Southern California
Conversion Technology
News
Conversion Technology E-Newsletter – May 2019
EVENTS
RNG Summit
May 14-15, 2019
Washington, D.C.
http://www.rngcoalition.com/rng-summit
Alternative Technology Advisory Subcommittee (ATAS) Meeting
May 16, 2019
Alhambra, CA
http://dpw.lacounty.gov/epd/tf/meetings.cfm
The 11th Waste Conversion Technology Conference (WCTC)
June 2-4, 2019
Las Vegas, NV
https://wasteconversionconference.com/
California Resource Recovery Association (CRRA) 43rd Annual Conference
August 11-14, 2019
Rancho Mirage, CA
http://crra.com/conference
Resource Recycling Conference
August 26-28, 2019
New Orleans, LA
http://rrconference.com/
US Biogas
October 1-2, 2019
San Diego, CA
https://events.newenergyupdate.com/biogas/
SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT
SoCalGas Environmental Champions Grant Initiative
SoCalGas is providing Environmental Champions Grants ranging from $10,000 to $25,000 to fund projects or programs that address clean air, clean energy, and/or organic waste diversion to biogas with a particular emphasis on supporting underserved communities. 501(c)(3) organizations that provide programs in communities in the counties of Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino, Riverside, Imperial, Kern, Kings, Ventura, Tulare, Santa Barbara, Fresno, and San Luis Obispo are eligible to apply. Grant applications are due by June 5, 2019. For more information, click here. If you are a 501(c)(3) organization interested in a potential partnership with Los Angeles County, please submit an inquiry here. NEWS
Medina County Solid Waste District Will Start Using Sludge, and Eventually Food Waste, to Power Wastewater Treatment Plant
The Medina County Solid Waste District in Ohio is finishing its improvements to a local water reclamation facility that will include two anaerobic digesters that will convert sludge from the wastewater treatment process into energy. The project will save $1.4 million each year in operating costs by reducing the amount of electricity and chemicals needed for wastewater treatment. The district is interested in taking in food waste from restaurants and other commercial entities in the community to feed the digesters in order to produce more power to operate the wastewater treatment plant. The district may try a pilot food waste collection program this year to make sure a larger program would be feasible. To read more, click here.
Brightmark Energy Closes $260M in Financing for Plastics-to-Fuel Plant
Brightmark Energy recently closed a $260 million financing package for the construction of the nations first commercial-scale plastics-to-fuel plant in Ashley, Indiana. The facility will use RES Polyflows plastics-to-fuel process, which sustainably recycles waste that has reached the end of its useful life, including items that cannot readily be recycled, like plastic film, flexible packing, styrofoam, and childrens toys directly into useful products like fuels and wax. The facility will initially convert approximately 100,000 tons of mixed waste single-use plastics into more than 18 million gallons a year of ultra-low sulfur diesel and naphtha blend stocks and nearly 6 million gallons a year of commercial grade wax. To read more, click here.
Phoenix Awards Contract to Renewology for Chemical Recycling Project
The Phoenix Public Works Department has chosen Renew Phoenix for a new 10-year contract to turn recovered mixed plastics into fuel. The project will use a chemical recycling process to convert #3-#7 plastics into fuels. The need for domestic #3-#7 plastics processing and end markets has intensified since China stopped accepting the materials as part of its 2018 National Sword policy. These plastics are often considered difficult to recycle or low value compared with the commonly-recycled #1 and #2 plastics including PET and HDPE bottles, jugs, tubs, containers and lids. The facility is expected to process 10 tons of mixed plastics per day, amounting to about 60 barrels of liquid fuel. The facility will become operational in 2020. To read more, click here.
Waste Resource Technologies to Deploy SynTech Bioenergys BioMax Power Generation Solution
SynTech Bioenergy signed an agreement with Waste Resource Technologies, Inc. (WRT) to begin deploying SynTechs technology to convert green waste collected by WRT and fruit processing waste from certain agricultural operations on Oahu, Hawaii into renewable energy. The project will keep an estimated 1,300 tons of waste per year out of landfills. This translates to the elimination of up to 8,000 tons of carbon, which will be removed from the local environment through the elimination of waste transportation, elimination of methane release, and displacement of fossil-fired power and heat. To read more, click here.
POLICY & LEGISLATION
SoCalGas Awarded $3 Million California Energy Commission Grant to Advance New Technology that Creates Twice as Much Renewable Natural Gas from Wastewater than Current Anaerobic Digestion Process
SoCalGas announced today that the California Energy Commission (CEC) awarded the company a $3 million grant to fund the next phase of development of a new technology that doubles the amount of renewable energy created from the decomposition of organic material at wastewater treatment plant. The new process, known as Hydrothermal Processing (HTP) reduces greenhouse gas emissions by three times that of traditional anaerobic digestion and costs about half. Unlike anaerobic digestion, HTP completely eliminates leftover biosolids. A pilot project will be located at the Central Contra Costa Sanitation District Wastewater Treatment Plant in Martinez, California. The project will lay the groundwork for full-scale commercial hydrothermal processing plants. To read more, click here.
Governor Newsom Releases Revised California for All State Budget
California Governor Gavin Newsom today released a revised state budget proposal for Fiscal Year 2019-20. His proposed funding for waste diversion remains the same as his January budget proposal, allocating $25 million to CalRecycle for waste diversion. To read more, click here. The full revised budget is available here.
EPA to Award $110,000 to Anaerobic Digestion Projects
On April 9, the U.S. EPA announced that three funding awards for projects that help reduce food waste and loss and divert food waste from landfills by expanding anaerobic digester capacity in the United States. The City of Madison, Wisconsin will receive $39,000 to assess the feasibility of a regional program to collect organic waste that could be used to create biogas and compost.The Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation will receive $43,551 to purchase and install storage tanks and pipes to allow five food and beverage businesses to anaerobically digest their organic waste. The Washington State Universitys Energy Program has been selected to receive $27,500 to conduct workshops in Washington state that promote anaerobic digestion projects by wastewater treatment facilities, food processing companies, municipal solid waste agencies, and agriculture producers.EPA anticipates the next round of funding for local anaerobic digestion infrastructure will take place later in 2019. To read more, click here.
10M Tax Credit Awarded to US Sugarcane Energy Company
California Ethanol & Power, LLC (CE&P) announced that it was awarded a $10 million income tax credit as part of the California Governors Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz) California Competes program. CE&P intends to produce sustainable low-carbon energy from sugarcane for use in California. CE&P intends to develop, finance, install, own, and operate a series of projects in the Imperial Valley in California that grow sugarcane and extract and ferment the juice into fuel-grade ethanol. The projects will convert the remaining biomass into electricity and produce biomethane and fertilizer feedstock from the fermentation process residue. CE&P will sell the field residue for forage or electricity generation. To read more, click here.
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