Teru Talk Newsletter
Volume III, Issue
3, January 21,
2013
Teru Talk by Michael
Theroux (pronounced
"Terú")
Teru's Trash Talk
Let's
consider a little looser
definition of what
constitutes "waste
conversion." I propose that
any process that takes
a "waste" and makes it back
into a "non-waste" as a raw
product or commodity ready
for remanufacturing is a
conversion process.
It stands to reason that
any technology used to
accomplish that Hat Trick
of waste to non-waste can
be called a conversion
technology, or for the
acronym-addicted, a
"CT."
Broadening
definitions, we have to
admit that CTs have been
around for a long time. We
risk losing that cache of
New & Improved when we
include older reprocessing
methods and technology
platforms. Yet there isn't
really any bright line
between
kinetic-plus-thermal
reprocessing of mixed waste
plastic into planks and
extruded furniture, and the
pyrolytic off-gassing and
depolymerization of that
same waste plastic into
synthetic fuel gas and
chemicals. At its core,
this is just a matter of
degree, and
control.
Waste
paper's the same way. For
ages, we've been pulping,
chemically treating,
heating, and pressing used
paper back into cardboard
and "kraft" paper. Now, we
know we can use super hot
water, pressure, and
enzymes to turn that pulp
into wood sugar, ready for
microbes to turn it into
fuel and chemicals, or dry
heat to make bio-oil to be
catalyzed for fuel. We've
just managed to achieve a
few new options for how to
get that waste paper to no
longer be
"waste."
Look at
the decomposition of veggie
waste by microbes that like
oxygen, a practice we call
Composting, and compare it
to the microbial
decomposition of those same
kinds of biomass in a
no-air atmosphere,
something we call Anaerobic
Digestion. Both conversion
methods can be tightly
guided with addition of
CTs. We can even control
which bugs eat what sort of
feedstock and what those
bugs spit out, if we know
what we are doing and are
particularly
careful.
Oh goodness, now we've
confused what we have been
calling Recycling with what
we have been calling
Conversion. Exactly. You
can't complete the return
of waste to usefulness
without some form of
conversion, whether major
or very minor. And if
recycling has to end with
some kind of reprocessing,
we need to rethink what we
mean by "post-recycling
residuals." Consider that
somehow we probably can use
the residuals of one
conversion processing
pathway as another
pathway's feedstock. We
need to build the
interconnected
infrastructure necessary to
create our own Circular
Economy and reclaim
materials cradle-to-cradle.
It comes down to accessing
the right tools at the
right time in the right
place, and the knowledge of
how to use them.
Hey
Rube!
Speaking of having the
wherewithal to turn lemons to
lemonade, check out our News
bit about all that cowburger in
the UK showing up with horse
and pig DNA. Lost to most of
those folks watching this
catastrophe is the fact that at
least one major supermarket
chain finds itself already
geared up with enough Anaerobic
Digestion systems to turn
their
losses into energy instead of
sending thousands of pounds of
meat to the dump. Whatever you
think about the wide-spread
practice of adding questionably
sourced meat stuff to make
cheap burger stick together, ya
gotta applaud the market's
Corporate Responsibility
concept of
waste-to-nonwaste.
The
Week's News
BTEC
Registers Tarm Biomass
Project as First Biomass
Green Heat
Site
The Biomass Thermal Energy
Council (BTEC) has announced
that an industrial bioenergy
installation developed by
member company Tarm Biomass of
Lyme, New Hampshire is the
first Biomass Green Heat
Registered Site in the
organization's new recognition
program.
01/20/2013
ARA and Blue
Sun Partner to Commercialize
Renewable Jet and Diesel
Fuels
New Mexico based Applied
Research Associates, Inc. (ARA)
and Colorado based Blue Sun
Energy, Inc. jointly announced
a partnership for the design,
construction, and operation of
a Biofuels ISOCONVERSION (BIC)
Process demonstration system.
01/20/2013
CRI Catalyst
Selects KBR to Design
Commercial IH2 Process
Facility
Packages
Houston's engineering and
construction services company
KBR, Inc has
announced that it
has been selected by CRI
Catalyst Company as its
preferred engineering,
procurement, and construction
(EPC) partner for design of
commercial scale IH2 technology
facility packages.
01/19/2013
UK's Horse
DNA Contaminated Burger
Waste Will Be Converted to
Energy
The United Kingdom (UK) Food
Standards Agency has
provided an update
to the on-going investigation
into horse and pig DNA
contaminated beef products.
01/19/2013
John Lewis
Partnership and Centriforce
Products Close Plastics
Loop
The United Kingdom's largest
waste plastics recovery and
recycling company
Centriforce
Products has
announced that its
long-standing work with the
retail giant John Lewis
Partnership will now
include full closed loop
management of the company's
diverse plastic wastes.
01/18/2013
JBI Secures
Additional $4MM in Extended
Series B Private
Placement
Canadian headquartered plastics
to oil company JBI,
Inc. has
announced that it
has completed an extended
Series B private placement
funding round this month,
securing an additional
$4,037,446 from sale of
convertible preferred stock.
01/18/2013
DOE FEMP
Schedules Training Webinar
on Combined Heat and
Power
The US Department of Energy's
Federal Energy Management
Program (FEMP) has announced a
free training webinar
addressing "Combined Heat and
Power: An Integrated Approach
to Energy Resources."
01/17/2013
Recycling
Technologies Secures Equity
Investment for Waste
Plastics to
CHP
Recycling Technologies Ltd has
announced success in securing
initial equity investment from
the Wroxall Investors
Group (WIG) for advanced waste
plastics conversion for
recovery of chemicals and/or
combined heat and power
(CHP).
01/17/2013
Enerkem
Closes C$37MM in Equity
Funding for Alberta Biofuels
Facility
The Canadian thermal waste
conversion firm Enerkem has
announced a successful equity
funding round in support of
completing construction of the
Enerkem Alberta Biofuels
facility in Edmonton, Alberta,
Canada.
01/17/2013
Sweetwater
Signs $100MM Cellulosic
Sugar Supply Contract with
Front
Range
New York based cellulosic
biomass to sugar specialist
Sweetwater Energy has announced
signing a 15-year, $100 million
contract to provide cellulosic
biomass derived sugars to Front
Range Energy for conversion to
ethanol.
01/17/2013
Harmonic
Energy Signs $10MM Term
Sheet to Fund Tyrolysis
Plants
London based integrated tire
production and reprocessing
company Harmonic Energy Inc.
has announced signing a
negotiated non-binding term
sheet valued at $10 million in
funding.
01/16/2013
Synthesis
Energy Explores Gasification
of Waste to Produce Green
Chemicals
Texas based Synthesis Energy
Systems (SES) has announced
reaching an exploratory
agreement with an undisclosed
party to trial its gasification
technology in conversion of
waste derived feedstock to
green chemicals.
01/15/2013
Shanks
Contracts to Build
Multi-Tech Waste Recycling
and Conversion
Facility
The United Kingdom (UK) based
waste management firm Shanks
has announced signing a 25 year
contract with Wakefield Council
to build a residual waste
treatment facility in South
Kirkby, Yorkshire in central
England.
01/15/2013
Renmatix
Commissions Multi-Feedstock
BioFlex Conversion
Unit
Biomass to sugar specialist
Renmatix has announced the
commissioning of a new
processing unit at the firm's
King of Prussia headquarters in
Pennsylvania.
01/14/2013
IRENA
Launches On-Line Global
Renewable Energy
Atlas
The International Renewable
Energy Agency (IRENA) has
announced the launch of a
global web-based atlas of
renewable energy (RE), intended
to help countries assess their
RE potential and to facilitate
private company project
development.
01/14/2013
BIOGEN
Develops Food Waste
Anaerobic Digestion Plant at
Hertfordshire
The United Kingdom based
anaerobic digestion specialist
BIOGEN has announced that it
will develop a 45,000 tonne per
year anaerobic digestion (AD)
plant at the Bygrave Lodge Farm
near Hertfordshire in east
central England.
01/14/2013
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