Teru Talk Newsletter
Volume IV, Issue
31, August 4,
2014
Teru Talk by Michael
Theroux (pronounced
"Terú")
Teru's Trash Talk
What's in
a name, or an acronym for
that matter? When it comes
to differentiating between
kinds of thermal conversion
of wastes and residuals,
naming and mis-naming
continues to cause rampant
confusion. Part of the
problem is inherent in the
process; some is due to
differing international
conventions. Most can be
laid squarely on us and our
lack of attention to
details. Is "Waste to
Energy" just incineration
as many people think, or
does it also include other
forms of thermal conversion
such as gasification,
pyrolysis,
plasma...
Telling
one stage of thermal
conversion from another is
complicated enough. When
material is subjected to
progressively higher
temperatures, we know it'll
(1) dry out, and then begin
to degrade and fall apart.
A bit more heat and the
molecular bonds begin to
break: (2) solids turn to
liquids and then (3) to
gas. Molecules that are no
longer so firmly attached
to each other start hunting
for new bonds - and are
particularly happy when
Oxygen is there for fill
the gap and "oxidize" the
newly freed compounds. As
this oxygen-bonding occurs
Energy is released. If we
keep this up, we (4) drive
off and oxidize all of the
molecules that break down,
and the rest gets "rendered
to ash". There: we've just
followed the path from (1)
drying to (2) pyrolysis to
(3) gasification and
finally to (4)
incineration.
If what
we want is to turn a pile
of waste into Heat and
Power, we can rely on
highly advanced
incineration. But if
our purpose is Molecular
Resource Recovery, we don't
let everything oxidize and
we siphon off the liquids
and gases as foundation
materials for future
manufacturing. Conversion
of waste for molecular
resource recovery requires
that we manage the process
to intercept the freed-up
resources before they are
rendered to ash.
But let's
look at the dictionary
definition: Energy is
Power. Most folks equate
"energy" with Electricity;
a few more recognize that
Energy is both heat and
power. It would seem
logical then to say that
making heat and power from
waste can be called Waste
to Energy (acronym WtE) or
as many in Europe would
prefer to say, Energy from
Waste (EfW). We have enough
trouble defining what is
actually waste; we
can't seem to agree at all
on where to draw the line
in defining Energy. This is
a classic "lumpers vs.
splitters" conundrum.
Either converting any form
of Waste to any form of
Energy gets lumped into the
WtE category or only
incineration gets that
buzz-word and everything
else gets its own acronym.
Basic Rule of Thumb: if you
are going to use a Buzz
Word, make sure you define
it.
Hey
Rube!
One path for
reclaiming Money from Waste is
to make a gas, clean it up,
compress it, and use it for
fueling vehicles and power
generation equipment. This
week's News contains a number
of examples, each a bit
different, all showing advanced
levels of integration with
surrounding municipal and
industrial Business. We're
getting closer to closing the
waste-to-goods loop.
Vote for Teru Talk!
Teru
collected some more votes at
the golf tournament last week,
but we are still number two!
Number two is not bad, but it's
not Number One! The competition
continues until August 15th, so
you still have time to
vote.
We are in
this competition to grow and to
continue our support of waste
conversion.
Check out
Teru's video,
then
Vote for Teru
Talk
, and Vote Often! Remember to
click on the "Checkout" button
in the upper right corner of
the screen after you vote. If
you don't check out and pay,
your votes won't
count!
This Week's Top Story
Grundon
Receives Planning Approval
for Waste Treatment Facility
in
Sussex
United
Kingdom (UK) based
Grundon Waste Management
has announced that the
West Sussex County
Council’s Planning
Committee has granted
planning permission for
Grundon's proposed
Circular Technology Park
at Ford in West Sussex.
07/30/2014
The
Week's News
USDA
Releases Greenhouse Gas
Modeling for Farms, Ranches
and
Forests
The US
Department of Agriculture
(USDA) has completed and
released a detailed
report outlining
science-based methods for
assessing and managing
greenhouse gas (GHG)
emissions and carbon
storage mechanisms
related to farming,
ranching, and forest
management.
08/02/2014
CDFA
Requests CPUC to Implement
SB 1122 to Support Anaerobic
Digesters
The
State Board of the
California Department of
Food and Agriculture
(CDFA) has sent a formal
request to the California
Public Utilities
Commission (CPUC) for its
support of anaerobic
methane digesters as a
key tool in the fight to
reduce greenhouse gas
emissions and provide
clean renewable energy in
the state.
08/01/2014
Funding
Approved to Construct Gas to
Liquid Plant at Oklahoma
Landfill
London
based Velocys plc has
announced that the final
investment decision has
been made to proceed with
construction of a
commercial gas-to-liquids
(GTL) plant using the
company's technology.
08/01/2014
FCC
Environment Is Reducing
Waste to Landfill for
Imperial
Tobacco
United
Kingdom based FCC
Environment has announced
that it is working with
Imperial Tobacco to
reduce the amount of
waste sent to landfill
from its Nottingham site
as part of a three year
waste management
contract.
08/01/2014
M&G and
Guozhen JV to Build World's
Largest Cellulosic Ethanol
Refinery
Luxembourg
based M&G Chemicals
has announced that its
wholly owned subsidiary
M&G International
S.à.r.l (M&G) has
entered into a
Sino-foreign joint
venture (JV) with Anhui
Guozhen CO, Ltd (Guozhen)
to construct what will be
the largest cellulosic
bio-refinery in the world
using non-food biomass.
07/31/2014
Waste
Management to Sell
Wheelabrator Technologies
for $1.94
Billion
Texas
based Waste Management,
Inc has agreed to sell
Wheelabrator Technologies
Inc to an affiliate of
Energy Capital Partners
for $1.94 billion in
cash.
07/30/2014
GIB Invests
in 3rd Scottish
Distillery-Balmenach
Converts from Oil to
Biomass
United
Kingdom's Green
Investment Bank (GIB) has
announced an investment
in Balmenach distillery
in Speyside from the £5m
Fund for Green Energy at
Scottish Distilleries set
up in May.
07/30/2014
Sierra
Energy Develops FastOx™
Waste Gasification
Calculator
Tool
California
company Sierra Energy
Corp has announced
development of a
Calculator Tool to
quickly give custom
economic projections and
end-product comparisons
for implementing its
FastOx™ gasification
system.
07/29/2014
Himark
BioGas Contracts to Build
Three Anaerobic Digestion
Plants in the
US
Alberta,
Canada based Himark
BioGas International
(Himark BioGas) has
signed an agreement with
New Hampshire company NEO
Energy LLC for the
design, construction, and
start-up of three (3)
integrated anaerobic
digestion (AD) and
fertilizer plants in
Massachusetts and Rhode
Island.
07/29/2014
UK Develops
Calculator to Identify
Emissions from North
American
Biomass
The
United Kingdom (UK)
Department of Energy
& Climate Change
(DECC) has announced
release of a scientific
calculator that
investigates carbon
emissions from biomass
sourced from North
America to produce
electricity in the UK.
07/28/2014
Commissioning
Begins at Tamar Energy’s 2
MWe Halstead AD
Facility
United
Kingdom (UK) based Tamar
Energy has announced that
construction has been
completed on its 2 MWe
anaerobic digestion (AD)
facility in Halstead,
Essex.
07/28/2014
EIF and
Seneca Meadows Open
Renewable Natural Gas
Facility at
Landfill
Michigan
based EIF Renewable
Energy Holdings LLC and
New York company Seneca
Meadows, Inc have
announced the opening of
Seneca Energy II, a
landfill gas-to-renewable
natural gas facility
located at the Seneca
Meadows Landfill in
Seneca Falls.
07/28/2014
BioCNG to
Design/Build Biogas System
and Pipeline for Colorado
WWTP
Wisconsin
based BioCNG, LLC has
announced that it has
been selected to design
and build a BioCNG™
biogas conditioning
system and gas pipeline
for the Persigo
wastewater treatment
plant (WWTP).
07/28/2014
The Week's Action
Items
Due
12/31/2015: Proposals to
NYSERDA for AD
Gas-to-Electricity
The New
York State Energy
Research &
Development Authority
(NYSERDA) has announced
the availability of
approximately $20.4
million in Renewable
Portfolio Standard (RPS)
funding through 2015 to
support the installation
and operation of
Anaerobic Digester Gas
(ADG)- to-Electricity
Systems in the state.
07/31/2014
|
