Teru Talk Newsletter
Volume IV, Issue
36, September 8,
2014
Teru Talk by Michael
Theroux (pronounced
"Terú")
Teru's Trash Talk
It's
always a good thing when
you get two positives for
the price of one and that
certainly applies to Waste
Conversion. We take care of
a problem, and turn a
liability into an asset.
Instead of flushing used
fryer grease down the sewer
to gum things up
downstream, we make the
muck into biodiesel fit to
run even a cool motorcycle,
and in so doing, we also
make money. Instead of
flushing hog wash (really)
out onto land, we can zap
it into clean energy and
fuel, and stop the
stink. And instead of
pushing another umpteen
megatons of municipal solid
waste into a big hole, we
can turn it into
federally-certified jet
fuel.
Converting
stuff from Waste to Goods
shifts the numbers from the
red column to the black and
as long as it doesn't cost
more to accomplish the
conversion process than you
get back, all is good. Yet
what we get back goes far
beyond lower waste disposal
fees and ready access to
clean fuel. It often takes
quite a bit of noodling to
find all the Life Cycle
Costs and Benefits involved
in waste conversion - after
all, we've grown up in a
society where the
real cost of things
like environmental
sanitation, energy, and
fuel are tally sheets for
others to worry
about. Cleaning up where we
live (you know, Planet
Earth, right?) is a pretty
worthy goal, but once
again, we find that we
can't manage what we don't
measure.
This old
planet knows lots of ways
to heal the damage we
humans continue to inflict.
One of my favorites happens
when plant roots suck up
contaminants from the
groundwater and turn it
into biomass. As our
conversion tools become
cleaner, cheaper and more
diverse, we are now
learning how to integrate
contaminant remediation
with biofuel growth. Talk
about more bang for your
Biofuels
Buck!
Some plants, especially
certain fast-growing trees,
are veritable crud-pumps
when it comes to cleaning
the soil and water below
ground. If we're talking
about cleaning up too much
nitrogen from near surface
aquifers, those plants can
do a wonderful job of
making easily harvested and
perfectly acceptable
biomass feedstock. Yet the
mess we make below ground
often includes contaminants
like high salt content,
heavy metals, volatile
petrochemicals, and every
other nasty we spill. The
trees pump up the bad with
the good, and to use the
wood, we then need to clean
it of those bad actors. Not
an easy task, but at least
the salts, metals, and
other stuff is out of the
groundwater, and up where
we can do something
about it.
You have
to just love it when we can
economically
accomplish environmental
clean-up by using plants,
and then cleanly turn that
biomass into fuels and
energy.
Hey
Rube!
Direct part
of your attention to the ever
changing global discussion
about Sustainability and you
will find that going Green is a
wonderful marketing tool.
Companies big and small are
finding they can capture more
clients when they prove their
environmental good will. People
are willing to pay more, so
doing the right thing makes
companies more money. This
extends nicely into what we do
with our waste, as we see in
most of our news these days,
yet proving sustainability is
not an easy task. Check out the
new handbook released by the
Roundtable for Product Social
Metrics. These corporate
champions have taken up the
challenge of how we measure the
Social Impact of the things we
make and use - Nice Piece of
Work!
Extra Reading
A
new TERU Focus Report is now
available for your reading
pleasure. California
Organics Management
Legislative Update looks
at three bills now on the
governor's desk, and
provides a link to a
relevant article by the
California Compost Coalition
on alternative daily
cover.
This Week's Top Story
Vega
Biofuels' Pilot Torrefaction
Plant to Use Dual Use
Biomass
Feedstock
Georgia
based Vega Biofuels, Inc
has announced that its
Joint Venture (JV)
partner, Agri-Tech
Producers, LLC (ATP), has
developed a new,
patent-pending process
that dramatically reduces
the cost of some of the
biomass feedstock for
Vega's pilot torrefaction
plant.
09/04/2014
The
Week's News
UK
Acknowledges Aluminum
Packaging Recovery
Protocol
The
Aluminum Packaging
Recycling Organisation
(Alupro) has announced
that the United Kingdom
(UK) has acknowledged a
new protocol addressing
recovery of aluminum from
incinerator bottom ash
(IBA).
09/06/2014
USDA Loan
Guarantee Closes for Fulcrum
Facility to Turn Waste to
Jet
Fuel
US
Department of Agriculture
(USDA) Secretary Tom
Vilsack announced that
the USDA has closed on a
loan guarantee to Fulcrum
Sierra Biofuels, LLC to
build a biorefinery to
produce jet fuel from
municipal solid waste.
09/06/2014
Oberon DME
Receives EPA's 1st
Biogas-Based Fuel Approval
Under the
RPS
California
based Oberon Fuels Inc
(Oberon) has announced
that the US Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA)
has approved its
biogas-based dimethyl
ether (DME) fuel for
inclusion under the
Renewable Fuel Standard
(RFS).
09/06/2014
MagneGas to
Demo Manure Sterilization
System for Major Indiana Hog
Farm
MagneGas®
Corporation (MagneGas)
has announced signing a
Memorandum of
Understanding (MOU) with
a large hog farm in
Indiana for a 30 day
demonstration of the
MagneGas sterilization
system.
09/05/2014
Lahti
Energia and Valmet Will
Continue to Develop Finnish
Gasification
Plant
Finland
based Lahti Energia Oy
and Valmet Corporation
have agreed to continue
development of Lahti
Energia's Kymijärvi II
demonstration
gasification power plant
that has been in
operation for slightly
over two years.
09/04/2014
Cambi to
Install THP Solution to
Process Sludge at Beijing's
Largest
WWTP
The
Norway based Cambi Group
has announced that it has
been awarded a contract
by Beijing Drainage
Construction Co. for
installation of the Cambi
Thermal Hydrolysis
Process (THP) at
Beijing’s largest
wastewater treatment
plant, Gaobeidian WWTP,
owned and operated by the
Beijing Drainage Group
(BDG).
09/03/2014
Hormel
Drives Motorcycle from
Minnesota to California on
Bacon
Grease
The
National Biodiesel Board
(NBB) has provided news
of a bacon-powered
motorbike's journey from
Hormel Foods headquarters
in Austin, Minnesota to
the International Bacon
Festival in San Diego,
California.
09/03/2014
Group of
Companies Develops
Methodology to Assess
Product Social
Impact
A group
of companies
collaborating as members
of the Roundtable for
Product Social Metrics
(RPSM) has announced
publication of the
Handbook for Product
Social Impact Assessment,
now available for
download.
09/02/2014
Methes
Energies Selects Dorf Ketal
to Manufacture Pretreatment
Catalyst
Nevada
based Methes Energies
International Ltd
recently extended their
modular biodiesel
production system line to
encompass pretreatment
methods that now enable
use of high free fatty
acid (FFA) feedstock such
as non-food grade corn
oil.
09/02/2014
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