Teru Talk Newsletter
Volume IV, Issue
43, October 27,
2014
Teru Talk by Michael
Theroux (pronounced
"TerĂº")
Teru's Trash Talk
Last week
brought the ecstatic second
annual celebration of
"National
Bioenergy Day" with
Happenings all across
our country. We hope you
at least took time to
burn a log or something,
but seriously folks,
this is a Big
Deal.
"Bioenergy"
means far more than a cozy
fireplace, and goes miles
past making steam heat for
power generation. Turning
biomass into the
energy to drive
cooling, heating, power
generation, production of
liquid, gaseous and solid
fuels, and alternative
non-petroleum sourced
chemicals has arisen as the
real deal for ensuring
sustainability. We've long
preached Everything is
Recyclable, with the Right
Tools - it's just that
things composed to some
form of organic material
are generally easier and
cleaner to convert from
being a discard to becoming
a resource. If you think
about it, most of our trash
is biodegradable, in one
form or another. The sheer
abundance of biomass as
feedstock has sped
development and
commercialization of those
Right Tools. Around the
globe bright folks have
been turning low value ag
residuals into gas and
liquid fuels, baking wood
chips into bio-oil,
digesting food waste to
make biogas. It is
therefore right and proper
for the Nation, nay, the
World to take a day for
Bioenergy
Hoopla.
Bioenergy
regularly claims a pole
position in global news and
we've had a strong showing
this past week. Plants are
turning waste wood into
mega tons of industrial
wood pellets, what the
World Bioenergy Association
characterizes as a "well
packaged bioenergy
carrier". Along the
Mediterranean, researchers
have caught up with North
American and Canadian
development of no-air
cookers for turning
wood-to-bio-oil. China's
all over this one,
increasing collection and
conversion of their
appropriately-named "gutter
oil" to biodiesel and
aviation-grade biofuel. The
US Department of Energy is
boosting "Bioenergy
Landscape Design", getting
people to focus on the
broader Ecosystem benefits
and methodologies.
Universities are linking up
with international
consortia to broaden their
research for
"cost-effective, efficient
and environmentally
sustainable production of
advanced biofuels." It just
gives me
goose-bumps.
OK, so here's a few things
to actually get excited
about: We are learning how
to turn something other
than petroleum into base
chemicals and fuels on a
cost-competitive,
industrial scale. As a
global family, we are
recognizing that it makes
more sense to return
resources back into the
marketplace than to pay for
their burial. We're seeing
that one business can hand
off its residues and
discards to become another
business' input. In these
crushingly lean times, we
all Get It that a localized
Garbage-to-Goods means
Waste-to-Wealth and that
coordinated efforts for
return of resources to the
local economy results in
new Jobs. Chief among all
the kinds of waste that we
are learning to recover:
discarded biomass. So when
you sweep up the confetti
that sifted down from on
high during your local
National Bioenergy Day
parade, find another use
for those Wooden Nickels
from Heaven.
Hey
Rube!
Check out the
Army's latest request in our
Action Items: they are looking
for Bioenergy for Combined Heat
and Power on a large scale. And
give a big parade-sized Whoop
and Holler to the research
students at ASU - the EPA gave
'em a leg up in their
development of thermal
conversion systems for
development of community-scale
bioenergy / biochar. Pass the
wood chips, please.
This Week's Top Story
Boeing,
COMAC Pilot Plant Will
Transform 'Gutter Oil' into
Aviation
Biofuel
Boeing
and Commercial Aircraft
Corp of China (COMAC)
have opened a
demonstration facility
that will turn waste
cooking oil, commonly
referred to as "gutter
oil" in China, into
sustainable aviation
biofuel.
10/22/2014
The
Week's News
Air Products
Builds New Hydrotreatment
Processing Lab in
Pennsylvania
Air
Products and Chemicals,
Inc (Air Products) is
building a new hydrogen
lab at their Allentown,
Pennsylvania
headquarters, including a
hydrotreatment unit
capable of performing
high pressure and high
temperature hydrogenation
reactions.
10/23/2014
Basque
Country University Develops
Flash Pyrolysis Process
Reactor
Researchers
at the UPV/EHU-University
of the Basque Country
have developed
fundamental thermal
conversion processes for
producing raw materials
and fuels using biomass
and tires, constructing a
pilot facility in the
IK4-IKERLAN research
center.
10/23/2014
ESA Lauds
EFRA's 4th Report on 'Waste
Management in
England'
The
Environmental Services
Association (ESA) has
commented on the report
released by the United
Kingdom Government's
Environment, Food and
Rural Affairs (EFRA)
Committee on Waste
Management in England.
10/23/2014
Indo-US
Advanced Bioenergy
Consortium for 2nd Gen
Biofuels
Launches
The
government of India’s
Department of
Biotechnology, Indian
corporate leaders, and
Washington University in
St. Louis, Missouri have
invested $2.5 million to
launch the Indo-U.S.
Advanced Bioenergy
Consortium for Second
Generation Biofuels
(IUABC).
10/23/2014
NY Green
Bank's First Initial
Transactions Support Clean
Energy
Projects
New York
(NY) Governor Andrew M.
Cuomo has announced the
first transactions of NY
Green Bank to finance
combined heat and power,
distributed generation,
renewable energy, and
energy efficiency
projects in New York.
10/22/2014
World
Bioenergy Association
Releases New Pellet Fuel
Fact
Sheet
The
World Bioenergy
Association (WBA) has
announced the launch of
the fact sheet: Pellets –
a fast growing energy
carrier.
10/22/2014
Britain's
Network Rail Partners to
Deliver District Heating
from
CHP
Britain's
Network Rail is joining
forces with Birmingham
City Council, Cofely and
sustainability
consultants,
Anthesis-SecondNature, to
deliver a project which
will see 1.5km district
heating pipework
installed across the
station and in the city
center so that excess
heat produced by a new
combined heat and power
unit can be exported to
the Birmingham District
Energy Scheme.
10/22/2014
Crimson
Selects BDI-BioEnergy for
Bakersfield Biodiesel Plant
Expansion
Austria
company BDI-BioEnergy
International AG has
announced signing a
contract with Colorado
based Crimson Renewable
Energy LP to supply
engineering services and
equipment for expansion
and upgrades to Crimson's
Bakersfield, California
Biodiesel Production
Plant.
10/20/2014
EPA Awards
Funds for Community-Scale
Gasification and Biochar
Rural
Hubs
The US
Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) has
announced an award of
$15,000 to a student team
from Arizona State
University (ASU) for
development of
gasification and biochar
retort technologies, a
more sustainable approach
to agricultural waste.
10/20/2014
ENER-G
Partners with Cornes Biogas
to Enter Japanese Biogas CHP
Market
United
Kingdom based ENER-G
Combined Power has
appointed Cornes Biogas
as its Cogen Partner for
Japan to implement its
first contract at Shikaoi
municipal biogas plant in
Hokkaido.
10/20/2014
Viridor's
Energy Recovery from Waste
Facility in Exeter Is
Officially
Open
Viridor’s
new Energy Recovery
Facility in Exeter,
England was officially
opened last week with a
series of celebrations.
10/20/2014
The Week's Action
Items
Due
10/31/2014: Abstracts for
30th International
Conference on Solid
Waste
The
Journal of Solid Waste
Technology and Management
has announced a Call for
Papers for the
organization's 30th
International Conference,
running from March 15 to
18. 2015 in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania.
10/23/2014
Due
11/21/2014: Concept Papers
to DOE for Bioenergy
Landscape
Design
The US
Department of Energy
(DOE) Office of Energy
Efficiency &
Renewable Energy (EERE)
is seeking
interdisciplinary
projects that apply
landscape design
approaches to integrate
cellulosic feedstock
production into existing
agricultural and forestry
systems while maintaining
or enhancing
sustainability, including
ecosystem services and
food, feed, and fiber
production.
10/23/2014
Due
01/07/2015: Proposals for US
Army Combined Heat and Power
Facility
The US Army Corps of Engineers,
Engineering and Support Center,
Huntsville, Alabama, in
coordination with the Office of
Energy Initiatives (OEI), has
released a Request for Proposal
(RFP) for the Redstone Arsenal
Combined Heat and Power (CHP)
project.
10/26/2014
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