Teru Talk Newsletter
Volume III, Issue
7, February 18,
2013
Teru Talk by Michael
Theroux (pronounced
"Terú")
Teru's Trash Talk
During
that fracas about Plasco
and the Salinas Valley
being shut down in their
attempts at sane waste
conversion by California's
purported waste management
agency a few months back,
the Governor's Office got
involved just enough to say
they wanted a "feedstock
driven, technology neutral"
approach to clean waste
conversion. Right on point:
it shouldn't matter WHAT
sort of equipment is used
to convert a particular
kind of disposed crud back
into a useful non-waste raw
material, any more than it
should matter what kind of
an engine drives a
fuel-efficient, low
emissions vehicle down our
highways. Show us that you
can do it cleanly; we're
all on board, right?
Well.....
Let's go
a step further. If you run
an advanced Materials
Recovery Facility (say it
with me: "MRF First!")
these days you can still
end up with a whole lot of
stuff you can't sell, but
stuff you CAN turn back
into raw materials. You
find something that turns
the unsellable,
non-recycled waste plastic
to fuel and raw polymers.
You get these other vessels
that pre-treat and digest
that entire gooey organic
fraction and make biogas
you can use to run your
waste collection
trucks. And you
choose one of those
pyrolysis units that
pressure-cook the
greenwaste into heat and
fuel to serve the main
operations. Forget about
whether the conversion
thingies are this type of
technology or that type of
process, and simply
concentrate on
accomplishing as clean and
as energy/resource
efficient an operation as
possible. Focus on the
feedstock and the
effectiveness, not on the
technology.
Truth is,
in a relatively short time
we have collectively gone
from having only a dozen or
so vendors to choose from
for any one type of waste
conversion technology to
seeing company after
company come above radar
and into the marketplace.
It is the nature of
marketing that each one
shows up just a bit
different than its
competitor. This lets the
customer with the MRF get
picky, but if the Agency
continues to focus on the
techy-thing instead of the
feedstock and efficiency,
they're choosing to herd an
ever-increasing number of
slightly different breeds
of cats instead of seeing
if the furry critters can
actually catch
rats.
Hey
Rube!
The buzz
words today are "Pre-Treatment
and Optimization" and no matter
what waste conversion to
biofuels and energy project you
might be contemplating, if you
are not already figuring out
ways to increase the number of
kinds of feedstock and the
quantities of products, you're
about to be side-lined. There
are enough companies out there
that have accomplished the
first round of conversion to
now see some very bright folks
concentrating on "making it
better." The sub-titles include
words like "cavitation" and
"hydro-pulping", "ionic
liquids" and of course a
Baker's Choice of Enzymes to
munch, crunch, and beat that
feedstock into something the
rest of your processing system
can use easier, cheaper,
better. Don't even get me
started on all the cool Sensors
to be added to the MRF lines
now. If I've heard right, these
new Electro-optical Air-knife
Multi-density what's-its can
separate out bee's knees from
buttons and bows. Once you've
got a clean pile of only one
kind of Stuff, you can focus on
running it through a particular
type of conversion system tuned
to just that
feedstock.
The
Week's Extra Reading
California's
Assembly Bill (AB) 341 adds a
requirement for Commercial
Waste Recycling in the state,
and establishes a detailed new
Policy Goal "encouraging" 75%
diversion from landfill by
2020.
Be sure
to take a look at our new
article "
Providing a
Road Map to Implementing AB
341
"
by guest author Dominic
Meo III, P.E..
The
Week's News
EnviTec
Starts Site Work for
Construction of Biogas Plant
in Czech
Republic
EnviTec Biogas has announced
the start of construction of a
527 kilowatt electric (kWe)
anaerobic digestion (AD)
facility for generation of
biogas from renewable raw
materials such as maize silage,
grass silage, sorghum, grain,
and liquid cattle manure.
02/16/2013
B&W
Selected for Viridor's Waste
to Energy Plant in
Peterborough,
UK
The Babcock & Wilcox
Company has announced that its
Denmark based subsidiary
Babcock & Wilcox Vølund A/S
(B&W Vølund) and consortium
partner Interserve Plc. were
awarded a contract worth
approximately $100 million to
design and build Viridor's
waste-to-energy plant in
Peterborough, United Kingdom
(UK).
02/16/2013
Lignol
Increases Equity Investment
in Australian Renewable
Fuels
Canadian biofuels and products
company Lignol Energy
Corporation (LEC) has announced
a substantial increase of its
current investment in
Australian Renewable Fuels Ltd.
(ARW) by participating in the
company's current Private
Placement and Rights Offering
financing round.
02/15/2013
CPUC Takes
First Step to Adopt
Biomethane Rules for
Pipeline
Injection
The California Public Utilities
Commission (CPUC) announced
that it has formally opened a
Rulemaking as the first step in
adopting standards and
requirements for biomethane to
be utilized by utilities.
02/14/2013
Global
Bioenergies Receives EUR
1.17MM in 2nd Payment from
Partner
Synthos
French based Global Bioenergies
has announced receipt of a
second payment of 1.17 million
Euros from its equity partner
the Polish rubber manufacturing
firm Syntho, with whom the
company recently completed
successful biosourced butadiene
production.
02/14/2013
SMUD
Receives $1.8MM CEC Grant to
Demo Argonne National Lab
Process
The California Energy
Commission (CEC) has announced
awards of more than $17 million
to advance "green
transportation" projects,
including a grant of $1,819,166
to the Sacramento Municipal
Utility District (SMUD).
02/14/2013
New Process
Developed to Produce
Hydrogen from
Bio-Oil
The University of the Basque
Country in Northern Spain has
announced research results from
a PhD thesis by chemical
engineer Aingeru Remiro-Eguskia
that is focused on an
alternative method of
generating hydrogen (H2) from
pyrolytically produced bio-oil.
02/13/2013
Carpet
Recycling UK Announces 2012
Recycling & Energy
Recovery
Results
The United Kingdom's (UK)
industrial association Carpet
Recycling UK (CRUK) has
released its February
newsletter and has provided
detailed results of the
country's recovery efforts in
2012, indicating a 30% increase
in diversion of carpet waste
from landfills over the
previous year.
02/13/2013
ENER-G
Acquires 75% Equity
Partnership in Rudox for CHP
Development
The United Kingdom based ENER-G
Holdings Plc has announced an
equity investment of 75% in the
New Jersey firm Rudox Engine
& Equipment Company,
forming ENER-G Rudox Inc to
design, develop, manufacture,
and install co-generation
modules for provision of
combined heat and power (CHP).
02/12/2013
FOGFUELS
and City of Atlanta Partner for
B100 Biodiesel Production and
Use
Based in Atlanta, Georgia, the
advanced biofuels company
FOGFUELS has announced entering
a formal partnership with the
City of Atlanta to convert
aggregated fats, oils and
greases (FOG) into engine ready
B100 biodiesel to power the
region's school busses, city
vehicles, and machinery.
02/12/2013
Agencies and
Industry Launch Bioenergy
Association of
California
The Bioenergy Association of
California (BAC) has announced
its official launch to take
place on Tuesday, February 12,
2013 in Sacramento.
2/11/2013
TransAct
Energy Completes Business
Plan for Waste to Products
JDA
Texas based TransAct Energy
Corp. has announced completion
of the first steps in a Joint
Development Agreement (JDA) the
company entered into last year
with Bruce Hutchon of the
United Kingdom, and Utopial
Limited and Halfuel Limitedand,
his group of private chemical
technology companies.
02/11/2013
EBTP Sees
Bright Future for Advanced
Biofuels in
Europe
The European Biofuels
Technology Platform (EBTP) has
provided a synopsis and posted
many of the presentations from
last week's Fifth Stakeholder
Plenary Meeting (SPM5) of the
EBTP at the Diamant Conference
Centre in Brussels.
02/11/2013
FPInnovations Signs
Bioeconomy MOU with Natural
Resources
Canada
The Canadian non-profit forest
research organization
FPInnovations has announced
signing a Memorandum of
Understanding (MOU) with
Natural Resources Canada's
CanmetENERGY laboratory,
formalizing the long-standing
collaborative efforts of the
research teams from both
organizations.
02/11/2013
The Week's Action
Items
Due
04/05/2013: Renewable Energy
Project Proposals for Necker
Island
Maryland based Reznick Think
Energy (RTE), the Carbon War
Room, and Colorado based Homer
Energy have announced release
of a Request for Proposals
(RFP) to provide renewable
energy and energy services for
Necker Island in the British
Virgin Islands, home of Sir
Richard Branson.
02/13/2013
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