BioCycle World

BioCycle July 2004, Vol. 45, No. 7, p. 6

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REUSING FOUNDRY SAND IN AGRICULTURAL APPLICATIONS
Foundries in North America generate between nine and 13 million tons of sand that is considered to be excess and is no longer used in the mold making process, writes Billie J. Lindsay of Ohio State University’s School of Natural Resources in a literature review, "Agricultural Reuse of Foundry Sand." According to criteria set by the U.S. EPA industrial waste division, she notes, only a small percentage of the excess sand is characterized as hazardous, with the majority qualifying as nonhazardous industrial waste. Only one million tons of the material are said to be beneficially reused outside of the foundry industry.

To better understand the potential for foundry sand use in topsoil blending and similar applications, greenhouse and field studies were done. Sand was blended with organic amendment treatments such as composted yard trimmings, digested sludge cake, and peat/compost mixes. Raised beds were used in a field study designed primarily as an assessment of food-chain risk from contaminants in foundry sand. None of the measured properties were found to be limiting for plant growth. Concludes Lindsay in the review paper:
State regulatory agencies will feel comfortable issuing beneficial use permits only if the material meets the state’s policy and testing criteria, and there is an established market. An existing problem is difficulty in matching generators with end users. A geographical inventory of foundries with extensive information on sand type and contact information is currently being generated as a result of the USDA foundry sand initiative to address this issue. Since small scale foundry sand blending and testing have been successfully completed, large field scale plots are the next step. Ideally, practical applications would be emulated for blended topsoil and sports turf field construction, renovation, or restoration. To make the largest impact on increasing agricultural beneficial use of foundry sand, cooperators in the study would include several foundries, a land-grant university, state solid waste and surface water regulators, the state foundry association, the topsoil blender and marketer, and potential users such at the state department of transportation and others. For more information, contact Lindsay at
lindsay.30@osu.edu.

REDUCING ROAD NOISE AND IMPROVING DRAINAGE WITH RICE WASTE

A waste product from rice is being used on roads to absorb noise more efficiently, drain faster and be less susceptible to temperature extremes than traditional road surfaces, reports the Minebea Company of Nagano, Japan. According to an article in Chemistry & Industry magazine, the new traffic surfaces contain rice bran, the brown layer that separates rice grains from their husks. The bran is usually landfilled, while some is used as cattle feed. When the rice bran is mixed with resins, the result is hard resilient material that is light, friction resistant and porous. Minebea’s tests suggest that the rice bran-based surfaces can absorb around 25 percent more noise than aggregate and asphalt roads or surfaces with glass fibers added. These features could make the surface extremely popular in built-up areas.

FEDERAL APPROPRIATIONS BILL SUPPORTS VALUE-ADDED
PRODUCTS AND PURCHASE
On June 23, 2004, the House Appropriations Committee reported out the 2005 Agriculture Appropriations Bill which includes $15.5 million for Value-Added Agricultural Product Market Development grants. The amount includes projects producing renewable energy from farm products. For Federal Procurement of Biobased Products, the committee provided an increase of almost $2 million above the $1 million appropriated for a "preferred procurement and labeling system for biobased products." Cautions the Environmental and Energy Study Institute: Senate action will be critical if full funding is to be restored to these programs.

UPCOMING ANNUAL CONFERENCES
The Northwest Biosolids Management Association’s 17th Annual Biosolids Management Conference will be held September 12-14, 2004 at the Resort at the Mountain in Welches, Oregon. The theme of the 2004 conference is "Mountains or Molehills: Sorting Through the Issues." Notes Maile Lono, Executive Director of NBMA, "Our theme matches the locale, in the foothills of Mt. Hood, Oregon. This conference should help attendees determine which current biosolids issues are truly important and which deserve only minor attention." Complete program details and registration information are available at www.nwbiosolids.org.
The Composting Council of Canada is holding its 14th Annual National Composting Conference, September 15-17, 2004 in Gatineau, Quebec, not far from Ottawa, Ontario. Topics to be covered include compost marketing strategies, technology developments, analytical and applied composting research, and composting feedstocks such as manures, wood and paper fiber residuals, biosolids and food residuals. A session will also discuss the development of national compost standards, a process that has included public meetings open for comment and case studies. For program details and to register, go to www.
compost.org or call (416) 535-0240.
The 5th Annual Great Lakes By-Products Management Association Conference will be held December 1-3, 2004 at EPA Region 5 Headquarters in Chicago. Session themes include the environmental risks and benefits of using blended by-products, tools and approaches for risk assessment, and economics and markets. Registration information is available this month (www.glbma.org).

MOVING FORWARD WITH ENERGY INDEPENDENCE
BioCycle’s 4th Annual Renewable Energy From Organics Recycling Conference will be held November 8-10, 2004 at The Hotel Savery in Des Moines, Iowa. Picking up on the theme of Energy Independence From Biomass Recycling introduced in the opening plenary session of BioCycle’s 34th Annual National Conference last month in Philadelphia, conference attendees, speakers and exhibitors at the 4th Annual Renewable Energy conference are encouraged to examine the "barrels of oil equivalent" of their various organics recycling and bioenergy initiatives and provide those estimates to BioCycle ahead of the November meeting. Barrel of oil equivalents apply not only to direct energy production, e.g. from anaerobic digestion, landfill gas recovery and ethanol, but also from substituting petroleum-based products like chemical fertilizers and erosion control silt fence with recycled organic residuals and compost. Send your estimates to Nora Goldstein at noragold@jgpress.com. For more information, go to www.biocycle.net and click on the Energy Independence page.

CHEAPER WASTEWATER-FUELED DEVICE PRODUCES MORE ELECTRICITY
Earlier this year, a team of Penn State University environmental engineers developed a microbial fuel cell (MFC) that can generate electricity while simultaneously cleaning domestic wastewater skimmed from the settling pond of a sewage treatment plant. Now the team — led by Bruce Logan — has modified the MFC to make it cheaper to produce while boosting electricity production more than five times. "The new design has moved the technology closer to our goal of 1,000 milliwatts per square meter," says Logan.
Microbial fuel cells produce current through action of bacteria that can pass electrons to an anode; electrons flow from the anode through a wire to a cathode (positive electrode of a fuel cell), where they combine with hydrogen ions (protons) and oxygen to form water. The naturally-occurring bacteria in wastewater drive power production via a reaction that allows them to transport electrons from their cell surface to the anode. In addition, a reaction (oxidation) that occurs in the interior of the bacterial cell lowers the biochemical oxygen demand, cleaning the water.

BLEND OF GYPSUM AND LITTER ADD UP TO "FUNKY CHICKEN"
Matt Ewadinger, manager of North Carolina’s Recycling Business Assistance Center (RBAC), describes how Steve Davis launched his recycling firm Union Gypsum in 1999 by selling ground gypsum to farmers. The gypsum came from C&D debris sites; about one ton of residual gypsum is generated at the average new residential construction site. Continues Ewadinger in the RBAC newsletter Recycling Works:
Union Gypsum’s major source of recycled drywall feedstock is independent cleanup companies that remove gypsum drywall from new building sites. Today, Davis is using a combination of feedstocks to turn out a value-added bioproduct called "Funky Chicken" — a mixture of poultry litter, recycled gypsum drywall and wood ash blended and dried prior to going through a long curing process.
According to its brightly colored bag that features a rooster strutting atop a compost bin, Funky Chicken provides valuable nutrients for trees, shrubs, flowers, gardens and lawns. Davis plans to market Funky Chicken to golf courses, landscapers and retail home improvement stores within a 250 mile radius of Marshville, North Carolina.
Davis and his staff are expanding their operation to process the new product. "We are constructing two new buildings totaling approximately 6,000 square feet that will enable us to operate in all weather conditions. One building will house a large mixing machine, 300,000 BTU heater, and a high volume fan, along with a series of infeed and outfeed conveyors," Davis added.

Union Gypsum also supplies ground recycled gypsum drywall to two large poultry producers as bedding for their poultry houses. The patented product, a mixture of gypsum and poultry litter, is sold to farmers and, according to Davis, "The demand is almost impossible to keep up with."
Currently, six people work at Union Gypsum, where they contribute to the recycling of about 5,000 tons a year of gypsum drywall and 50,000 tons a year of poultry litter. If the current marketing plan is successful, the number of tons recycled could increase by fifty percent. Davis anticipates hiring an additional six employees over the next six months as demand for his product increases.

BRAZIL RECYCLES TOOTHPASTE TUBES INTO CONSTRUCTION
AND FURNITURE INDUSTRIES
At a Unilever plant in Vinhedo, Brazil, the waste trim of toothpaste tubes made out of low-density polyethylene are diverted to produce items for the construction industry as well as in furniture manufacturing. The program now includes postconsumer packaging. Three companies — Reciplac and Ecotop of Sao Paulo and Ibicunha of Parana — utilize the residue as raw material for manufacture of PET tiles and sheets, tables, chairs and other office furniture. The program is now diverting over 17 metric tons annually of Unilever’s toothpaste tube packaging volume. "The process is an example of sustainability, as well as creating new products; it allows savings in raw material and stimulates job creation," observes Juliana Nunes, president of Cempre, a Brazilian organization that promotes recycling in integrated waste management. Cempre reports that there are now 237 local governments in Brazil that operate separated waste collection programs, up from 81 in 1994.

RENEWABLE ENERGY INCENTIVES
The Database of State Incentives For Renewable Energy (DSIRE) tracks information on biomass-eligible State Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS). Currently, 16 states have RPS programs that require a set amount of power in the state be produced from renewable sources, which include anaerobic digestion and biofuels. These include Arizona, California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas and Wisconsin. In her talk at the 34th Annual BioCycle National Conference in Philadelphia, Carol Werner, Executive Director of the Environmental and Energy Study Institute (www.eesi.org) noted that complying with the RPS in these 16 states will yield 12,400 megawatts of new renewable electricity capacity in the U.S. by 2012, enough to power 7.6 million homes.
Numerous states have various financial renewable energy incentives with biomass provisions. According to Werner, 26 states have grant programs, 46 have production incentives for renewable power generation, 16 have loan programs, and many have tax incentives. A U.S. map on the DSIRE website (www.dsireusa.org) enables a visitor to click on a specific state, which in turn provides information on that state’s incentive programs.

BETTER METHODS TO DEWATER BIOSOLIDS
At the Edmonton, Canada Centre of Excellence, a Sludge Dewatering Demonstration Project is using a new vertical axis centrifuge technology to treat sludge, explains Darryl Seehagel, supervisor. The technology, which has a fine filter element, is capable of dewatering sludge to obtain a 40 percent solids content. "The main advantages of the system would be that the energy requirements are low and that it uses no chemicals. So that’s of great interest to the Clover Bar facility (one of the research centers) where they do have to add polymer to the existing systems," he says. Gold Bar produces the biosolids, which are then pumped to Clover Bar where they are dewatered prior to composting. Edmonton entered into an agreement with Protecta Waste Management Inc. of Edmonton to develop the project due to be completed in August.

Copyright 2004, The JG Press, Inc.