Teru Talk Newsletter
Volume IV, Issue
3, January 20,
2014
Teru Talk by Michael
Theroux (pronounced
"Terú")
Teru's Trash Talk
Just what
is a "commercial"
enterprise? How can we tell
if a waste conversion
technology is "ready" for
our community's use? As
people around the globe
consider investing in
systems to turn crud back
into marketable goods, one
of the first questions we
hear is, "Is there a
commercial
example?"
Way back
in the 1970s the federal
government needed to find a
way to measure this metric
of readiness in
order to reduce risk for
minor projects like space
missions. The concept of
technology readiness
emerged: "Technology
Readiness Levels" or
TRL remain an important
tool for all our
military research
departments. Yet the
feds didn't ask if there
was a commercial
application. Instead, an
entire technology
readiness
assessment
protocol was established
to carefully measure if
the bugs have been
worked out, and just how
close the widget was
technologically to
being ready for the
Big Show.
A machine
is only as good as the
combination of its design
AND its operation; any
system can be run clean or
dirty, and that certainly
applies to systems built to
recover resources from
wastes and residuals. The
TRL metrics assess the
function and assign
one of nine developmental
stages to mark the status
of that function at any one
time. Technical development
is after all a process, a
progression from TRL 1,
that gleam in Daddy's eye
to TRL 9, when the
technology is ready to step
out of the Lab and enter
the World.
Fine: it
works - but how do we run
the thing? Any one tool can
have multiple applications,
and there will always be
the need to write an
Operations and Maintenance
manual detailing the best
way to apply that system to
Real World challenges. OK,
great: now we have a
technology that works, and
a way to make it dance.
Does this mean it is now
Commercial?
Hardly.
The
federal government may be
able to absorb the risk
associated with deploying a
particularly promising new
tool for the first time.
That doesn't apply to
decisions made by a private
developer or a
municipality, who after all
are working with Real
Money. So in addition to
knowing the thing works and
there's a clean way to run
it, the question of
economic viability
must enter in. Does this
Conversion Technology cost
more to buy and operate
than we can
recover within a
reasonable length of time?
Is there anywhere we
can go and see one of these
expensive systems work? How
much economic risk is
involved in owning and
operating the technology?
Everybody's always ready to
invest in the second
commercial installation
…
Perhaps we need to
establish a baseline to
measure against. First,
determine the real value of
not throwing our resources
away, compared to the
actual cost of trashing our
planet. Then count
the costs and benefits of
running the solution. With
that in mind: if TRLs
effectively measure
progression to exit from
the Lab, maybe now we need
to develop a suite of
psychometrics defining
Commercial Readiness Levels
(CRLs).
Hey
Rube!
We all chatter about some of
the clear stages that
Technology Developers must get
through to see their baby
succeed in the world, for their
company to find its commercial
niche. Did they make it through
that Valley of Death? That's
the onerous phase between using
up all their own resources and
finding some sucker, er,
investor, to inject the
life blood of
commercialization: More Money.
Good: the company has five
projects running; Bad: now they
simply have no time to market
and thus can't generate any new
funds to hire more smart staff.
What other stages can we
define? If you think you
recognize increments, let Teru
Talk know and we'll see if we
can rough out
CRLs.
This Week's Top Story
Vadxx Energy
Receives Financing for 1st
Plastic Waste to Energy
Facility
Ohio based Vadxx Energy LLC has
closed on financing for its
first commercial-scale, plastic
waste-to-energy facility.
Private equity firm Liberation
Capital has agreed to fund the
first unit, which will be
implemented in Akron, Ohio and
is scheduled to come online in
early 2015.
01/15/2014
The
Week's News
Green Day
Technologies Receives
$10-20MM Order for
Refuse/Biomass
Pellets
Florida based Kleangas Energy
Technologies, Inc has
announced that its wholly owned
subsidiary, Green Day
Technologies, Inc, has received
an order worth $10,000,000 up
to $20,000,000 for pellets.
01/17/2014
European
Commission Approves Neste
Oil's Sustainability
Verification
System
Neste Oil has announced that
its sustainability verification
system for all diesel fuel
produced from renewable
feedstocks has been approved by
the European Commission (EC).
01/17/2014
American
Chemistry Council Forms New
Plastics-to-Oil Technologies
Alliance
The American Chemistry Council
(ACC) has announced that a new
group has formed within its
Plastics Division to support
technologies that convert
non-recycled plastics into
petroleum based products.
01/16/2014
Cambrian
Installs 1st Commercial
EcoVolt System at Bear
Republic
Brewing
Boston based Cambrian
Innovation, Inc has announced
that the first commercial
installation of its EcoVolt
wastewater system at Bear
Republic Brewing Factory in
Cloverdale, California will
begin commissioning next month.
01/16/2014
Aphios
Granted US Patent for
Pretreatment of Cellulosic
Biomass for
Biofuels
Massachusetts based Aphios
Corporation has announced that
it has been granted US patent
8,540,847, “Methods and
Apparatus for Processing
Cellulose Biomass,” for its
Aosic enabling technology
platform for Cellulosic Biomass
Pretreatment (CBP).
01/14/2014
New York
State Makes $21MM Available
to Dairy Farmers for Waste
to
Energy
New York Governor Andrew M.
Cuomo has announced that nearly
$21 million will be available
to create new economic
opportunities for New York’s
dairy farmers by helping them
to produce renewable energy and
improve their business
operations.
01/14/2014
European
Biofuels Technology Platform
Seeks Input for Funding
Decisions
The European Biofuels
Technology Platform (EBTP)
program has launched the
Advanced Biofuels Stakeholder
Questionnaire 2014, an on-line
10 minute survey intended to
help direct biofuels research
and development funding through
2016 for the European Union's
Seventh Framework Programme
(FP7).
01/13/2014
NCF
Completes Stage 1 Proof of
Concept to Convert CO2 to
Fuels
Israel based New CO2 Fuels
(NCF) has announced successful
completion of Stage 1 Proof of
Concept testing for
high-temperature dissociation
of carbon dioxide (CO2; as
contained in industrial
emissions) into carbon monoxide
(CO) and oxygen.
01/13/2014
The Week's Action
Items
Due
03/11/2014: Grant
Applications to CEC for
Biofuel Production
Facilities
The California Energy
Commission (CEC) has issued
Program Opportunity Notice
PON-13-609, making available up
to $24 million in grant funds
for the development of
California-based biofuel
production facilities that can
sustainably produce low carbon
transportation fuels.
01/15/2014
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