Teru Talk Newsletter
Volume IV, Issue
52, December 29,
2014
Teru Talk by Michael
Theroux (pronounced
"Terú")
Teru's Trash Talk
Ah, tis a time for reflection
…and a time to wonder where the
year went. Most of us
watch
something
closely; Teru
watches waste conversion.
We observe trends, follow
new efforts, and try to
spot those oft-overlooked
wonders that after
decades of quiet work
become the next
"overnight success." Here
are a few of our favorite
2014
highlights:
Biocoal demand is up - WAAAY
up, and torrefied wood pellets
from North America are bobbing
their way across the Atlantic
to replace fossil coal in ever
increasing tonnages. Biochar is
becoming a household word, or
almost, with myriad ways
proofing out that this biomass
to charcoal stuff is proving
useful by itself, or mixed in
with mulch and microbes.
Biomass is being converted into
all sorts of apparently useful
chemicals like glutaric acid,
whatever that is - if someone
needs it and you can make it
out of waste, Game
On.
The Big Ticket remains
gathering up food waste,
feeding it to microbes in
absence of oxygen, and making
biomethane for power, fuels,
chemicals, and fertilizer.
Everybody's doing it. Those
"ancient" 1st generation
ethanol plants are retrofit
targets now, both for bolt-ons,
and for full remakes to let
them eat waste instead of corn,
and bubble butanol instead of
booze. Around practically
forever: "dry fermentation" has
pushed its way into the
limelight as another effective
way to turn organic residuals
into useful biogas and
fertilizer - without all that
water.
It seems someone took a poll in
Canada and found strong support
for turning garbage into
energy. Sometimes the simplest
thing to do with waste is still
the best: direct thermal
conversion to power is a known
science, tried and true, and
often worthy of consideration.
Non-incineration thermal
conversion is finally being
recognized for its utility
and difference, as a continuum
that proceeds from drying to
pyrolysis to gasification to
plasma. Just do the thermal
trick
cleanly.
Poor CalRecycle: the state
auditors took a close look at
what the agency has been doing
and found a few problems. But
then, what's a $100MM per year
recycling deficit among
friends? Other agencies fared
better, notably with the surge
of Green Banks opened globally,
designed to put money
back
into
the
Circular Economy, novel
concept.
The
messier and more costly the
waste, the more lucrative will
be the conversion back to
resources. Example: grease trap
goo recovery and conversion to
biodiesel got a boost this
year. Reaching deeper into the
communal muck, we find big
companies partnering to turn an
entire region's "gutter oil"
(yuck) into aviation fuel, a
far, far better idea than
cooking with it again (and
again). Then there's all that
plastic - from tires to pop
bottles, from illegal canyon
fills to 5 trillion bits afloat
on our oceans. Progress seen
here, turning that stuff back
into fuel and chemicals, but
lots more work is needed in
this very needy arena. Not
simple to work with, but there
certainly is no shortage and
the mess we make with this kind
of waste just screams for
answers.
Hey Rube!
Remember
that it requires both good
technology and good operations
to cleanly and cost-effectively
convert waste for resource
recovery. Now, head into 2015
enlightened and enthused, and
do your part to turn our global
garbage back to goods and all
our waste to
wealth
This Week's Top Story
B&W
Vølund Will Build
Waste-to-Energy Plant in
East Lothian,
Scotland
The Babcock & Wilcox
Company (B&W) has announced
that a consortium that includes
its Denmark-based subsidiary,
B&W Vølund, has been
awarded a $230 million (£147
million) contract to engineer,
procure, and construct a
waste-to-energy (WTE) power
plant in East Lothian near
Dunbar,
Scotland. 12/23/2014
The Week's News
Envoland
Launches Mobile Waste
Plastics Pyrolysis
Plant
Taiwan based Envoland Co., Ltd
has launched a truck-mounted
mobile pyrolysis platform for
conversion of waste plastic to
alternative fuels. The system
integrates an automatic feed
module, catalytic cracking and
pyrolysis, heat exchange /
cooling, and all controls.
12/27/2014
DOE Awards
$3MM to SUNY College for
Feedstock Logistics
Research
The US Department of Energy
(DOE) has awarded up to $3
million to the SUNY College of
Environmental Science and
Forestry (ESF) in New York to
to reduce the cost of
delivering woody bioenergy
feedstocks to biorefineries.
12/27/2014
WM Completes
Divestiture of Wheelabrator
to Energy Capital
Partners
Waste Management, Inc (WM) has
announced completion of the
previously announced sale of
Wheelabrator Technologies, Inc
to an affiliate of Energy
Capital Partners (ECP) for a
cash sales price of
approximately $1.94 billion.
12/23/2014
Neste Oil
and REG Enter into
Settlement and NEXBTL
License
Agreement
Neste Oil Corporation of
Finland and Renewable Energy
Group, Inc (REG), headquartered
in Ames, Iowa, USA have entered
into a Settlement Agreement in
which the parties have settled
Neste Oil's US patent
infringement lawsuits against
REG and REG's Singapore patent
infringement lawsuits against
Neste Oil.
12/23/2014
Corn Stover
Harvest Trials Run in Iowa
for Cellulosic Ethanol
Refineries
In two Iowa cornfields in early
November, Leifmark, LLC and New
Holland Agriculture teamed up
to test equipment and methods
used to gather, bale, and store
the corn stover left behind
after the grain harvest.
12/23/2014
ATS Pilots
Recyllose Recovery Process
at Scottish
WWTP
California based Applied
CleanTech (ACT) has announced
that its pilot project to test
its SRS sewage recycling
technology for wastewater being
conducted with Scottish Water
is showing promising results.
12/17/2014
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