Teru Talk Newsletter
Volume III, Issue
12, March 25,
2013
Teru Talk by Michael
Theroux (pronounced
"Terú")
Teru's Trash Talk
In the
swarm of regulations
impacting clean,
economical, and sane
conversion of waste to
energy and goods, there
appears to be a curious
opportunity. Not an easy
route, but at least
something new. It would
seem that the good bits of
one country and one
agency's approach might be
combined with the
salvageable elements of
another's to come up with
something approaching
common sense. As you would
expect, this is a Twisted
Path, so allow me to lay a
trail of bread
crumbs.
Globally,
a whole bunch of regulatory
changes continue to emerge
from an underlying theme
that the global climate is
changing and it's Man's
Fault. Set aside your
notions of the validity of
this concern and focus
instead on how this
monumental Doomsday
scenario is forcing our
agencies into action, and
what this means for waste
conversion. It is with the
reduction of emissions
leading to the Greenhouse
Effect and with greenhouse
gases (GHG) that mess up
the upper atmosphere, and
shift the solar thermal
balance that everyone is
most concerned. Naturally,
this has initiated the
Great Global GHG Scavenger
Hunt: Of those things that
Man does, what contributes
MOST to GHGs, and is there
anything we can actually
Change?
Turns out
that Waste Disposal falls
in that broad category. So
does Transport. So does
Mining. Link those
together: make and throw
away less waste, don't haul
waste very far, and use
waste sourced raw materials
instead of mining new
stuff. These are all good
old ideas that have now
been given a new Grand
Purpose in reducing GHGs.
You can see the changes in
the European waste
directives and at least in
the rhetoric of the US, if
not in the national code.
Despite waffling at the
national level (we don't
want to upset the
Entrenched Money, after
all), many US states are
changing their own Rules to
improve waste management in
ways that cut transport and
disposal while promoting
localized recycling and
reprocessing.
Out of
this mash-up comes the idea
of a Circular Economy,
where we track the flow of
ALL the materials from
goods to waste to
conversion to raw materials
and back to goods. If you
can accomplish that
"re-cycle" without
trans-oceanic transport or
even Trash Trucks to Yuma,
hey! You cut GHGs, make
money, and keep jobs local.
Agencies now appear to be
finding new ways to make it
far more expensive and
painful to follow the Old
Ways than to get creative
and implement new local
strategies. California is
just one of the many states
that certainly knows how to
use Regs to make things
more difficult. It's just
that now, some of the new
regs have both incentives
and barriers that seem to
actually encourage
smaller, localized
innovation.
Not that
our agencies know how to do
that hat trick very well
after so long concentrating
on Big is Beautiful: these
new standards and policies
are bound to also be
painful. Yet if the end
result is pulling
materials, money, and jobs
back to the communities,
somehow that can't be worse
than aiding the production
of more plastic toys in
Asia. And just think
of all the GHGs we
save!
Hey
Rube!
The
California Air Resources Board
oversees the Low Carbon Fuel
Standard as well as the Cap and
Trade program, both focused on
GHGs, both undergoing rapid
change (rapid, at least, for
agencies). Next Month, a suite
of new ways to regulate
alternatives to petroleum
diesel are up for discussion.
You should watch this one
closely and really think about
whether you want your kid's
school bus fuel to come from
your own community's waste, or
from Saudi
oil-fields.
The
Week's News
Viridor and
E.ON Partner on EfW &
District Heating in Trident
Park
Project
United Kingdom based integrated
waste management firm Viridor
has announced a partnership
with both the local Cardiff
Council and with Germany's E.ON
energy firm to explore the
incorporation of district
heating into Viridor's Trident
Park Energy from Waste (EfW)
combined heat and power plant
in Wales.
03/24/2013
Maersk Group
Focuses on Conversion of
Lignin to Marine
Bio-Oils
Dutch shipping giant the Maersk
Group has announced its focus
on conversion of lignin from
cellulosic biomass into a
bio-oil replacement for
petroleum-sourced marine oil
fuels.
03/23/2013
Canadian RFA
Forms New Next Generation
Biofuels
Committee
The Canadian Renewable Fuels
Association (CRFA) has
announced formation of a new
committee focused on ensuring
that the nation's advanced
biofuels development continues
to grow.
03/21/2013
CEC EISG
Awards Include Three Waste
Conversion
Projects
The California Energy
Commission (CEC) has announced
awards totaling $1,815,274 to
fund 20 research projects from
the CEC's Energy Innovations
Small Grant (EISG) program.
03/21/2013
Buster
Biofuels Awarded $2.6MM for
Biodiesel Manufacturing,
Fueling
Facility
The California Energy
Commission (CEC) has announced
awards totaling $5,580,773 for
clean-energy transportation
projects, with funding coming
from Assembly Bill 118, the
CEC's Alternative and Renewable
Fuel and Vehicle Technology
Program.
03/21/2013
KiOR Ships
First Commercial Cellulosic
Diesel from Mississippi
Biorefinery
Texas based KiOR, Inc. has
announced shipment of its first
cellulosic biodiesel from its
first commercial scale
biorefinery in Columbus,
Mississippi.
03/20/2013
ForceField
Secures Financing
Commitments for Waste Heat
Conversion
New York headquartered
multi-technology company
ForceField Energy Inc. has
announced that it has secured
specialized project financing
commitments from two leading US
banks, enabling the company's
clients to more rapidly and
with greater certainty arrange
up to 100% project financing.
03/20/2013
Air Liquide
Plans 450 tpd CO2 Plant at
Calgren's Tulare County
Ethanol
Facility
With its US headquarters in
Houston, Texas, Air Liquide has
announced its intent to expand
its California operations with
the development of a facility
to capture, purify and liquefy
around 450 tons per day (tpd)
of food grade carbon dioxide
from Calgren Renewable Fuels'
55 million gallon ethanol plant
in Tulare County.
03/20/2013
Sapphire
Secures Algal Green Crude
Supply Agreement with Tesoro
Refining
California based Sapphire
Energy, Inc has entered into a
commercial supply agreement
with Tesoro Refining and
Marketing Company, LLC, a
subsidiary of Tesoro
Corporation.
03/20/2013
Foster
Wheeler Secures South Korea
Biomass CFB Steam Generator
Contract
Swiss engineering company
Foster Wheeler AG has announced
that a subsidiary of its Global
Power Group has been awarded a
major contract to design and
supply a circulating fluidized
bed (CFB) gasification to steam
generation system for a biomass
power plant in South Korea.
03/19/2013
Environmental Waste
International Completes
$885K Private
Placement
Ontario, Canada based
Environmental Waste
International Inc (EWI) has
announced that it has closed a
non-brokered private placement
funding round, placing 4.425
million units and raising
$885,000.
03/19/2013
Cyclone
Power Secures Strategic
Investment for European
Expansion
Florida based external heat
driven engine company Cyclone
Power has announced that it has
signed a letter of
understanding with Next S.p.A.,
an industrial holding company
based in Florence, Italy, to
seek sales and distribution
opportunities in Europe for the
company's waste-to-power engine
applications.
03/19/2013
BioTork and
USDA Extend Ag Waste to
Biofuels
Collaboration
Florida based BioTork has
announced that its
long-standing and successful
collaboration with the US
Department of Agriculture
(USDA) for conversion of
agricultural product residuals
to biofuel will be extended.
03/19/2013
Southern
Research Institute Secures
$925MM to Liquefy Biomass
for
Biofuels
The Southern Research Institute
(SRI) of Birmingham, Alabama
has announced that it has been
awarded $925,000 by the US
Department of Energy (DOE) to
develop a process for
liquefaction of biomass into
refinery-ready bio-oil.
03/18/2013
Kansas State
University Collaborates to
Improve Biofuel, Bioproducts
Quality
Kansas State University (KSU)
has announced that its
biochemical engineering
researchers are collaborating
with a national effort to
improve the production
efficiency and quality of
biofuels ad bio-source
products.
03/18/2013
The Week's Action
Items
Due
04/10/2013: Applications to
CEC for Renewable
Energy/Planning
Grants
The California Energy
Commission (CEC) released a
Program Opportunity Notice
(PON-12-403) seeking proposals
toward the Renewable Energy and
Conservation Planning Grants,
and has posted the
pre-application presentation
given by staff during the
public workshop held on March
21, 2013.
03/23/2013
Due
05/14/2013: Comments on
Approaches to Regulating Alt
Diesel
Fuels
The California Air Resources
Board (ARB) has announced a
day-long workshop on April 23,
2013 to discuss concepts for
the regulation of alterative
diesel fuels, including
biodiesel, renewable diesel,
and other emerging diesel fuel
substitutes.
03/23/2013
Due
07/01/2013: Applications for
UK Renewable Project
Investment
Contracts
The United Kingdom (UK)
Department of Energy &
Climate Change (DECC) has
announced release of a summary
decision to help renewable
electricity project developers
permit, finance, and build
facilities more rapidly.
03/19/2013
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