Mexico City has announced plans to close one of the world’s largest open-air garbage dumps as part of an initiative to convert more of the city’s waste into reusable materials or energy.

By the end of the year, garbage trucks will no longer be allowed to drop trash at the Bordo Poniente, a massive dump that has received more than 76 million tons of trash since it opened after the devastating 1985 earthquake.

At its peak, the dump received about 12,700 tons of garbage daily. A recycling separation facility and composting plant will remain open at the site. According to a plan announced by city officials, a large concrete company, Cemex SAB, will buy 3,000 tons of trash daily to convert into energy.

Mexico City is searching for other sites to dump the remaining garbage until a new recycling program is instituted in 2012. Meanwhile, Seattle became the latest U.S. city to ban plastic grocery bags, and city officials also passed a 5-cent fee on paper bags in an attempt to reduce its waste stream.

Article appearing courtesy Yale Environment 360.

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A case study in Vermont suggests that it is economically feasible for dairy farms to convert cow manure into electricity using anaerobic methane digestion, provided there is adequate commitment from utilities, farmers, customers, and government agencies.

During a seven-year period, six dairy farms participating in the Central Vermont Public Service Corporation’s (CVPS) so-called Cow Power program were able to generate about 12 million kilowatt-hours of electricity annually, and more than 4,600 customers voluntarily paid $0.04 more per kilowatt-hour, or about $470,000 annually, to use that power, according to a study published in the Journal of Dairy Science.

“The Cow Power program represents a successful and locally sourced renewable energy project with many economic and environmental benefits,” said Qingbin Wang a University of Vermont professor and lead author of the study.

But the study found the program’s success was dependent on several factors, including the base electricity price, premium rate, government financial support, and additional revenue from the sale of byproducts of methane generation.

Article appearing courtesy Yale Environment 360.

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Virgin Atlantic Airways has announced plans to fly commercial routes using a waste-based, synthetic gas fuel that produces half the carbon emissions of the typical jet fuel.

Using technologies developed by partners LanzaTech and Swedish Biofuels, Virgin says it will capture and chemically treat gas waste from industrial steel production facilities into an ethanol that can be be converted into jet fuel.

The company plans to run test flights in New Zealand within the next 18 months and begin commercial operations in China by 2014.

LanzaTech, a New Zealand-based biotechnology firm, estimates that the process will be able to utilize gas waste from 65 percent of the world’s steel mills.

In addition to using waste that would otherwise be burned, the technology would not rely on agricultural biofuels that could drive up global food costs. “With oil running out, it is important that new fuel solutions are sustainable,” said Richard Branson, president of Virgin Atlantic, “and with the steel industry alone able to deliver over 15 billion gallons of jet fuel annually, the potential is very exciting.”

Article appearing courtesy Yale Environment 360.

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A U.S. startup says it has developed a process to convert plastic waste into synthetic crude oil, a system that company officials say will provide a new fuel alternative while also removing massive amounts of industrial and municipal waste from landfills each year.

Created by Oregon-based Agilyx, the process essentially heats plastics into a mixture of gases, which are then cooled and condensed into long-chain hydrocarbons that can be converted into diesel, jet fuel, or other substances.

The system, which Agilyx hopes to make available for commercial use within nine months, is capable of converting about 10 tons of plastic into 60 barrels of oil (2,400 gallons) per day. Currently, a single module, which would cost about $5 million, could create about 130 barrels of oil daily, Bob Schwarz, Agilyx’s chief financial officer, told the New York Times’ Green blog.

While refiners would ultimately process the landfill oil into a fuel, the system itself would likely be owned and operated by trash companies. The process is one of several emerging technologies targeting the recovery and reuse of roughly 2 trillion tons of plastic sitting in U.S. landfills. According to industry officials, the volume of plastics worldwide grows 7 to 9 percent annually.

Article appearing courtesy Yale Environment 360.

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While ethanol made from food crops loses its credibility as a green alternative energy option, other methods of ethanol production are being developed as more sustainable alternatives.

One of the companies working to create second generation ethanol out of waste is Easy Energy Systems. In May the company was honoured at the Future in Review (FiRe) technology conference alongside 11 other techie outfits. EES’s MEPS system was selected among over 1,000 technologies submitted by science luminaries around the world.

MEPS is a small-scale modular system to convert waste products to ethanol. A self-contained apparatus, it can be shipped anywhere in the world to convert local waste such as paper, crop residue and food byproducts into biofuels or electricity. Anything organically grown can turn into fuel, EES claims.

Energy Refuge caught up with Mark Gaalswyk, president and founder of EES, to find out more about the company’s product and its plans to ‘fuel the world’.

ER: What does the Future in Review selection mean to EES?

MG: It was an honor to be included as an award recipient with such a distinguished group of innovators. The Future in Review conference is an amazing event that shows that the future is full of exciting technologies that will, in fact, change the world.

ER: Can you describe how the MEPS turn waste into ethanol?

MG: The MEPS system (patents pending) consists of a series of self-contained pods, each about the size of a small scale shipping container. These pods are built in a factory on an assembly line, shipped and connected together on site like Lego blocks depending on the process requirements for the waste input. Waste materials such as crop residue, soda pop, milk whey, food waste or paper, are loaded into the MEPS system for processing. If needed, a pre-treatment process pod prepares the material for the enzymatic conversion of the waste into a sugar water solution. This solution is then automatically pumped from pod to pod within the MEPS system completing each step to further the processing into fuel grade ethanol able to be placed into an automobile or electric generator.

ER: The mobility of the system seems like a great advantage and quite revolutionary. How do you see its application across the globe?

MG: The mobility and the smaller scale size of the MEPS system is what makes it a global product. Because it is easily transportable, it makes it easier to build economically on an assembly line in a factory and then deliver it around the world. If a small semi-truck can make it to the village, a MEPS system can as well. Traditionally, ethanol producers have required large amounts of corn for large scale ethanol production which has made transportation from small rural locations or remote areas a challenge. Because of the size of our MEPS system, smaller amounts of often bulky and difficult to transport waste materials can be used for production, eliminating the transportation issue from local waste producers or farmers. As waste materials are often times a free input to the system, it is only the cost of transporting the material that becomes expensive. Thus, the smaller scale distributed systems reduce this cost and make waste materials now a very economical input for the system.

ER: Waste to energy is an expanding market. Can it make a significant contribution to solve the energy and climate crisis?

MG: There is no question that we will reduce the amount of landfills and waste. Billions of gallons of food processing waste such as milk or waste soda pop are pumped into the nation’s sewer systems, many of which could be converted into energy. A significant amount of what resides in landfills is paper and food waste. Placing a MEPS system next to any landfill would substantially reduce the amount of waste and land used. Another market is utilizing the MEPS system to reduce the amount of carbon being emitted as it converts crop residue into ethanol instead of burning it as often happens in developing countries.

Article by Antonio Pasolini, a Brazilian writer and video art curator based in London, UK. He holds a BA in journalism and an MA in film and television.

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If you ever get the chance to meet Irish-born entrepreneur, Philip Brennan, he’ll be quick to tell you, “Depending on who you believe in my family, I’m a fourth or fifth generation entrepreneur. I’ve worked for big corporations for many years and was tired of trying to turn the aircraft carrier in another direction. It is more fun sailing our hydrofoil sailboat, allowing the team to move quicker and respond faster to the changing conditions.” This is a simple way to describe his career and his current venture as a co-founder and the CEO of Echogen Power Systems LLC based in Akron, OH.

In 1992, at the age of 22, Mr. Brennan began charting his course by becoming the youngest recipient of Georgetown University’s Graduate Fellowship for the Masters in Business Administration. Over the next 20 years after graduation, Phil held various senior and executive management positions in operations, finance, manufacturing, sales and general management for Fortune 100 companies such as Pfizer, Warner Lambert, and Rubbermaid. In those roles, he led and managed a variety of businesses of greater than $200 million in sales where he conceived, developed, and launched over 100 new products.  Since then he has helped to raise angel financing and prepare a number of new companies for the next stage of venture funding.

Founded in 2007, Echogen Power Systems describes itself as energy’s scrap metal dealer. The company is developing and commercializing an innovative power generation technology that transforms waste industrial heat directly into clean, emission-free electricity. According to Brennan, “The ‘Echo’ plays off the environmental stewardship in our technology while reinforcing that the power produced is essentially energy repeated. The ‘gen’ simply stands for the generation of power.” Using supercritical carbon dioxide as the system working fluid, Echogen’s patent-pending thermal engines convert industrial waste heat into electricity, reducing the demand that energy-intensive manfacturers and large power consumers currently place on the grid. The Echogen Thermafficient® System is a lower cost solution compared to traditional power generation technologies such as steam turbines. It allows paybacks significantly below the 3-year threshold for competing products due to the smaller physical size and associated lower component costs, coupled with the broader operating range and efficiencies.

Mr. Brennan wanted to establish his company in Akron because of the entrepreneurial support shown by economic development organizations in the region, the leadership shown by the City of Akron, and the Ohio Department of Development. “From the support we’ve received from organizations such as the Akron Global Business Accelerator and JumpStart, to the direct funds we were awarded from the Research Commercialization Program, the Ohio Third Frontier has accelerated the Company’s development. This support can often make the difference between success and failure for a new enterprise,” according to Brennan.

The early success of Echogen can be attributed to the talented, hardworking team and the support that comes from grant-based investments. Echogen has received over $22 million in equity and grants; a $4.3 million grant was provided by the State of Ohio Third Frontier Program and another one from the Department of Defense Navy Small Business Innovation Research Program. Echogen also received two grants from JumpStart Ventures in Cleveland, Ohio and was issued a four-year job creation tax credit by the Ohio Tax Credit Authority. This funding has enabled Echogen to double their staff size capacity and further develop their technology. Currently, Echogen is comprised of twenty-three employees and ten student interns. They have plans to double the number of people again within the next year. Echogen is a good example of how an emerging technology can successfully capitalize on a region’s existing industrial strength, as many of its customers and potential labor force are resident in Ohio and the neighboring States.

“While we are a for-profit corporation, we are also looking to help improve the community and the country by making us less reliant on foreign resources and more committed to stewardship,
by making better use of the energy resources we have.” There is no cleaner energy source than the heat found in a smoke stack, according to the DOE. By salvaging this waste heat and transforming it into electricity, up to 20% of the nation’s projected energy needs can be met. Now that’s a reason to love the scrap metal dealers.

Article by Ari Matusiak, Executive Director of the White House Business Council.

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Enerkem is a Montreal, Canada-based company that designs, manufactures, owns and operates waste-to-biofuels plants.

Enerkem takes municipal waste and, through gasification and catalytic synthesis, converts it into advanced biofuels. The company calls its process “carbon recycling” to signal that it takes carbon that would otherwise stay trapped in the waste and converts it to useful fuels and chemicals.

Enerkem owns at least three international patent applications relating to its gasification technology, including Publication No. WO 2009/132449 (’449 Application), entitled “Production and conditioning of synthesis gas obtained from biomass.”

The ’449 Application is directed to methods of producing and treating synthesis gas, or syngas, in which a biomass-rich feedstock is passed from a conveyor belt (1) through rotary valves (2a, 2b) into a feed screw (3). (The ’449 Application contains only one figure, which is huge and incredibly detailed. I’ve reproduced a small portion of the figure below).

An oxidizing agent, such as air, is passed into the feed screw (3) from line (4). The feed screw (3) passes the biomass feedstock and the oxidizing agent into a fluidized bed section (7b) of the gasifier (7).

According to Enerkem’s web site, the technology is based on a bubbling fluidized bed reactor capable of handling fluffy material without the need to pelletize it. The gasifier can operate at low severities (i.e., temperatures of about 700º C and pressures below 10 atm), which reduces costs by allowing inexpensive construction materials to be used.

Solid residues that cannot be processed further are passed through line (8) and valves (9a, 9b) into a drum (1), and the remaining crude syngas is subjected to controlled oxidation in the freeboard section (7a) of the gasifier (7).

The crude syngas is then cleaned and conditioned in a cyclone (12), which separates out the char. The crude syngas exits the cyclone (12) through line (16) and is passed to a thermal reformer (18), where it is contacted with more gasification agents, and then sent to a heat recovery unit (20).

Ultimately, using a catalytic conversion process, the syngas is converted into fuels and chemicals, such as methanol, ethanol, synthetic diesel, synthetic gasoline, or dimethyl ether.

At least one major oil refiner likes what it sees in the Enerkem technology: the company recently announced a $60 million funding round from Valero (see Cleantechies article here).

Eric Lane is a patent attorney at Luce, Forward, Hamilton & Scripps in San Diego and the author of Green Patent Blog. Mr. Lane can be reached at elane@luce.com.

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Waste is a major problem in the world. As production and consumer markets grow, so does waste. Therefore, solutions need to be found to turn waste into energy, fuel, recyclable materials and other products.

An increasing number of companies are trying to convert waste into sources of energy and heat. According to the Green Economy Post, currently there are 431 waste-to-energy (WTE) plants in Europe and 89 in the United States, where 14 per cent of the country’s trash is recycled in WTE plants.

Case study
Turning waste into fuel is the Holy Grail that Montreal-based Enerkem has been pursing over the last seven years. Earlier this month Enerkem announced it had received US$60 million in new financing from oil refiner Valero, who has joined existing investors Waste Management, Rho Ventures, Braemar Energy Ventures and Cycle Capital.

Enerkem now has US$130 million in investments. Enerkem currently operates two facilities in Quebec and in 2010 began construction of a municipal waste-to-biofuels plant in Alberta. Later this year, Enerkem expects to break ground on a similar facility in Mississippi for which it is receiving financial support from the USDA and U.S. Department of Energy.

Enerkem’s goal is to develop a clean technology that transforms sorted municipal solid waste (MSW) as well as forest and agricultural residues into advanced ethanol, and high-value chemicals such as acetates.

These materials contain carbon molecules that can be chemically recycled into what the company calls “value-added products”. The process complements traditional recycling and composting.

“We call our process carbon recycling. We chemically recycle carbon that is trapped in waste destined to landfills. Value is therefore extracted from non-recyclable waste as this lost carbon is converted into a new line of transportation fuel and advanced chemicals”, the company says.

Enerkem inaugurated its pilot plant in 2003 and the technology developed since then is now applied at its first commercial plant in Westbury, Quebec. The process is a combination of green gasification and catalytic synthesis involving heat, pressure, advanced chemistry and the use of proven catalysts. Extensive gas conditioning produces a tailored syngas that is then transformed into premium products using established and readily available industrial catalysts at the proper temperatures and pressures.

Besides the obvious benefits of turning waste into alternative energy, Enerkem says its process is also environmentally-friendly. First, it is energy efficient, as the chemical reactions during the thermal phase of the process produce most of the energy and heat needed. Water usage is economical as well, as most of it is reused in a closed circuit. Air quality is protected as the thermochemical conversion of the raw materials is conducted in enclosed vessels to protect carbon molecules. Finally, the company says its plants are compact, decentralized and located near the raw material supply sites.

Article by Antonio Pasolini, a Brazilian writer and video art curator based in London, UK. He holds a BA in journalism and an MA in film and television.

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Loowatt, a cleverly named company from the UK, is testing a revolutionary waterless toilet system that could help create vibrant local economies around waste treatment.

The toilet uses a unique sealing mechanism to package feces and urine into an odorless cartridge, within a biodegradable lining material. The cartridge is emptied once or twice weekly into an anaerobic digester. The digester converts human waste into natural gas and fertilizer, valuable commodities which can be sold and reinvested in the community.

Once collected into the digester, which is devoid of oxygen, microorganisms are used to break down the waste and convert it into methane and carbon dioxide gas. That gas can then be burned for fuel, at which point it reverts back to CO2 and water vapor.

Previous attempts at harvesting human waste for power generation have all been directed at the end of the cycle, aka after the waste has been flushed, but the Loowatt system collects waste directly from the toilet, eliminating the need for water or chemicals.

Quick to set up and simple to service and operate, the Loowatt system creates a locally closed loop around human waste management, and becomes a local source of biogas for cooking, electricity, and other applications.

Loowatt was recently awarded a $100,000 Grand Challenges Explorations grant from the The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, to develop the technology further.

Article by Beth Buczynski, appearing courtesy Crisp Green.

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The incredible amount of waste modern civilization produces needs to go somewhere. But where?

In some parts of the world, garbage is incinerated, especially in Europe. In other parts, it goes to landfills. Both methods attract criticism.

Why Files has an in-depth article on the ‘bury it or burn it?’ debate.

Supporters of incineration say it decreases waste and produces heat and electricity at the same time. Fewer landfills are needed as well as fewer trucks powered with diesel traveling to take trash to remote locations.

Detractors say incinerators create global warming gases because they release toxins and divert attention from recycling, possibly fostering a culture of excess since trash can then become a source of energy.

Americans don’t like incinerators, the article says, because no one wants an incinerator in their backyard. Besides, the country does have space, unlike Europe where limited space is a pressing issue. In Denmark, 54 per cent of residential waste is incinerated, a process that gained momentum in the 1970s when the country ran out of space for more landfills. Other European countries that are big on waste-to-energy are Austria and Switzerland, the latter surely a place where recycling has been a feature of everyday life since the 1980s.

It seems like the criticism that incinerators are harmful to the air is not so true:

“Regulators in the United States and Europe are both reporting big drops in air pollution from burning garbage, says Joseph DeCarolis, an assistant professor of water resources and environmental engineering at North Carolina State University. ‘According to EPA [Environmental Protection Agency] data on waste-to-energy facilities in the U.S., depending on the pollutant, the levels are significantly below their standard.’ Most levels, he says, are less than half the EPA limit.”

Apparently incinerators have become cleaner with better technologies …

Of course, if we could become zero-waste societies, then neither alternative would be necessary – but is really possible to reduce, recycle and re-use everything?

It’s a complex issue, like every discussion related to energy. The conclusion is that space availability plays an important role in a society’s choice of waste disposal. Incinerators need to be near the people who generate the waste because the cost of transporting all the waste is too high. But then a lot of people don’t want them in their backyard.

Landfills also pollute, and a lot. They generate methane, a powerful greenhouse gas; they pollute groundwater and occupy land that could be used productively. The challenge is to decide which one is the lesser of two evils.

Article by Antonio Pasolini, a Brazilian writer and video art curator based in London, UK. He holds a BA in journalism and an MA in film and television.

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