Teru Talk Newsletter
Volume IV, Issue
33, August 18,
2014
Teru Talk by Michael
Theroux (pronounced
"Terú")
Teru's Trash Talk
Here's a
big part of the problem: It
seems that these days,
agencies require waste
conversion system
developers to have Data to
get Permits, but first must
have Permits to run the
thing, to get that data.
Which comes first, the
Chicken Permit or the Egg
full o' Data?
If a
company is lucky enough to
find some rat-hole where
they can develop, run,
test, break, and then
remake their waste
conversion system
relatively undisturbed,
they still have to find a
respected outside party to
run the thing again and
verify what they already
know, or at least what they
think they
know.
How
absurd is this? Just put
the same silly conditions
on almost anything else we
do: No, you can't grow and
sell that lettuce until we
test it to see if it is
actually lettuce, and makes
a decent salad. Or: "If you
think you are going to
manufacture that washing
machine before fully being
tested, buddy…" Well, at
least the same conditions
apply to our Oil & Gas
industry, right?
We need
"safe spots" where the meat
grinding and packing can be
perfected before the
sausage is offered for
sale. We need to develop
envelopes where there's
plenty of room to make
something, run it till it
fails, remake it, and
repeat until Right. This
has been the premise of our
National Labs and our
Universities when it comes
to taking a whats-it
concept to bench scale. But
once we try to scale up a
prototype, we run into the
chick-and-egg
conundrum.
The EPA
long managed one of the
nation's biggest programs
providing the much-needed
third-party Okie Dokie. The
EPA's version folded this
year, leaving a vacuum in
services providing external
technology verification.
But then the EPA's ETV
program never really was
allowed to tackle the
complexities of Waste
Conversion straight-on - it
always had to be couched in
some other topical area of
Waste or Air Quality. Those
curbs had been put in place
when the ETV system was
first dreamed up,
restrictions agreed to
simply to mollify an irate
minority that regularly
uses this Chicken-n-Egg
problem to hold back
progress in very specific
areas of development. Yeah
… them
again.
Can we
now pay attention to
Science, and move past that
nonsense? One of the most
attractive Safe Zones are
the military bases, where
our Department of Defense
can actually Get Stuff
Built. Most bases have the
requisite room, the tools,
the expertise, and the
protective wrapper from
prying eyes. To a somewhat
lesser degree, these same
conditions are found at
privatized military
bases: big and roomy,
usually under-utilized,
lots of in-place
infrastructure … and a
management company that
would really like to
lease out more of those
vacant
buildings.
Agency-sponsored and
supported Demonstration
programs at the state and
federal levels do help this
sticking-spot, by
specifically paying
to scale pilots up to at
least a pre-commercial and
fully operational size.
Most still require that the
Demos already have all
their permits …Chicken and
Egg again.
Hey
Rube!
Take a good look at the
California Energy Commission's
most recent grant offerings,
focused on biomass conversion
to fuels and electricity. There
may actually be room to
accomplish this middle ground,
but beware the dreaded mandate
to Prove it Works,
before you can Do
It.
Teru Talk Is Number One!
Teru Talk is Number
One! Thank you
all! It's not official yet
though, so don't tell
anyone.
The Entrepeneur's Showcase
has extended the deadline
until Wednesday, Aug 20th
because of website
problems, so we'll have to
wait for formal
confirmation. We very much
appreciate your support of
Teru Talk for the
advancement of waste
conversion. Our readers
are the best!! We will
keep you
posted.
This Week's Top Story
POET-DSM
Schedules Grand Opening
Celebration for Project
LIBERTY
South
Dakota based POET-DSM
Advanced Biofuels, LLC
has announced that
Project LIBERTY will open
its doors to the public
at the Grand Opening
celebration on Wednesday,
September 3, 2014 in
Emmetsburg, Iowa.
08/14/2014
The
Week's News
New ISO
Standards Reflect Growth in
Solid Biofuels
Industry
The
American Society of
Agricultural and
Biological Engineers
(ASABE) has announced
that work on
international standards
for solid biofuels
continues and the first
seven standards have been
published.
08/16/2014
CARB
Schedules Workshops on
Technology and Fuels
Assessments
The
California Air Resources
Board (CARB) is hosting a
series of public
workshops to discuss
technology and fuels
assessments for trucks
and buses, transport
refrigeration units,
rail, fuels, ocean-going
vessels, commercial
harbor craft, cargo
handling equipment, and
aviation.
08/16/2014
NEB Plans
Cellunolix® Waste Sawdust to
Ethanol Plant in
Finland
Finnish
investor North European
Bio Tech Oy (NEB) has
made a decision
concerning the
construction of a
bioethanol plant on the
Renforsin Ranta
industrial estate in
Kajaani, Finland.
08/15/2014
Virent's
Drop-In Bioform Gasoline
Receives EPA
Registration
Wisconsin
based Virent, Inc has
announced that it has
received fuel
registration for its
BioForm® Gasoline in
blends of up to 45% from
the US Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA).
08/13/2014
Vega
Biofuels to Ship Large
Biochar Order to
International Client for
Testing
Georgia
based Vega Biofuels, Inc
has announced that it has
received an order for its
Biochar product to be
shipped to an
institutional client for
testing.
08/12/2014
ReEnergy
Resuming Operations at
Biomass-to-Energy Facility
in
Maine
New York
based ReEnergy Holdings
has announced plans to
resume operations at its
biomass-to-electricity
facility in Ashland,
Maine.
08/12/2014
IBI Launches
2014 Global State of the
Biochar Industry
Survey
The
International Biochar
Initiative (IBI) has
announced its 2nd annual
State of the Biochar
Industry survey for 2014
that has been designed to
identify ongoing trends
in the evolution of the
industry.
08/11/2014
Notre Dame
Researchers Make Low-Energy
CO2 Capture
Breakthrough
The
Brennecke Research Group
at the University of
Notre Dame has made an
unexpected discovery in
the study of ionic
liquids, widely
considered to be greener
alternatives for a broad
range of processes that
currently use toxic
solvents.
08/11/2014
The Week's Action
Items
Due
10/20/2014: Applications to
CEC for Distributed
Generation
Demos
The
California Energy
Commission (CEC) has
released Program
Opportunity Notice
(PON)-14-303 to fund
applied research and
development activities
associated with
distributed biopower and
photovoltaic
technologies.
08/13/2014
Due
11/07/2014: Applications to
CEC for Bioenergy
Demonstration
Projects
The
California Energy
Commission (CEC) has
issued Program
Opportunity Notice
(PON)-14-305 to fund
demonstration and
deployment projects of
pre-commercial biomass
conversion technologies,
generation systems, and
development strategies.
08/14/2014
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