Teru Talk Newsletter
Volume III, Issue
52, December 30,
2013
Teru Talk by Michael
Theroux (pronounced
"TerĂº")
Teru's Trash Talk
The New
Year is approaching, and
here are four Top Waste
Conversion Lessons from
2013:
It's the
Rules, not the
Tools
. We have
the clean conversion
equipment and methods;
functional systems of all
kinds are now available.
Well-experienced
development companies are
finding effective waste
conversion modules to work
with. There is no lack of
information regarding the
conversion of waste and
residuals into energy,
fuels, and other
commodities; if anything
there is far too much
detail to sift through. We
certainly have the Trash
Tsunami to pick apart for
recyclates, using the rest
as feedstock. And we have
examples of functional
projects up and running,
turning crud liabilities
back into goods assets.
There remains, however, a
distinct lack of political
understanding and policy
development.
Integration
is the Ticket
. Making
a stand-alone facility is
not as economical as
plugging these same
conversion systems into our
existing resource
management infrastructure.
We do well to work with the
haulers, and partner with
the cities, counties, and
military bases in order to
minimize the cost of new
construction and maximize
use of whatever already is
in place. By now, we also
have seen that if a crucial
element is missing, the
site probably isn't right.
More often than not, that
crucial element is Public
Support. When we find
natural places that simply
beg for us to waltz
in and do the Waste
Conversion Magic, things go
so much better. But this is
no time to dilly dally: at
the rate things are
changing, all the Good
Sites will soon be
gone.
Close the
Economic Circle
. Project
developers are seeking and
finding what isn't being
utilized in the existing
process flow. This has
extended from the moment an
item is discarded, past the
part of the resource
pathway where unwanted
stuff usually goes to the
dump, all the way back to
re-entry of re-constituted
materials into the
marketplace. Waste cooking
oil is a hot commodity. A
supermarket's out-dated
veggies can light and heat
that same market. Even the
best Recycling effort makes
its own trash; just about
every engine makes usable
yet wasted heat. If what we
are contemplating will make
a lot of heat, it
makes a whole lot of cents
to look around the
community and see who needs
it. Most manufacturers
simply love
steam.
Finesse
is Financeable
.
Improvements in efficiency
translate into reduced main
system cost and impact, and
ancillary business is sure
to follow. Even when a lot
of easily-converted stuff
is just lying around,
careful pre-treatment will
broaden the range of useful
crud for almost every
conversion project. Shrimp
shells dissolve in ionic
liquid, whatever that is,
and turn into feedstock for
further processing; woody
waste makes fermentable
sugar water, with proper
pre-treatment. Then there
is the back-end reforming
and refining, turning the
raw materials recovered
from waste conversion into
market-ready products.
Digester and landfill
biomethane can both be
upgraded to clean fuel and
pipeline injection; it pays
to finish the job
on-site.
Hey
Rube!
If
you still have a tree
sitting prettily in your home
this holiday season, start
looking around your community
for the chip and grind folks
that can turn it back into
mulch instead of landfill fill.
Compost what you don't eat of
all that left-over food. Above
all, save the used wrapping
paper and bows for next year's
gift-wrapping: it's a great way
to irritate your
relatives.
This Week's Top Story
Anaergia
Acquires, Plans Upgrades to
California Biosolids and
Energy
Facility
Canada based Anaergia Inc has
announced that it as made a
strategic investment in a
large-scale biosolids
processing facility located in
the City of Rialto, California.
12/28/2013
The
Week's News
CH4 Receives
$2MM from NY Regional
Council for Genesee Biogas
Plant
New York's Finger Lakes
Regional Economic Development
Council has awarded
(see page
23) $2 million to Florida based
CH4 Biogas LLC's subsidiary
Genesee Biogas LLC to design,
build, and operate a biogas
plant to support the Genesee
Valley Agri-Business Park in
Batavia, New York.
12/28/2013
New York
Green Bank Funded with
Initial $210MM for Clean
Energy
Projects
New York Governor Andrew M.
Cuomo has announced $210
million in initial funding for
the NY Green Bank, a new market
oriented approach designed to
accelerate clean energy
deployment, create jobs, and
help make communities more
resilient and sustainable.
12/28/2013
MWDA Closes
30-Year Waste Resource and
Recovery Contract with SITA
UK
The Merseyside Waste Disposal
Authority (MWDA) has announced
that it completed procurement
for its 30-year Waste Resource
and Recovery Contract on behalf
of the Merseyside and Halton
Waste Partnership, and signed
contracts with a consortium led
by SITA UK.
12/27/2013
PHG Energy
and GE Provide Energy from
Waste to Covington,
Tennessee
PHG Energy (PHGE) of Nashville
and the GE Power & Water
business of General Electric
Company (GE) have announced
that their first commercial
collaboration is officially
online and creating electricity
from waste materials at a new
Covington, Tennesse, facility.
12/27/2013
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