Teru Talk Newsletter
Volume III, Issue
2, January 14,
2013
Teru Talk by Michael
Theroux (pronounced
"Terú")
Teru's Trash Talk
One of
our News items this week is
about the Ames Laboratory's
new task of finding novel
ways to solve the "rare
earth metals" shortage, and
it occurs to us that maybe
it isn't really clear what
this has to do with waste
conversion. After all,
those highly desirable
metals we can't even
pronounce (try Ytterbium,
Praseodymium, Dysprosium,
Neodymium) are a far cry
from the grungy crud in the
bottom of a trash can. It's
not like they are worth
their weight in gold or
anything, right? Wrong,
perhaps
surprisingly.
The "rare
earth" elements are really
not so rare, just
scattered. These things are
hard to come by mostly
because they are not often
concentrated enough to make
mining them economical. One
part of their technical
definition calls them "the
fifteen elements of the
lanthanide series"
(plus a couple others)
which fits, since that
Greek word means "hidden."
But why should we care and
to our first question, what
does this have to do with
what we throw away?
Consider this clue: China
stopped export of
electronics trash to Japan,
as part of their
nation-wide crack-down on
rare earth mineral
management.
Yup:
almost every single thingie
we use that is an "advanced
electronic device"
absolutely positively MUST
have one or more of these
rare earth elements in it
somewhere to make it work.
The more we seek "clean
energy" technologies, the
more important these rare
earth materials become. And
Yup, we just throw them
away when they don't work
anymore. In fact, we have
big public-money supported
programs that collect
"electronic waste" just to
help us get rid of all
those smart phones,
computers, TVs, button
batteries, monitors,
scanners, and fax machines
as fast as we can. In 2010,
Japanese researchers
figured out that there were
about 300,000 tons of rare
earth elements in the waste
electronics in their own
country, and began setting
up plants specializing in
recovering those goodies
from the plastics, glass,
and "regular" metals. We're
talking about stuff that is
actually more valuable than
gold by the ounce in some
cases.
So now
the US has a Critical
Materials Strategy, finding
at least five of the rare
earth elements were so
crucial that disruptions in
their supply would
seriously impact clean
energy technology
development. The report
points right at the
quantity of electronics we
send to the landfill or
sell as recyclables. And
where in the world do we
sell them? Oh, mostly to
China …
Hey
Rube!
SWACO (what a
great acronym!) just OK'd a
great project in central Ohio,
growing up the idea of
Materials Recovery to
incorporate that last
"reprocessing" step of
recycling, all right on the
same integrated "Center for
Resource Recovery and
Recycling" green industrial
park. We're gonna see a lot
more of this level of closing
the Materials Management loop.
In California, the City of
Lancaster is headed right down
the same path, and in Texas the
City of Houston is only a step
behind. Add into these
intricately sensored waste
separation facilities the
capacity to reclaim rare earth
elements from the gritty
left-overs … gee; pretty soon
there won't be anything left to
go to the landfill.
Darn.
The
Week's News
Australia
Approves $12.15MM Refund to
Algae.Tec for Bioreactor
Facilities
Australian based Algae.Tec has
announced that the Australian
government has approved a 45%
refund on the company's
proposed Australian and foreign
project development
expenditures that occur between
June 30, 2012 and June 30,
2015.
01/12/2013
BioNitrogen
Secures 600 Acres in Florida
to Expand Biomass to
Fertilizer
Plant
BioNitrogen Corporation has
announced acquisition of about
600 acres in Hardee County,
Florida, for expanded
development of its biomass to
urea fertilizer thermal
conversion facility.
01/12/2013
CalRecycle
Posts CARE's Waste Carpet
Handling Best Practice
Guidelines
The California Department of
Resources Recycling and
Recovery (CalRecycle) has
posted new handling guidelines
developed by Carpet America
Recovery Effort (CARE), meant
to provide general guidance for
the processing and storage of
post-consumer carpet.
01/12/2013
IME Issues
Global Food Waste Report: Up
to 50% of Food Produced is
Wasted
The United Kingdom (UK) based
Institution of Mechanical
Engineers (IME) has released a
report, "Global Food: Waste
Not, Want Not," that finds of
an estimated four billion
tonnes of food produced each
year, from 30% to 50% "never
reaches a human stomach."
01/10/2013
Team Gemini
Selected for Ohio Recycling
and Green Energy Industrial
Park
The Solid Waste Authority of
Central Ohio (SWACO) has
announced selection of
Florida-based Team Gemini, LLC
for development of a waste
receiving and recycling center,
and a green energy industrial
park.
01/10/2013
DOE Launches
Web Tool to Explore Clean
Energy
Economy
The US Department of Energy
(DOE) has announced the release
of a beta-version of an on-line
interactive program to assist
in determining options and
effects of energy choices,
including both fuel and
electricity.
01/10/2013
Ames
Laboratory to Lead Effort to
Solve Rare Earth Metals
Shortages
The US Department of Energy
(DOE) has announced a newly
funded initiative led by Ames
Laboratory to establish an
Energy Innovation Hub focused
on solutions for in-country
shortages of rare earth and
other critical metals.
01/10/2013
DECC Awards
£292K to Entrepreneurs for
Innovative Bioenergy
Solutions
The United Kingdom (UK)
Department of Energy and
Climate Change (DECC) has
announced awards totally
£292,000 to encourage
innovation in bioenergy.
01/10/2013
VTT Begins
Commercialization of Enzymes
for Second Generation
Biofuels
VTT Technical Research Centre
of Finland has announced that
cellulosic enzymatic
development under the DISCO
project has now reached
sufficient advancement for full
commercialization.
01/10/2013
Cranfield
University Develops Tool to
Determine Renewable Energy
from
Waste
Cranfield University in the
United Kingdom (UK) has
announced the development of a
new approach for determining
the renewable energy contained
in the biogenic fraction of
waste material, relying on
imaging sensors and microwave
analysis.
01/09/2013
American
Biogas, US Composting
Partner to Support Organics
Recycling
The American Biogas Council and
the US Composting Council have
jointly announced signing a
Memorandum of Understanding to
"accelerate the growth of the
organics recycling industry."
01/08/2013
LSU AgCenter
Audubon Sugar Institute
Opens Biofuels
Pilot
The Louisiana State University
(LSU) AgCenter Audubon Sugar
Institute has announced that a
ribbon-cutting ceremony will be
conducted on January 25, 2013
to inaugurate the completion of
a pilot plant dedicated to the
production of biofuels and
biochemicals from agricultural
crops and residues.
01/08/2013
UK Pledges
£10MM into 7-Country EU
Bioenergy Project
Development
Program
The United Kingdom (UK)
Department of Energy &
Climate Change (DECC) has
announced that the government
has committed up to £10 million
(€12.5 million or $16.1
million) as its share in a
seven-nation effort to
stimulate innovative bioenergy
project development.
01/08/2013
US Energy
Initiatives to Deploy Methes
Biodiesel Technology in
California
Methes Energies International
Ltd. has announced that its
wholly-owned subsidiary, Methes
Energies Canada Inc., has
signed a Letter of Intent (LOI)
with U.S. Energy Initiatives
Corp. of Santa Clarita,
California for them to form a
joint venture to set up
small-scale biodiesel plants in
California.
01/08/2013
Polish
200MWe CFB Biomass Power
Plant Is Now Fully
Operational
Swiss based power engineering
company Foster Wheeler AG has
announced that the 200 megawatt
electric (MWe) bioenergy plant
in Polaniec, Poland is now
fully operational.
01/07/2013
The Week's Action
Items
Due
02/01/2013: Comments to CEC
on Proposed Biofuels
Production
Grants
The California Energy
Commission (CEC) has announced
a public workshop for the
Alternative and Renewable Fuel
and Vehicle Technology Program
(ARFVTP), to be held January
11, 2013 from 9:00 am to 5:00
pm and is seeking comments on
the proposed solicitation.
01/07/2013
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