Teru Talk Newsletter
Volume V, Issue 3, January
19,
2015
Teru Talk by Michael
Theroux (pronounced
"TerĂº")
Teru's Trash Talk
'Just how commercial ARE they?'
That's a question we hear
whenever a developer, a
municipality, or an investor is
considering a waste conversion
technology vendor. Determining
viable commercial status in
this emerging, constantly
evolving industrial sector is
fraught with buzz word
pitfalls, a lot like 'Clean
Energy': just how clean
are
they? I
tend to answer that question
with a question: 'Clean,
compared to
what
?'
Just as it takes both a good
operator and a good system
design, the path of
commercialization must be
understood for both for
the
company
and
the
technology
platform
. A
company may be quite
economically viable and
fully commercial without
ever getting one system
commissioned; while they
develop the technology,
they contract out their
expertise. Each model of
a technology progresses
along its own path of
commercialization, and
every new model that an
inventor / builder /
developer christens and
sends out into the
marketplace is embarking
on its own voyage of
commercialization.
Granted, market
penetration of Model A
must be expected to be
far more difficult than
obtaining a fully
commercial status for the
7th patent position Model
C, yet that compressed
commercialization
timeline must still move
through the same basic
stages.
It is tempting to overlay
arbitrary metrics that suit our
need to put things in cleanly
defined boxes, but
commercialization is a messy
process of fits and starts.
Market development, for the
company and/or the product,
ranges through a continuum that
can collapse back on itself at
the worst possible time, and
then leap forward seemingly
inexplicably - especially if we
do not have a real sense of the
small steps leading to the
major milestones. If we watch
enough of this sausage-making,
we begin to see trends, stages
that keep occurring across the
breadth of the sector, some
good, and all too often not so
good. Judging when and where
the good progress is about to
occur is the key to picking
sound investments; precognition
of the speed bumps, snake pits,
and precipitous cliffs is
requisite to providing sound
company
guidance.
Gauging the path correctly is
crucial to getting to the goal.
We can map out rather simple
metrics of tech platform
commercialization: lab testing
proceeds to a small scale
pilot, the pilot is
progressively scaled up, and
then graduates to a
demonstration at some scale
approaching what the market
demands. Once demonstrated at
this 'commercial scale', the
company is (hopefully) ready
for that first real-market
sale. Maybe we can say that
with that first cash-positive
transaction, the company and
the technology are now
commercial
, but
that doesn't answer the initial
question. We need key markers
along that
progression.
Here's
one crucial stage in
establishing commercial status
for a particular technology
platform: Has the system been
in operation long enough to
determine its optimal
operational mode, or 'sweet
spot'? Here's another, perhaps
one of the most important: Can
others well-versed in this
particular technical venue
clearly determine that the
thing works as described?
External validation is that
magic milestone when other
smart people have ripped into
your whole process, and come
away believing your bit of kit
is as spiffy as you think it
is
Hey Rube!
As you
read the News this week, ask
yourself that question, and see
if you can form an idea of
the
commercial
status
of
each company, each
technology. As usually,
they are all over the
map.
By the Way
In case you
hadn't noticed, we have added a
language translator to our
website. For
those of you who are perfectly
happy reading in English,
this won't matter. If you
prefer a different language,
however, take a look and let us
know how it works. You will
find it at the top of the right
column on most
pages.
This Week's Top Story
Plastic2Oil
Closes 1st Sale of
Proprietary Processors and
Technology
License
New York based Plastic2Oil, Inc
has announced entering into a
series of contracts for the
sale of six Plastic2Oil(TM)
processors over a three year
period, its proprietary
catalyst, and the non-exclusive
license, as well as monitoring
and maintenance
01/13/2015
The Week's News
Vencor
Receives 1st Purchase Order
from Vega Biofuels for
Bio-Coal
Colorado based Vencor
International, Inc has
announced that it has received
a Purchase Order from Norcross,
Georgia company Vega Biofuels,
Inc to produce 3,000 tons of
bio-coal valued at
approximately $600,000, and is
scheduled to begin production
later this month.
01/16/2015
CPI Project
to Transform Food Waste into
Graphene and Renewable
Hydrogen
The Centre for Process
Innovation (CPI) is leading a
European collaborative project
that with the goal of
transforming food waste into
graphene and renewable
hydrogen.
01/16/2015
BDI
Constructs 65K Ton/Year
Poultry Manure to Biogas
Plant in
Poland
Austria based BDI - BioEnergy
International AG has been
commissioned to provide the
engineering and supply of a
multi-feedstock anaerobic
digestion (AD) plant for the
recycling of poultry manure in
northeastern Poland.
01/15/2015
OWS
Celebrates Opening of DRANCO
Waste to Biogas Facility in
France
Belgium based Organic Waste
Solutions OWS) has announced
the grand opening of its latest
DRANCO (DRy ANaerobic
COmposting) facility, this one
in Chagny, France.
01/15/2015
Tamar Energy
signs PPA with EDF Energy
for 5 Anaerobic Digestion
Plants
Tamar Energy has announced that
it signed a long-term Power
Purchase Agreement (PPA) with
EDF Energy at the end of 2014
for its current 11MW generation
portfolio.
01/14/2015
Pacific
Ethanol Installs 3.5 MW
Cogeneration Technology at
Stockton
Plant
California based Pacific
Ethanol, Inc has announced its
agreement with Dresser-Rand to
install a 3.5 megawatt (MW)
cogeneration system with
gradual oxidizer at its
Stockton, California plant for
approximately $12 million.
01/14/2015
BCN and
Energy Club to Host Waste
Management and Diversion
Session
The University of Alberta,
Canada's Biorefining
Conversions Network (BCN) is
partnering with the
University's student Energy
Club to host a free panel
discussion and networking
session focused on Waste
Management and Diversion.
01/14/2015
Chinese
Researchers Use Soil to
Speed Wood-to-Biogas AD
Processing
A new open access article
published in the journal
Biotechnology for Biofuels
details research at Lanzhou
University, China in "Using the
properties of soil to speed up
the start-up process, enhance
process stability, and improve
the methane content and yield
of solid-state anaerobic
digestion of
alkaline-pretreated poplar
processing residues."
01/13/2015
BBI Offers
Webinar Series on Planning
and Financing Bioenergy
Projects
In advance of this year's
International Biomass
Conference and Expo, BBI
International is hosting a free
project development webinar
series beginning January 28,
2015.
01/13/2015
New York
City Fire Department Places
First Order for MagneGas®
Fuel
Florida based MagneGas
Corporation has announced that
it has received formal
confirmation from the Special
Operations Command of the Fire
Department of the City of New
York (FDNY) that it has
successfully completed testing
of MagneGas® for use as a metal
cutting and extraction tool and
has placed its first order of
fuel.
01/12/2015
The Week's Action
Items
Due
02/23/2015: Grant
Applications to CDFA for
Diary Digester
Funding
The California Department of
Food and Agriculture (CDFA) is
requesting applications for the
Dairy Digester Research and
Development Program (DDRDP),
authorized by the Budget Act of
2014.
01/12/2015
|