Teru Talk Newsletter
Volume IV, Issue
8, February 24,
2014
Teru Talk by Michael
Theroux (pronounced
"Terú")
Teru's Trash Talk
Ah, the
joys of Rot! But ah, the
difficulties … like so many
things in life, the very
characteristics that make
something appealing also
cause problems. Rot is like
that. Food needs to break
down, and rather quickly,
or eating it serves little
purpose. Yet the faster it
breaks down, the more
likely it is that there
will be Waste. Not all food
rots at the same rate:
those lettuce leaves turn
to green slime in their
baggie within a matter of
hours, but the core of that
head of lettuce will sit
happily in my composter for
a couple of weeks before
giving up nutrients to my
pet microbes, grubs and
worms. In management of
meat waste, problems
multiply: the things that
eat waste meat also tend to
eat us, as
well.
All of
this rotting to goopy
matter is temperature
dependent, so weather plays
its part. Those parts of
the country not frozen
solid are instead
experiencing a dry, early
Spring. When the outside
air is warmer than
refrigerator temperature,
that natural break-down
process accelerates
dramatically. On the
average, during warm
weather we have about three
days for Food Waste to
become rotten goopy. Three
days to rot: that's the
general definition of
"putrescible" waste, and
that timing dictates much
of how we manage our trash
tsunami.
Once-a-week
trash pick-up is just
barely frequent enough to
get it into the landfill
before real Rot sets in.
When that same tub-o-trash
goes instead to a Materials
Recovery Facility (MRF) to
pick out the valuables
before final disposal,
things get a bit sloppy.
Yet Food Waste is
valuable; it can make great
compost when digested by
air-breathing microbes,
grubs and worms. When we
train no-air, or
"anaerobic" microbes to do
that digestive happy-dance,
they can produce
methane and similar
substances that are the
building blocks for so many
of our fuels and chemicals.
When an anaerobic digester
at a sewer treatment plant
or at a dairy is properly
bolstered with food waste
slurry, it can produce up
to twice as much biogas,
and that cuts the cost of
handling the regional poop
and manure
over-supply.
But let's go back to this
three-day rule. Since food
starts to break down as
soon as it warms up, it
also starts to lose the
nutrients necessary for
humans to use as food. In
the same way, it loses the
basics needed for the best
biogas production. If you
are counting on that extra
biogas production to make
money from recovering and
converting food waste, you
want to quickly
control that
breakdown to get the most
return on your money. You
need to figure out a way to
intercept the stuff as soon
as it becomes waste,
not wait for the MRF to
serve it up for you as
slop-in-a-baggie. This is
the current challenge
around the globe: Waste
less, Reuse more, and
Convert the rest back to
goods. For Food Waste to
Biogas, there should be no
surprise: it just means
knowing your Business, and
being quick about
it.
Hey
Rube!
When it
comes to State support for
turning waste to fuel,
California's right out there in
front, and the Integrated
Energy Policy Report or EIPR is
the tool used to make the
crucial planning decisions of
where that support goes.
Comments are due March 4th, so
make your preferences known.
Give it a close read, and have
your
say.
This Week's Top Story
Harvest
Power Unveils Central
Florida Energy Garden Biogas
Facility
Massachusetts based Harvest
Power, Inc has announced that
the Central Florida Energy
Garden organics management and
renewable energy facility is
now open to convert food waste
into renewable biogas and
natural fertilizers.
02/20/2014
The
Week's News
Swindon
RDF/SRF Waste Plant
Officially Opens with
Machinex
Technology
The Department for Environment
Food & Rural Affairs
(Defra) Minister George Eustice
has cut the ribbon at the
official opening of the Swindon
Commercial Services (SCS)
municipal solid waste (MSW)
plant in the United Kingdom
(UK).
02/21/2014
CARB Will
Host Two Low Carbon Fuel
Standard Workshops in
March
The California Air Resources
Board (CARB) will conduct two
public workshops on March 11,
2014.
02/21/2014
Zero Waste
Scotland and Scottish
Enterprise Launch £3.8MM
Recycling
Fund
Zero Waste Scotland has
announced that a £3.8 million
fund to help businesses develop
green infrastructure proposals
is now open.
02/20/2014
Alstom Signs
Second UK Biomass Steam
Turbine
Contract
France based Alstom has
announced a contract with
Danish power plant specialist
Burmeister & Wain
Scandinavian Contractor A/S
(BWSC) to design and supply a
45 MW Geared Reaction steam
turbine (GRT) for the Brigg
renewable energy plant in the
United Kingdom (UK).
02/20/2014
BioConversion
Solutions Secures AD
Contracts in Australia and
South
Korea
BioConversion Solutions, LLC
(BCS) has announced contracts
to install its biomass to
biogas system at facilities in
Australia and South Korea.
02/20/2014
Zilkha
Biomass and Valmet Partner
on Torrefied Pellet
Commercialization
Finnish company Valmet and
Texas based Zilkha Biomass
Energy LLC have announced
signing a five-year
collaboration agreement for
global commercialization of
steam exploded black pellets.
02/19/2014
CSM Becomes
Exclusive SRS™
Distributor for Applied
CleanTech in
Canada
Israeli based Applied CleanTech
(ACT) has announced a 13.5
million USD distribution
alliance with Canadian Sewage
Mining Corporation (CSM),
making CSM the exclusive Sewage
Recycling System (SRS™)
distributor in Canada.
02/19/2014
SITA Atlas
Starts Work on 20-Year
Recycling and WtE Contract
in
Morocco
France based Suez Environnement
has announced that its
subsidiary SITA Atlas has been
awarded a
20-year, €90
million recycling,
waste-to-energy (WtE), and
disposal contract with Meknes,
Morocco.
02/17/2014
The Week's Action
Items
Due
03/04/2014: Comments to CEC
on Draft 2014
IEPR
The California Energy
Commission’s (CEC) Integrated
Energy Policy Report Lead
Commissioner Janea Scott is
requesting comments on the
proposed scope and general
schedule for the 2014
Integrated Energy Policy Report
Update (2014 IEPR Update).
02/20/2014
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