Teru Talk Newsletter
Volume IV, Issue
5, February 3,
2014
Teru Talk by Michael
Theroux (pronounced
"Terú")
Teru's Trash Talk
Hey! You
ARE paying attention! We
posted our "Gasification
vs. Incineration" article
last week and started a
lively discussion over the
finer points of using heat
to convert waste stuff back
into useful goods. As a
result, we've revised and
republished the paper,
incorporating numerous
comments and suggestions.
Now, this may seem picky,
but if we are gonna slap
molecules around, knock 'em
apart and stick the bits
back together again, it
makes sense to understand
what we're up
to.
Here's
the thing: whatever the
"waste", those long chains
of carbon, hydrogen,
oxygen, and assorted other
atoms are happy with
the way they have settled
into their current
molecular configuration.
Changing that status means
roughing them up enough to
make the atoms let go of
their tidy bonds to their
neighbors. We have to
supply the energy to make
that happen, whether we
heat 'em up, feed them to
microbes, dip them in
nasty-sauce (acid, base,
ionic liquids or whatever)
or maybe just shake them
until their proverbial
teeth rattle. Once those
carbon atoms let go of
their buddies, they get
"radical" and try to
quickly find something to
fill the newly-made voids -
and Oxygen and Hydrogen are
some of the best atoms
around to do just that.
When loose carbon atoms
connect with loose oxygen
and hydrogen atoms they
stick together and release
a Whole Lotta Energy,
compared to what it took to
knock 'em apart. Presto: we
now have
carbon-oxygen-hydrogen
molecules, the "oxygenated
hydrocarbon" building
blocks for biofuels and
green chemicals, and we
usually get excess energy
to boot.
So to
manage the waste to goods
conversion process, we
first whack the long-chain
carbon thingies apart with
a small amount of input
energy, then control how
things stick back together.
We can coax the more
stubborn molecules apart
with various pre-treatment
techniques using enzymes.
We can combine heat,
microbes, and chemicals as
needed for the main Waste
Conversion stage. And we
can manage the "re-forming"
of the torn-apart molecular
pieces back into goods by
adjusting what atoms are
available and how fast the
reaction process
works.
It took a lot of Work for
someone to make that cake
when it was new, and we as
a society certainly need to
think more about how much
we waste when we just dump
the left-overs in the
trash. Yet all the types of
molecules that went into
making that cake in the
first place are still there
in the chunk that was
tossed aside. Perhaps all
is not lost: with our new
Waste Conversion tools and
know-how to operate them,
we can now effectively
"unbake the
cake."
Hey
Rube!
We've harped and harangued
regard the lack in the US, and
in particular in California, of
any real "chain of custody"
mechanism with which We the
Interested Public can
effectively track what happens
beyond the trash-can toss. We
really don't know what happens
to our Waste, other than it
"goes away" - and Teru Talk
contends that isn’t good
management. This is also a
long-standing debate in the
United Kingdom, and now their
Environment Agency has launched
a partial solution with their
on-line Electronic Duty of Care
(edoc) system. It cuts out the
paper chase, and provides a
voluntary way for waste
haulers, recyclers, and all the
other folks along the path of
the Circular Economy to keep
track of what goes where. See
our coverage of the UK's "edoc"
system this week; maybe we can
encourage other agencies to set
up something similar for the
rest of the
planet.
The
Week's Extra Reading
Teru
has already revised
his new article on
"
Gasification
vs.
Incineration
" to incorporate relevant
comments from our dear readers.
Thank you dear readers! So
if you
downloaded the orginal PDF,
please replace it with the
revised one.
This
Week's Top Story
Forth Energy
Receives Planning Consent
for 120MW CHP Plant in
Scotland
Forth Energy has announced that
the Scottish Government has
granted planning consent for a
£325 million biomass combined
heat and power (CHP) plant at
the Port of Rosyth in Fife.
01/27/2014
The
Week's News
CARB
Schedules Workshop on
Proposed Alternative Diesel
Fuels
Regulation
The California Air Resources
Board (CARB) has announced a
public meeting to discuss
revisions to the proposed
regulation on the
Commercialization of New
Alternative Diesel Fuels.
02/01/2014
CalRecycle
Hosts Waste Management
Infrastructure Expansion
Workshop
The California Department of
Resources Recycling and
Recovery (CalRecycle) will be
hosting a public workshop
to discuss development of
proposed new grant and loan
programs for greenhouse gas
reductions from organics and
manufacturing with recyclable
materials (fibers, plastic, and
glass). 02/01/2014
Florida
Biodiesel Sells Biodiesel
System to New Mississippi
High
School
Florida Biodiesel, Inc has
announced the sale of a B-60
Biodiesel Processor made by
70centsagallon.com to Oxford
High School, Mississippi to be
used as a hands-on educational
tool to show students how to
make renewable energy.
01/31/2014
2nd Gen
Biofuel from Clariant and
Haltermann Is Tested by
Mercedes-Benz
Clariant, Haltermann, and
Mercedes-Benz have announced
that Clariant's cellulosic
ethanol blended with
conventional fuel by Haltermann
is being tested by Daimler AG
in their Mercedes-Benz
vehicles.
01/29/2014
UK Launches
edoc On-Line Waste Transfer
Tracking
System
The United Kingdom's (UK)
Environment Agency has launched
its Electronic Duty of Care
(edoc) system to provide surety
regarding sources and
destinations of wastes and
residuals.
01/29/2014
IncBio to
Supply 40,000 MT/Year
Biodiesel Plant in Saudi
Arabia
Portugal based IncBio has
announced that it has signed an
agreement with Bio Renewable
Energy Factory (BREF)in the
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to
supply BREF with a 40,000
MT/year Biodiesel plant.
01/29/2014
DOE
Schedules Bioenergy
Demonstration and Deployment
Strategy
Workshop
The US Department of Energy's
(DOE) Bioenergy Technologies
Office (BETO) has announced a
Demonstration and Deployment
strategy workshop on March
12-13, 2014, at the Argonne
National Laboratory's
conference center in Chicago,
Illinois.
01/28/2014
Valmet Will
Supply CFB Multi-Fuel Boiler
for Paper Mill in
Finland
Valmet Corporation has
announced that it will furnish
a complete circulating
fluidized bed (CFB) boiler to
Sappi Ltd's Kirkniemi Mill in
Lohja, Finland, including
installation, training, and
commissioning.
01/27/2014
The Week's Action
Items
Due
02/17/2014: Registration of
Intent to Submit for UK
Energy
Funding
British small and medium size
enterprises (SME) within the
energy efficiency, building
technologies, power generation,
and energy storage sectors are
invited to submit applications
for funding of up to £2million
under the third phase of the
Government’s Energy
Entrepreneurs Fund.
01/28/2014
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