Teru Talk Newsletter
Volume IV, Issue
10, March 10,
2014
Teru Talk by Michael
Theroux (pronounced
"Terú")
Teru's Trash Talk
Waste
Wars: "It's My trash! No,
it's MY trash!" That cry
has long been heard in
squabbles between municipal
solid waste (MSW) haulers,
when one company claims the
other is stepping into
their territory, bogarding
contracted collections of
trash destined for the
local dump. Waste
Management has
always been about
the money, but now that the
"waste" is fast becoming
"resource," the bickering
over surreptitious runs has
started to focus more on
lucrative waste
conversion.
The twist
comes when a government
claims not only the
authority to hand out the
prized hauler contracts,
but to own the grease, as
well. Over the last few
weeks, a sordid tale of
unauthorized waste hauling
has unfolded in Singapore,
with regular official
updates being provided by
the country's National
Environmental Agency
(NEA) and less
official if more telling
tales running in many of
the local news services.
We've opened the story to
you with a news
item this
week.
For years
now, the ugly practice of
"sewer oil" recovery and
reuse has been a serious
problem in the Asian
regions. Companies suck up
the floating grease and oil
literally from the gutters
and the sewers, strain out
the big chunks, and (gag)
sell it back to the
restaurants at less than
the rapidly-escalating
price of "virgin" cooking
oil. Besides just being
plain nasty, we have to
consider that when any oil
is repeatedly heated it
breaks down into some
very toxic
substances.
But
turning that same waste
grease into biodiesel
apparently brings a hefty
return with less risk, as
the back-alley practice has
not been as closely
watched. That has changed,
especially in Singapore.
The government controls who
collects all of that
cruddy waste grease and oil
so they can then feed it to
anaerobic digestion systems
at nationalized "waste
recovery plants" for
conversion to biogas.
Singapore's NEA figured out
that unauthorized
grease-suckers were selling
their greasy slop to
outside biodiesel
producers, and the
proverbial grease hit the
fan.
This example really should
not be too much of a
surprise. Money's tight,
and Trash is Treasure for
the indomitable
entrepreneurial spirit.
Waste Conversion businesses
already find securing
supply contracts to be a
tightening marketplace;
it's just that when the
government claims the
resource, well, that is a
game changer. Today it's
the grease, tomorrow the
waste wood and short-fiber
paper fragments, next week
the un-recyclable plastics.
Soon, we'll all understand
there is no "waste" that
can't be converted back to
goods.
Think
this is limited to
Singapore? We'd suggest
exercising extreme caution,
if you decide to cart off
waste kitchen oil from the
Commissary at one of the US
military bases that now is
making their own biodiesel.
Just sayin'.
Hey
Rube!
A more
encouraging example to watch of
integrated waste management for
conversion instead of disposal
is playing
out in the Metro
Vancouver region, where the
existing sewage and solid
waste management
infrastructure is being
augmented with waste
conversion complements, with
the resulting biogas then
fed to the existing natural
gas pipeline framework. Go,
Vancouver!
This Week's Top Story
University
in Denmark Reports on
Cheaper 2G Biofuels without
Enzymes
The University of Southern
Denmark (USD) has announced
that its researchers in
collaboration with the
University of Baghdad and
Al-Muthanna University in Iraq
have developed a new technique
to make second generation (2G)
biofuels without the use of
expensive enzymes.
03/03/2014
The
Week's News
Singapore's NEA Cracks Down on
Collection of Waste Grease for
Biodiesel
The National
Environmental Agency (NEA) of
Singapore has issued an
advisory providing an update
regarding several cases of
illegal collection of waste
kitchen and sewer grease for
conversion to biodiesel.
03/09/2014
Ensyn and
Memorial Hospital Sign RFO™
Cellulosic Biofuel Supply
Agreement
Delaware based Ensyn
Corporation (Ensyn) has
announced that its wholly-owned
subsidiary, Ensyn Fuels, has
entered into a contract with
Memorial Hospital of North
Conway, New Hampshire
("Memorial") for the supply of
RFO™ heating fuel, Ensyn's
advanced cellulosic biofuel.
03/08/2014
US DOE Hosts
Biomass Liquefaction and
Bio-Oil Co-Processing
Workshops
The US Department of Energy's
(DOE) Bioenergy Technology
Office (BETO) has posted
details and registration links
for two up-coming biomass
conversion workshops.
03/08/2014
Global
Bioenergies Selects Linde
for the Design of Its German
Pilot
Plant
Paris based Global Bioenergies
SA has announced that the
Engineering Division of The
Linde Group will design
Global's second industrial
pilot that will be located at
Leuna refinery site in Germany.
03/07/2014
Liquid Light
Unveils Catalytic Process to
Make Chemicals From
CO2
New Jersey company Liquid
Light, Inc has announced its
new process for the production
of major chemicals from carbon
dioxide (CO2), showcasing its
demonstration-scale 'reaction
cell' and confirming the
potential for cost-advantaged
process economics.
03/07/2014
Springboard
Biodiesel's New Chico
Facility Launches Local
Buyers
Club
California based Springboard
Biodiesel has announced the
creation of a local biodiesel
buyers club for interested
individuals and companies in
and around Butte County.
03/07/2014
2014 Clean
Energy Challenge Finalists
include Waste Conversion
Start-Ups
Clean Energy Trust has
announced the 16 startup
companies that will compete in
the fourth annual Clean Energy
Challenge, a $500,000 business
plan competition that takes
place April 3, 2014 in Chicago.
03/05/2014
Succinity's
First Commercial Plant
Startup Produces Biobased
Succinic
Acid
Succinity GmbH, the joint
venture between Corbion Purac
and BASF for the production and
commercialization of biobased
succinic acid, has announced
the successful start-up of its
first commercial production
facility.
03/05/2014
HP and YFY
Jupiter Partner to Convert
Chinese Straw into
Packaging
Hewlett-Packard (HP) has
announced that it has partnered
with YFY Jupiter in an
innovative program to convert
waste straw into packaging and
a cash crop for Chinese
farmers.
03/05/2014
Foster-Wheeler
Secures Contract for Two
Boilers at Pakistani Sugar
Mill
Foster Wheeler AG has announced
that a subsidiary of its Global
Power Group has been awarded a
contract by Shanghai Marine
Diesel Engine Research
Institute (SMDERI) for the
design and supply of two grate
boilers for Fatima Energy
Limited, a subsidiary of Fatima
Group.
03/04/2014
BioNitrogen
Signs 25-Year Biomass
Feedstock Supply Agreements
with
BRM
BioNitrogen Holdings Corp has
announced signing biomass
supply agreements with
BioResource Management (BRM)
for feedstock supply for
Bionitrogen's initial plant in
Florida.
03/04/2014
IBI Will
Host 2 Public Webinars on
Proposed Revisions to
Biochar
Standards
The International Biochar
Initiative (IBI) has announced
two interactive webinars to
discuss proposed changes to
last year's Version 1.1 Biochar
Standards.
03/04/2014
Metro
Vancouver Will Convert
Sewage Waste to Biogas for
Pipeline
Injection
Metro Vancouver in British
Columbia (B.C.) Canada has
announced a $13 million project
to capture some of the energy
in sewage and convert it to
energy-rich biomethane for
delivery to FortisBC and its
natural gas distribution
system.
03/03/2014
UCSF and
Verliant Collaborate to
Advance Science of Waste
Conversion
San Francisco based Verliant
Sciences (Verliant), has
announced entering into a
multi-year collaborative
research and development
agreement with the University
of California, San Francisco
(UCSF) for the analysis and
separation of molecular
constituents of various waste
streams.
03/03/2014
USFS
Releases Forest Management
Plan and FEIS for Kaibab
National
Forest
The US Forest Service (USFS)
has announced release of the
new land and resources
management plan and
accompanying final
environmental impact statement
(FEIS) for the Kaibab National
Forest (KNF), which are
available on the USFS website.
03/03/2014
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