Teru Talk Newsletter
Volume IV, Issue
45, November 10,
2014
Teru Talk by Michael
Theroux (pronounced
"Terú")
Teru's Trash Talk
This week, Biomass is the buzz.
It seems that
everyone
is
doing
something
with the stuff.
We've got a major Utility
interested in gasifying
Biomass, banks and
agencies are including
Biomass project
development for funding,
and a whole woodpile of
folks are figuring out
new ways to take wood
apart and separate out
all the useful gases,
liquids, and
solids.
Everything on the planet ends
up in Biomass. Sunlight, water,
air and dirt provide the
building blocks and nature does
the bio-conversion. Over and
over again, this biorefinery
process builds up plants and
tears them down, sticks the
foundation chemicals together
then takes them apart for reuse
and resource recovery. Surface
materials get recycled fastest,
but even deep-lain rock can
make its fiery way up, out and
eventually into Biomass. The
biggest blocks are Carbon and
Nitrogen but there are no
chemicals that completely avoid
all-encompassing
Biomass.
All living things
are
Biomass,
and depend on Biomass
to be
Biomass. Cows,
salamanders and humans
all do their biorefining
bit, recycling and
re-recycling products of
the global Biomass
cornucopia. Even if we
choose to do nothing,
Biomass still inexorably
comes together and falls
apart, builds up and
disintegrates. If
everything everywhere
ends up
in
Biomass, it
only stands to reason
that anything we need can
be made
from
biomass, one
way or another. As the
news this week shows,
bright folks are learning
to do lots of different
kinds of Biomass Magic
with this most prevalent
of
feedstocks.
Bio-Power, Bio-Fuels,
Bio-Products …even
"Biosuccinium" claims its
rightful due. From building the
World's Largest Biomass Power
Plant to actually turning
carbon dioxide gas molecules
into
Biomass
for food, Humans are
taking a cue from nature
and finding new way to
tease the energy, the
chemicals, and the value,
out of the lowly log.
Three Cheers for
Biomass!
Hey Rube!
OK, enough frivolity. Once
again, it seems our dear
California agencies need to be
slapped upside the head. This
time, we find two state empires
catching
flack.
First, the State Auditor's
Office took a good look at how
CalRecycle has been running the
Broken Bottle Bill (sic). Who
knew
that
there was something so
wrong with what we've
been calling Recycling
all these years (We did!
We did!). But a hundred
million dollar bet
made and lost each
year, three out of the
last four years? We've
provided a gentle guide
to the Audit and made a
couple of our own
suggestions. Read our new
Focus Report (link
below), and see if you
can think of a good
Fix.
Then
there's the California Air
Resources Board (CARB) and its
well-intended but
ultra-complicated Carbon and
Climate programs. Last week
CARB held a workshop on Low
Carbon Transportation
Greenhouse Gas Reduction
Investments considering
allocation of $200 million in
cap-and-trade dollars and $25
million in the Air Quality
Improvement Fund. It seems CARB
would prefer to spend that
money on electric cars and the
hydrogen highway rather than
following solid guidance and
pushing for more Biomass to
Compost, Biomass to Fuel. See
the
article from the California
Compost Coalition for a
breakdown of the wonderful
potential and the high
likelihood of mis-steps. Review
CARB's decisions and send them
your own thoughts. Come January
1, 2015 the Cap-and-Trade
program goes in high gear and
the re-authorized Low Carbon
Fuel Standard's next
implementation phase won't be
far behind.
This Week's Extra
Reading
New TERU
Focus Report:
Auditor's Office Rips
CalRecycle looks at
the new state audit of
CalRecycle's Beverage Container
Recycling Program and its
$100MM annual
deficit.
This Week's Top Story
Abengoa to
Develop World's Largest
Biomass Power Plant in
Belgium
Abengoa has announced being
selected by the electricity and
gas company, Belgian Eco Energy
(BEE), to develop the largest
commercial biomass power plant
in the world in Ghent, Belgium.
11/07/2014
The Week's News
Himark
BioGas Granted Canadian
Patent for Mixed Waste
Processing
System
Alberta based Himark BioGas
International (Himark BioGas)
has announced that it has been
issued a patent by the Canadian
Intellectual Property Office
that covers apparatus, methods
and systems for processing
waste.
11/07/2014
Reverdia's
Biosuccinium™ Earns USDA
Certified Biobased Product
Label
Netherlands-based Reverdia has
announced that it has received
approval from the US Department
of Agriculture (USDA) to label
its biomass-based succinic
acid, sold under the brand name
as Biosuccinium™, as a
Certified Biobased Product.
11/06/2014
Cyclone
Power Receives $135K PO to
Provide Hydrocarbon
Extractor
System
Florida based Cyclone Power
Technologies, Inc has announced
receiving a $135,000 purchase
order from Alabama company
Republic Energy LLC for the
development and components of a
hydrocarbon extractor system,
which is used to extract fuels
from biomass.
11/05/2014
GIB Approves
Funding for AmeyCespa's
Integrated Waste to Energy
Plant
The United Kingdom (UK) Green
Investment Bank (GIB) has
announced its £33m investment
into the Allerton Waste
Recovery Park, a new waste
treatment plant in North
Yorkshire with a total project
value of £319 million.
11/05/2014
Peel Selects
BWV's Waste to Energy
Technology for Ince Park
Facility
Peel Environmental has signed a
Memorandum of Understanding
with Babcock & Wilcox
Volund (BWV) to provide waste
to energy technology for its
planned 95 MW waste to energy
facility at the Ince Resource
Recovery Park in Cheshire.
11/04/2014
Hitachi
Zosen Inova Acquires
Kompogas for Dry
Fermentation
Technology
Hitachi Zosen Inova AG (HZI)
has signed an agreement with
Axpo Kompogas Engineering AG to
acquire the business under an
asset deal. Zurich-based HZI is
already a global market leader
in thermal energy-from-waste
recovery.
11/04/2014
LanzaTech
and IOC-DBT Researchers
Study Conversion of CO2 to
Food
LanzaTech has released a
progress report on
collaboration with a research
group at India Oil Corporation
(IOC-DBT) focused on converting
carbon dioxide (CO2) to lipids,
which the
team has found are high in
omega-3 oils.
11/03/2014
Canada's RIC
Centre Highlights Altranex
Cold Weather Biofuel
Technology
The Ontario, Canada based
Research, Innovation,
Commercialization Centre (RIC)
has released an update
highlighting Altranex Corp's
"deoxygenation" technology
platform.
11/03/2014
New Process
Converts Lignin in Wood and
Crop Waste into Useful
Chemicals
University of Wisconsin-Madison
(UW-Madison) scientists have
announced a new method using
oxygen to convert lignin, a
biomass waste product, into
simple chemicals.
11/03/2014
The Week's Action
Items
Due
11/26/2014: SOIs to SMUD to
Develop Biomass Gasification
for
CHP
The Sacramento Municipal
Utility District (SMUD) is
soliciting interest in the
implementation of a Biomass
Gasification project for
combined heat and power (CHP)
application in Sacramento,
California.
11/03/2014
Due
01/06/2015: Applications to
CEC for Renewable
Generation, CHP
Demos
The California Energy
Commission (CEC) has released
Program Opportunity Notice
(PON) PON-14-307 intended to
fund technology demonstration
and deployment projects that
demonstrate and deploy
community scale generators.
11/06/2014
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