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Conversion Technology E-Newsletter - January 2018

EVENTS



Alternative Technology Advisory Subcommittee Meeting (ATAS)
January 18, 2018
Alhambra, CA
For more information on this event, please visit the website:
http://dpw.lacounty.gov/epd/tf/meetings.cfm 

Southern California Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA) Founding Chapter Workshop
January 18, 2018
Ontario, CA
For more information on this event, please visit the website:
http://socalswana.org/events/socal-swana-chapter-workshop-january-18-2018/

Compost 2018, USCC Conference & Tradeshow
January 22-25, 2018
Atlanta, GA
For more information on this event, please visit the website:
https://compostconference.com/

ReThink Methane Symposium 2018
February 6-7, 2018
Sacramento, CA
For more information on this event, please visit the website:

http://rethinkmethane.org/
 

Global Waste Management Symposium (GWMS)

February 11 - 14, 2018
For more information on this event, please visit the website:
http://www.wastesymposium.com/ws18/public/Enter.aspx
 

SWANAPalooza
March 5-8, 2018
For more information on this event, please visit the website:
https://swana.org/Events/SWANApalooza.aspx


NEWS



$46 Million Additional Finance for Waste Gasification Firm Aries Clean Energy

Aries Clean Energy is a Nashville-based waste gasification firm that claims to have developed the world's largest downdraft gasification plant, and have issued over $46 million dollars in additional investments. Approximately $21.4 million of new equity was led by existing investors, with an additional $25 million dollars secured for equity in future gasification projects from Spring Lane Capital, a private equity firm. Spring Lane Capital focused on project finance investments for smaller-scale solutions in the energy, water, food, and waste industries. According to Aries, this financing marks a significant milestone for the municipal and industrial-scale providers in the waste management industry, which has historically categorized financing as a challenge. Proceeds from the investment are intended to be used to deploy numerous project using Aries' proprietary waste gasification technology. Aries' latest project is the Lebanon Gasification Initiative in Lebanon, Tennessee that boasts diverting 8,000 tons of waste from landfills, and eliminating 2,500 tons of carbon emissions from the air by converting the waste to syngas that can generate 1.8 million kWh of electricity per year.To read more, click here.

Waste to Jet Fuel: Using Garbage to Power Planes

The airline industry has driven the aviation sector towards an increasing interest in renewable jet fuels. Velocys is a fuel manufacturer that has entered a new partnership aiming to create renewable jet fuel from commercial waste in the UK. The process that the company is different in that the feedstock is solid waste taken from a municipal collection. Once at the plant it will be processed in three stages, the first being a gasification procedure. The resulting syngas will undergo the Fischer-Tropsch process that will create hydrocarbons. The hydrocarbons will then go through hydrocracking, which is a refining step that coverts the hydrocarbons into the fuels that will power the jets. Partners of Velocys, such as British Airways, have shown their support for their UK facility. While the industry of renewable jet fuel is new and still developing, facilities such as Sierra Biofuels Plant in Nevada that is expected to process 175,000 tons of its feedstock into 10.5 million gallons of synthetic crude oil in a year can garner more industry and public support in the future for these types of projects. To read more, click
here.

EBRD Provides Loan for Biogas Plant at Ukraine's MHP

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) provided a senior loan of 25 million Euros to Myronivsky Hliboproduct (MHP), to be used to construct and operate a 10 MW biogas plant in a town in Ukraine. The feedstock that is intended to be used for the plant is chicken manure and other agricultural residues from MHP's poultry and grain operations. This will be the second biogas plant that MHP will construct and the largest biogas plant in Ukraine. The project will also benefit from 358,000 US dollars in grant money available under the EBRD's Finance and Technology Transfer Centre for Climate Change (FINTECC) program. Launched in Ukraine in February 2016, FINTECC was designed to transfer technology in the area of climate change mitigation and adaptation. Once the biogas plant is operational, it is expected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 90,000 metric tons of equivalent carbon dioxide per year. Technical cooperation funds were provided by the EU Neighbourhood Investment Facility and the Japan-EBRD Technical Cooperation Fund. To read more, click here.

How Biomass Could Help Switzerland Reach Its Energy Goals

Biomass is one of Switzerland's most important sources of renewable energy second only to hydropower. Researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow, and Landscape Research (WSL) claim that the amount of energy obtained from biomass can be twice what it currently is. The WSL research purports that, theoretically, all the biomass in the country can be used to annually produce 209 petajoules (PJ) of energy, which is roughly the same energy content as 19% of the Switzerland's total energy consumption. However, only half of this energy can be obtained but what is important is the sustainable potential according to the WSL study leader, Oliver Thees. Each year there is approximately 44 PJ of unused, sustainable potential energy from biomass. Some challenges to maximizing this potential lie in the markets and economics of obtaining the feedstock. For example over 70% of the country's forests are publicly owned and are less likely to use that land for harvesting. Also, collecting biomass from relatively small farms has proven to be difficult, currently. However, finding a way to get more energy from biomass may compensate for the fluctuation of other renewable energies since it is not dependent on seasonal or weather changes. To read more, click here.


FCIC to Fund Projects to Improve Biomass Handling

The Feedstock-Conversion Interface Consortium (FCIC) is overseeing a directed funding opportunity (DFO) call to facilitate research and development to improve biomass handling. The research will attempt to understand the root causes of handling failures and develop technologies to increase the reliability of biorefineries. Industrial and academic partners that are interested in collaborating with research experts can use the funding to leverage technology capabilities available from the US Department of Energy's (DOE) national laboratories. The FCIC is a group of DOE national laboratories with research and development expertise in areas of biomass feedstocks supply and conversion technologies. It was established by the DOE Bioenergy Technologies Office to help create a successful bioeconomy. The FCIC anticipates awarding multiple awards under this DFO and may include topics such as "Biomass Quality Evaluation and Optimization," "Biomass Preprocessing, Feed-Handling, and Conversion Process Integration," and "System Readiness Evaluation through Techno-Economic Analysis and Process Control Development." To read more, click here.

Energy from Waste Conference 2018 to Focus on Economic and Operational Best Practice

This year's Energy from Waste Conference will take place February 27 to March 1 in London under the theme of Economic and Operational Best Practice for Successful Energy from Waste Project Delivery. MA Business have organized the event which include a several panels, international speakers who are experts in the technology, academics, and industry, and an opening keynote speech from Confederation of European Waste-to-Energy Plants (CEWEP) and Indaver CEO, Paul De Bruycker. Currently in its 14th year, the Energy from Waste Conference offers an opportunity to prompt both discussion and debate among the industry, its leaders, and key decision makers. Ian Crummack will chair the proceedings and commented that the political climate of Britain and European cast uncertainty over the market but this conference would be an opportune forum to discuss and explore these issues. To read more, click here.

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