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Conversion Technology E-Newsletter - June 2017

ANNOUNCEMENTS



Call for Speakers Southern California Waste Management Forum 2017 Annual Conference.  The Forums annual conference will be on November 8, 2017 at the Sheraton Fairplex in Pomona, CA.  The topics to be addressed at this years conference will include, but not limited to: Organics  Composting and Processing Solutions; Organics  Education and Compliance; International Perspectives on Solid Waste Management; Energy Recovery from Solid Waste.  Information about the Forum and the Annual Conference can be found on the Forums website at:  www.scwmf.org.  The deadline for abstracts is June 14, 2017.  If you are interested in serving as a speaker, submit an abstract (500 words or less) or Power Point of your presentation, and a brief professional biography to:  info@scwmf.org.

The California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle) released the application for the States Food Waste Prevention and Rescue Grant Program.  Applications are due Tuesday, July 18, 2017.  For more information on the eligibility, criteria, funding, timeline, and more, click here.

The U.S. Departments of Energy and Agriculture recently announced plans for funding up to $9 Million available for Biomass Energy Research and Development.  Concept papers are due July 7, 2017, and full applications are due September 22, 2017.  For more information, click here.

EVENTS



SoCal SWANA Chapter Workshop
June 8, 2017
Buena Park, CA
For more information on this event, please visit the website:
http://socalswana.org/events/socal-swana-chapter-workshop-june-8/

Alternative Technology Advisory Subcommittee Meeting (ATAS)
June 18, 2017
Alhambra, CA
For more information on this event, please visit the website:
http://dpw.lacounty.gov/epd/tf/meetings.cfm

BioEconomy 2017
July 11-12, 2017
Arlington, VA
For more information on this event, please visit the website:
https://energy.gov/eere/bioenergy/bioeconomy-2017-domestic-resources-vibrant-future

2017 U.S. Product Stewardship Forum

July 25-26, 2017
Boston, MA
For more information on this event, please visit the website:
http://www.productstewardship.us/page/2017_PSI_Forum

CRRA Annual Conference & Tradeshow
August 20-23, 2017
San Diego, CA
For more information on this event, please visit the website:
http://www.crra.com/conference

Waste Conversion Technology Conference
August 21-23, 2017
San Diego, CA
For more information on this event, please visit the website:
http://wasteconversionconference.com/agenda/

Resource Recycling Conference
August 28-30, 2017
Minneapolis, MN
For more information on this event, please visit the website:

http://rrconference.com/

NEWS



CR&R Invests $50 Million Turning Waste Into Energy

CR&R is an integrated waste management company based in Orange County, California that boasts that their new renewable energy project is one of the largest and most advanced anaerobic digestion facilities in North America. The project will convert green waste and food waste into biogas and compost soil amendments. The process will also use recycled water from the local wastewater treatment plant. The plant is projected to process 335,000 tons of solid waste per year resulting in 4 million gallons of natural gas and 250,000 tons of digestate that can be used as soil amendments. CR&Rs fleet can use 3 million gallons of the natural gas leaving 1 million gallons that can be resold to the community, according to the senior regional vice president at CR&R, Alex Braicovich. CR&R is the first company to contract with SoCal Gas and has installed 1.3 miles of pipeline to connect with them. The facility is being built on an existing CR&R 50-acre material recovery and transfer station in Perris and will serve the southwest portion of Riverside County.  For more information, click here.

Study Quantifies Benefits of Pyrolysis Technologies

Argonne National Library recently conducted a study on pyrolysis technologies that convert post-consumer plastics into fuels. Specifically, the study looked at greenhouse gas benefits and the consumption of water and energy. The researchers found that ultra-low sulfur diesel derived from post-use plastics are substantially beneficial when compared to the same fuel obtained from conventional sources. According to the study ultra-low sulfur diesel derived from the pyrolysis of post-consumer plastics results in a reduction of greenhouse gases by 14%, water usage by 58%, and energy usage derived from fossil fuel by 96%. Argonnes study shows that plastics-to-fuel technology is a viable option to derive ultra-low sulfur diesel while reducing landfill waste and greenhouse gases while conserving water and energy. The study notes that benefits of greenhouse gas reduction depend on the treatment method used on the co-products of pyrolysis, particularly the handling of fuel gas. Regardless, ultra-low sulfur diesel from plastics at minimum can result in carbon neutral diesel with the potential to offer a modest greenhouse gas reduction.  For more information, click here.

Alternative Thermal Conversion Technologies Creep Forward

Cleveland based Vadxx Energy is one of the few companies in the U.S. offering working models of commercial-scale conversion technology projects. Vadxx uses pyrolysis to convert plastic waste into diesel fuel and targets local diesel markets. Currently, the company processes 25,000 tons of plastic a year converting that to 60,000 barrels of diesel. Other companies have attempted to go full-scale to convert plastics to make fuels but have run into challenges such as securing the right feedstock and outlets for products. Europe and Asia have seen some success in their markets mainly driven by the limited landfill space and high tipping fees, but it is slowly catching on in the U.S. Technological and economic barriers have slowed down and even shut down some companies according Bruce Clark of SCS Engineers. He also suggests that there is potential for military to run these facilities, which can become a good proving ground to one day scale up to serve cities. While it is slow to develop in the U.S., companies like Covanta and Enerkem show that thermal-based conversion technologies still have much promise.  For more information, click here.

Study Finds New Potential for Cold Anaerobic Digestion Process

Researchers from Concordia University in Canada partnered with Bio-Terre Systems to develop a new type of anaerobic digestion that can work in low-temperature environments, as low as 20C (68F). Though still in the early stages of research, there is potential for this process to use less energy while producing similar yields as traditional anaerobic digestion.  The research used a semi-continuous feed process on material extracted from treated effluent after digestion and found that the biogas generated is of similar quality to traditional methods of anaerobic digestion.  Concordia hopes that their research can be replicated on a larger scale, which can greatly reduce operating costs associated with heating requirements for existing digesters. If this can be scaled up to the commercial level it will be a big help for facilities and operations looking to reduce operation and energy costs, particularly in colder parts of the world where heating demands are high.  For more information, click here.

The Business Turning Sewage Sludge into Fuel

France based company, Cryo Pur aims to process biogas produced from anaerobically digested sewage into liquefied natural gas (bio-LNG). The first step in this process is to purify the biogas by removing hydrogen sulfide, water, and other pollutants. Next, the purified biogas is cooled to -120C, with the separation and liquefaction of carbon dioxide taking place. The resulting biomethane is then compressed and stored in specialized cryogenic chambers. Cryo Pur claims the biomethane resulting from this process is 99.7% pure and has the same quality as natural gas. The U.S. Department of Energy has even described biomethane as being pipeline-quality and fully interchangeable with conventional natural gas. Cryo Pur has been working in a facility in Paris with other industrial partners to produce a working demonstration of this technology. According to Cryo Pur CEO and founder, Denis Clodic, for every 2 metric tons of biogas the process can yield approximately 1 metric ton of liquid biomethane, an amount that can be used in long haul trucks to make long distances in the range of 1,500 km.  For more information, click here.

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