement for
GreenSky
London
Washington, DC headquartered
Solena Fuels Corporation has
announced that British Airways
has signed an off-take
agreement to purchase all of
Solena's aviation fuels
produced from the GreenSky
London project over the next 10
years.
12/08/2012
Global
Energy Crops Acquires Global
License to AGT's Enzymatic
Technology
Florida based BioPower
Operations Corporation has
announced that its subsidiary
Global Energy Crops Corporation
(GECC) has secured a global
license to technology for
conversion of farm waste to
liquid fuel, fertilizer and
animal feed amendments.
12/07/2012
Dioxide
Materials Secures $4MM
ARPA-E Grant for CO2
Recycling
Illinois-based Dioxide
Materials has announced receipt
of an award of $4 million from
the US Department of Energy's
Advanced Research Projects
Agency - Energy division
(ARPA-E).
12/07/2012
Bio-Economy
Network Formed to Support
Bio-Based Product
Development
The Forest Products Association
of Canada (FPAC) has announced
the broad-based formation of
the Bio-Economy Network (BEN)
in support of expanded
development and global
marketing of the bio-sourced
products economy.
12/07/2012
LanzaTech
and Baosteel Succeed with
100K gpa Emissions to Fuel
Trials
New Zealand base LanzaTech and
the Chinese steel mill company
Baosteel have jointly announced
success in production of
low-carbon liquid fuels form
conversion of Baosteel's
carbon-laden industrial
emissions.
12/07/2012
Global
Bioenergies-Synthos
Partnership Finds Pathway to
Bio-Butadiene
Headquartered in France,
bio-sourced foundation chemical
company Global Bioenergies has
announced their successful
completion of the process
discovery phase in partnership
with international rubber
company Synthos for production
of the light olefin foundation
chemical gas butadiene.
12/06/2012
Placer
County Releases Final EIR
for Cabin Creek Biomass to
Energy
Facility
The Placer County Community
Development Resource Agency has
announced release of the Final
Environmental Impact Report
(EIR) for the Cabin Creek
Biomass Facility in California,
and is seeking public comment
prior to the public hearing.
12/06/2012
Britain's
1st Food Waste Recycling
Plant Opens at Bristol
Sewage
Facility
Wessex Water, parent company of
the food waste digestion
specialist firm GENeco, has
announced the opening of the
United Kingdom's first food
waste anaerobic digestion (AD)
plant co-located with a sewer
treatment facility.
12/04/2012
Fulcrum
Bioenergy Secures $175MM
Financing
Commitment
California's waste-to-fuels
company Fulcrum Bioenergy, Inc
reports success in securing
around $175 million in
commitments to finance its
Sierra Biofuels Plant
construction in Nevada, and to
fund further commercialization
of the firm's advanced
gasification methodology.
12/04/2012
DECC Awards
£3MM to 38 UK Communities
for Residential Renewable
Heating
The United Kingdom (UK)
Department of Energy and
Climate Change (DECC) has
announced the Phase 2 release
of offers to 38 communities for
the award of around £3 million
to fund development of
household-scale renewable
energy heating systems.
12/03/2012
Household
Biogas Program Achieves Gold
Standard
Certification
The Netherlands based
philanthropic organization SNV
has announced that the Vietnam
Biogas Programe has achieved
full Gold Standard registration
as a key project for reducing
carbon emissions.
12/03/2012
The Week's Action
Items
Due
12/14/2012: Comments to CEC
PIER Natural Gas
Initiative
The California Energy
Commission's (CEC) Public
Interest Energy Research (PIER)
program has released a survey
seeking ideas for 2013 natural
gas focused grant
solicitations.
12/03/2012
Due
01/31/2013: Bids for
Renewable Energy and/or RECs
to PNM - New
Mexico
The Public Service Company of
New Mexico (PNM) has announced
issuance of a Request for
Proposals (RFP) for renewable
energy and/or accompanying
renewable energy certificates
(RECs).
12/07/2012
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