Teru Talk Newsletter
Volume III, Issue
14, April 8,
2013
Teru Talk by Michael
Theroux (pronounced
"Terú")
Teru's Trash Talk
Turning
non-petroleum stuff into
fuel addresses a lot of
serious problems. It’s the
sheer volume of fuel we
constantly need that is so
confounding. All the
biofuel we can make is
still just a trickle into
the vortex our engines suck
down every day. How can we
possibly make enough
biofuel to shift this
process toward sanity?
Where are the quantities of
stuff that we can turn into
fuel? Can we grow, harvest,
process, and distribute
enough biofuel to ever
challenge the Petro Regime?
Maybe; at least, we are now
capable of making the goods
in the first
place.
Algae oil
is pretty cool; the
industry seems capable now
of the techy advances
needed to make decent
to-specification
quantities. Harnessing
microbes, whether au
naturel or products of
re-engineering, can make
'em eat almost anything and
spit out whatever fuel-like
materials we need. Turning
corn into engine-booze will
remain a mainstay, whether
there's validity to the
cries against it or not,
and you can bet we need a
large bore pipe from here
to Brazil just for what the
West Coast will convert to
road miles. But how do we
improve on what we've
learned so far about making
biofuels? We can figure out
where there is inefficiency
in the process, and focus
on making that part better.
As is the case for all
manufacturing, the most
efficiency is gained when
one utilizes 100% of the
residuals generated by the
main process.
If you
are fermenting corn, make
sure you get that field
stubble, too. How about
those Microbe Beasties:
what are you gonna do with
the bulk, once the
squeezin's are separated?
So your process dissolves
the cellulose and your bugs
eat all those odd wood
sugars; find somebody who
can also convert the
lignin. You're great at
turning french fry grease
into biodiesel; now you
need to take apart the
glycerine. Poop to biogas?
Look around to the crud
your neighbors are still
tossing in the dumpster;
there's bound to be more
you can feed those hungry
anaerobes, and you can bet
they'll appreciate the
added nutrients that come
along with food waste and
grease. Fine tune each
process by figuring out how
to not waste
anything.
Now take
a step back. If indeed the
efficiency comes with
conversion of what was once
called Waste, why not go to
the Source? We now have the
primary tools to take apart
and remake just about any
sort of material. We need
to find the requisite
mountains of feedstock
needed to do more than send
a ripple through the fuel
pipelines and storage
tanks. Where O' where do we
already have the collection
infrastructure set up to
gather and manage that
volume of potential
feedstock? Uh … by the way,
where does the crud you
toss into that dumpster go,
anyway?
Taking
apart the trash a city
generates is not a simple
process, but neither is
growing a million tons of
algae or harvesting a
hundred thousand acres of
oil seed and ag residuals.
But when we decide to take
apart, sort, pre-treat, and
convert all the various
elements of our garbage, we
are starting with something
that is a strong negative,
and turning it into a
strong positive. We get a
double bump economically,
and we create a sustainable
fuel production path out of
the totally unsustainable
practice of (Fear the Word)
Disposal.
Hey
Rube!
Almost every agency the world
around is rethinking its
purview to find ways to cut
waste, reduce emissions, shrink
the carbon footprint, conserve
resources, and complete the
loop of a Circular Economy.
That doesn't mean they are
coordinating their myriad
actions.
The
Week's News
Biofuels
Center Funds Appalachian
State University for MSW to
Biofuels
Study
The Biofuels Center of North
Carolina has announced awards
totaling $684,058 for six
projects to accelerate the
renewable fuels industry in
western North Carolina. Awards
were made through the 2012-2013
targeted biofuels development
funding program, entitled
Catalyzing Production in
Western North Carolina.
04/06/2013
Anaergia
Secures 20 year PPA for
Biogas Energy from Victor
Valley
WWTP
Canada based Anaergia Services
has announced that it has been
awarded a 20 year contract for
sale of power to be generated
from upgraded biogas.
04/06/2013
ALL Power
Labs Add Grid Inter-tie
Systems to Power Pallet
Gasifiers
Berkeley's thermal conversion
specialist ALL Power Labs (APL)
have rather quietly announced
the addition of an integrated
grid interconnection interface
to their 20 kilowatt (kWe) wood
gasification Power Pallet
systems.
04/05/2013
Relivit
Plans 2014 Opening for
Nappie Waste Recycling
Facility in
Australia
The Australian investment firm
Relivit Holdings Ltd is
actively seeking funds to open
its first absorbent hygiene
waste recycling and materials
recovery facility in Sydney.
scheduled for 2014.
04/05/2013
GESI and
InREFco Secure $50MM for
Waste Railroad Ties to
Energy
Project
With its headquarters now in
Vancouver and a base maintained
in Houston Texas, Green Energy
Solution Industries, Inc.
(GESI) has announced success in
securing $50 million in project
development funding with its
joint venture partner the
International Renewable Energy
Facilitation Company (InREFco).
04/04/2013
CEC's 2012
PIER Program Investment
Report Includes Waste
Conversion
The California Energy
Commission (CEC) has announced
the publication of The Public
Interest Energy Research 2012
Annual Report - Commission
Report (CEC-500-2013-013-CMF),
which was prepared under Public
Resources Code Section 25620.8.
04/03/2013
BIOX and
Shell Canada Sign Biodiesel
Supply
Agreement
Based in Ontario, Canada,
advanced biodiesel production
company BIOX Corporation has
announced a biodiesel supply
agreement with Shell Canada
Ltd. BIOX’s 67 million litres
per year Hamilton biodiesel
facility is located immediately
adjacent to Shell Canada's
refinery, allowing a pipeline
to be inter-connected for
delivery.
04/03/2013
BioNitrogen
Secures Urea Off-Take
Agreement for Planned
Louisiana
Plants
Florida's bio-sourced
fertilizer company BioNitrogen
has announced signing a second
supply agreement with United
Suppliers, Inc for the off-take
of urea fertilizer from its
planned plants in Pointe Coupee
Parish, Louisiana.
04/03/2013
Desso
Supplies Sustainable
Cradle-to-Cradle Carpet for
KLM
Airlines
Based in the Netherlands, the
sustainable carpet manufacturer
Desso has announced that it
will supply KLM Royal Dutch
Airlines with a specially
designed carpet in 22 of the
airline company's Boeing 747
passenger jets.
04/02/2013
Synthesis
Energy and GE Partner for 50
to 100 MWe Power
Solution
Texas based Synthesis Energy
Systems (SES) has announced
signing a joint evaluation and
marketing agreement with GE
Packaged Power, Inc., a
subsidiary of General Electric
Company (GE).
04/02/2013
USDA, DuPont
Set Sustainable Feedstock
Standards for Cellulosic
Ethanol
The US Department of
Agriculture (USDA) has
announced a federal-private
agreement with DuPont, setting
standards for sustainable
collection of agricultural
residuals to be used as
feedstock at DuPont's 30
million gallon per year
cellulosic ethanol production
facility in Nevada, Iowa that
broke ground last year.
04/01/2013
Amyris Makes
Progress in Strategic
Partnerships with Total,
Cosan,
Biolding
California-based Amyris has
provided an update regarding
progress with three key
partnerships, part of a
collaborative business model
the company has pursued for
commercialization.
04/01/2013
The Week's Action
Items
Due
04/08/2013: Comments to CEC
on Concept for ARFVTP Center
Solicitation
The California Energy
Commission (CEC) conducted a
workshop on April 3, 2013 to
discuss potential AB 118
solicitations for the
development of regional Centers
for Alternative Fuels and
Advanced Technologies (ARFVTP),
offering a staff draft concept
paper and a detailed slide
presentation.
04/04/2013
Due
04/30/2013: Applications to
USDA REAP for Renewable
Energy
Projects
The US Department of
Agriculture (USDA) has
announced that it is again
seeking applications for
funding through the Rural
Energy for America Program
(REAP) for renewable energy and
energy efficiency projects that
assist agricultural producers
and small businesses.
04/06/2013
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