Teru Talk Newsletter
Volume III, Issue
32, August 12,
2013
Teru Talk by Michael
Theroux (pronounced
"Terú")
Teru's Trash Talk
Turning waste
into goods makes something out
of nothing. If you can create a
positive value where there has
been a cost, you get a "double
bump" in the economics: first,
you remove the expense, and
second, you create an asset.
When you don't have to go dig
up another mountain and instead
"mine" the same basic
manufacturing materials out of
the constant flow of waste we
all produce, you reduce an
enormous amount of the
environmental impact usually
associated with getting new
virgin materials.
Smart folks
are learning how to turn
difficult wastes and residuals
into a fix for entirely
different problems. Really,
when we turn waste organics
into biogas and run the whole
farm on the heat and power, we
convert the problem into a
solution. When the same
digester system that's
generating biogas fuel from the
farm's manure and residuals can
also gobble up all the local
food waste from the surrounding
community, we're getting
traction for this Circular
Economy idea. Now days, there
are so many global examples of
digesters being designed and
built that can convert all
sorts of waste stuff that it
hardly seems like "news" any
more, but that just shows how
fast good ideas can spread,
given the chance.
There are
very few examples where a
"waste" is not also created
when "goods" are made, and that
applies to reprocessing
pathways just as it always has
for use of virgin materials.
When we separate stuff for
recycling, and those
recyclates are then
washed, ground, melted,
digested, depolymerized, or
otherwise reconstituted and
transmogrified into new goods
for the marketplace, there
still is some fraction
that doesn't fit the needed
specification, some portion
that then becomes the
waste of that totally
cool process.
Recognizing
that someone else's by-products
are a problem for them and a
feedstock for you provides the
perfect Business Opportunity.
Take for example the complex
organic polymer lignin,
the crucial part of woody
plants that makes the cell
walls rigid. It just gets in
the way when you try to turn
that plant's cellulose
part into sugar-soup for
fermentation to biofuels. It is
quite satisfying to see smart
folks figure out what that
lignin stuff is, how it reacts
when you beat on it, and what
useful stuff you might be able
to produce.
A mentor once told me that a
weed is simply a "plant out of
place." In the same way, a
waste is simply a resource that
has yet to be properly
utilized.
Hey
Rube!
Look over
this week's news item on EPA's
Small Biz Innovation Research
(SBIR) program; remember, we
posted the DOE's own SBIR news
on the 25th of last month. Much
of the SBIR focus of late has
been on waste conversion.
Eleven agencies run SBIR
programs, and each agency
issues its own solicitations
for Phase I and Phase II
research proposals from science
and technology-based firms.
Phase II contracts provide
about three times the funds as
Phase I to those companies that
have successfully completed
Phase I funded projects. To
navigate this complex and
ever-changing tableau of
potential funding, start with
the Small
Business Administration
to suss out which agency is
doing what, and see
SBA's Agency
Contacts page for
someone to contact. Then
dive into SBIR's own
website where resources
are listed for agencies,
large companies, investors
and
others.
This Week's Top Story
County
Approves $1.3MM in USDA
Loans to Buy Site for Wood
Pellet
Plant
County supervisors in
Mississippi have signed off on
almost $1.3 million in US
Department of Agriculture
(USDA) loans to pay for land to
expand the George County
Industrial Park for a new wood
pellet manufacturing facility
to be constructed by Green
Circle Bio Energy, Inc.
08/11/2013
The
Week's News
NOTE:
If you are using
IE10 and our website isn't
loading as smoothly as you
would like or the page jumps
when you click on a link to go
to a certain news item, just
change to "compatibility view"
and all will be
fine.
Colombian
Oil Firm Works with NREL to
Convert Sugar Cane Waste to
Biofuels
Ecopetrol, the largest oil
company in Colombia, is working
with the US Department of
Energy’s (DOE) National
Renewable Energy Laboratory
(NREL) to process the residue
from sugar cane and palm oil
harvesting into fuel ethanol
for blending with gasoline.
08/11/2013
CalRecycle/CARB
Workshop on Revised Waste
Mgt Sector Plan
Scheduled
California Department of
Resources Recycling and
Recovery (CalRecycle) and Air
Resources Board (CARB) staff
will co-host a workshop on
September 17, 2013 to discuss
revisions to the draft Waste
Management Sector Plan
component of the 2013 Scoping
Plan Update.
08/10/2013
NRG Energy
Plans to Build Bioenergy
Park Next to Montville Power
Station
NRG Energy, Inc has announced
plans to develop the Montville
Renewable Energy Park next to
its power station in
Connecticut.
08/10/2013
BDI Expands
Feedstock Range at Spanish
Biodiesel Facility with
Retrofit
Austrian based BDI - BioEnergy
International AG has secured an
add-on contract with Stocks del
Vallés (Stocks) to provide BDI
RetroFit Technology to upgrade
its 31,000-ton/year (9.3 MMgy)
biodiesel facility to process
multiple, lower-grade
feedstocks.
08/08/2013
Energy
Technology Leadership Group
Launched for Smarter Safer
Energy
The new Washington based
advocacy association Energy
Technology Leadership Group
(ETLG) announced its formal
launch last week "to promote
smarter, safer energy through
the use of the most innovative
technologies across the energy
spectrum including fossil,
solar, hydro, wind, biofuels,
and geothermal."
08/07/2013
University
of Texas, SWRI to Assess Use
of Biochar for Frack Water
Clean-Up
The University of Texas, San
Antonio (UTSA) and the
Southwest Research Institute
(SWRI) have announced that they
are initiating a year-long
research assessment of biochar
for cleanup and remediation of
"frack water," the flow-back
water produced during hydraulic
fracturing for mining oil and
gas reserves.
08/07/2013
Aston
University EBRI Calls for
Business Waste for Thermal
Conversion
Trials
The European Bioenergy Research
Institute (EBRI) based at Aston
University in Birmingham,
United Kingdom (UK), has
announced a request for the
UK's West Midlands businesses
and manufacturers to send their
waste for testing in a new
bioenergy technology developed
by its researchers.
08/06/2013
Waste No
Energy Develops Manure and
Food Waste Digester at RAKR
Farms
Indiana based Waste No Energy,
LLC (WNE), a company owned by
RAKR Farms, has announced
development of a
multi-feedstock anaerobic
digester (AD) facility that is
on target to begin generating
renewable power in December
2013.
08/06/2013
Green Heat
Alliance Publishes US EPA
'Wood Heater NSPS'
Rulemaking
Status
The Alliance for Green Heat has
published a status summary of
the Environmental Protection
Agency's (EPA) “Wood Heater
NSPS" rulemaking, which was
submitted to to the Office of
Budget and Management (OMB) on
July 26, 2013.
08/05/2013
New Research
Addresses Fate of Lignin
During Hydrothermal
Pretreatment
The latest edition of the
journal of "Biotechnology for
Biofuels" has published the
abstract of a
highly-collaborative article
exploring a crucial aspect of
biomass breakdown for
production of biofuels and
bio-sourced chemicals.
08/05/2013
EPA SBIR
Awards Include
Micro-Waste-to-Energy, Rare
Earth
Recycling
The US Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) has announced
seven Phase II Small Business
Innovation Research (SBIR)
awards, in response to the FY
2013 Request for Applications.
08/05/2013
The Week's Action
Items
Due
09/09/2013: Comments to
Idaho DEQ on Draft
Composting
Guidance
The Idaho Department of
Environmental Quality (DEQ) has
extended the deadline for
submission of public comments
on its draft guidance for
operation of composting
facilities.
08/11/2013
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