tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-88577575219796344782024-02-21T01:39:21.102-07:00Trashy EnergyTurning Everyday Wastes into Heat and PowerTaylor Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08809923943981940095noreply@blogger.comBlogger33125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8857757521979634478.post-66253402743604461792011-05-04T14:52:00.000-06:002011-05-04T14:52:34.267-06:00Self - Evaluation #3After completing the third evaluation period for this blog project I feel that my performance has improved. For the first time I feel that I have covered a wide range of topics within the waste to energy field, in a more interesting way. I tried to tie together technologies in the waste to energy field with everyday experiences that people may have. Including beer! The oneTaylor Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08809923943981940095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8857757521979634478.post-88130084288101074822011-05-04T13:52:00.001-06:002011-05-04T14:38:55.293-06:00Goodbye to school, this class, and this blogIf there are any avid readers out there that have followed my blog, you will know that this blog was done as an assignment for my Science Communication class. If you do fall into the category presented by the first sentence of this post, then why haven't you posted any comments. Have you agreed with everything that I have said, or is the content so boring that you couldn't even make Taylor Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08809923943981940095noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8857757521979634478.post-89308315283423174702011-05-04T13:20:00.000-06:002011-05-04T13:20:10.866-06:00New Belgium Brewery and there waste treatmentAlthough the partnership between New Belgium Brewing and Solix Biofuels did not work out in the end, New Belgium is still committed to reducing their wastes as much as possible. And if they can make some energy out of their wastes then they will surely do it. The video below gives an overview of the breweries waste water treatment plant that utilized anaerobic digestion. The Taylor Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08809923943981940095noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8857757521979634478.post-36986179435502845312011-05-03T20:21:00.000-06:002011-05-03T20:21:56.876-06:00Wastes of the wastes, Part 3So we have covered several wastes of anaerobic digestion, and one waste of gasification. How about the other major waste of gasification, fly ash. Why is it considered fly ash? Because it literally flies away with the gas stream. Fly ash produced in the gasification process can be harmful to humans if inhaled. In order to protect the public this fly ash must be collected Taylor Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08809923943981940095noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8857757521979634478.post-21643967866602679922011-05-03T20:07:00.001-06:002011-05-03T20:07:34.362-06:00Waste of the wastes, Part 2Another waste of anaerobic digestion is hydrogen sulfide gas. Hydrogen sulfide is also produced as a waste product in all types of gasification, as long as sulfur is present in the feedstocks used in the the process. Hydrogen sulfide is very toxic and can be deadly in the parts per million range. In order to produce a safe product from digestion or gasification the hydrogen Taylor Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08809923943981940095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8857757521979634478.post-68986504452222632982011-05-03T19:42:00.000-06:002011-05-03T19:42:46.974-06:00Wastes of the wastes, Part 1We have covered several different types of wastes to energy through this blog, but what about the wastes that are produced from these processes. For anaerobic digestion there are several main waste streams that much be handled correctly in order for the process to have minimal effects on the environment. As mentioned before, there is a large amount of wet sludge that is left over fromTaylor Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08809923943981940095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8857757521979634478.post-13465607950166307062011-05-01T13:57:00.001-06:002011-05-01T14:08:17.330-06:00Solix Biofuels UpdateMy last post was based on a article that was published in 2007, so I wanted to find some updates on the project and see where things were at here in 2011. After searching both New Belgium's and Solix Biofuel's websites it appears that Solix has decided to implement its technolgy else where. After reading a post on New Belgium's blog, investors thought that it would be a better Taylor Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08809923943981940095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8857757521979634478.post-48172276288147243972011-05-01T13:14:00.000-06:002011-05-01T13:14:57.109-06:00Beer brewing wastes to energy, Part 2So not only does the brewing process produce a large spent grain waste stream, but brewing also produces large amounts of carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide is a by product during the fermentation step of brewing as the yeast eat the sugars present in the wort and turn it into alcohol. So how can this waste stream be used to generate energy, Solix Biofuels of Fort Collins, CO thinks that Taylor Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08809923943981940095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8857757521979634478.post-61387904780428257642011-05-01T12:51:00.000-06:002011-05-01T12:51:48.499-06:00Beer brewing wastes to energy, Part 1This last month me and my father brewed our third batch of beer. The past two batches we brewed were extract beers. This simply means that the malting, mashing, and sparging process had already been done for us, which makes it a whole lot easier on us just being beginners. As many of you know who have went through the whole Coors tour and not just the short tour, malting is the Taylor Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08809923943981940095noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8857757521979634478.post-12671386996501262102011-04-25T22:49:00.000-06:002011-04-25T22:49:22.300-06:00Landfill gas to energy statisticsHere are some quick statistics on the number of landfill gas to energy plants by state. California has 77 operational plants, Illinois has 32, Texas has 27, and Colorado has 1. Granted we have a much smaller population than all of these other states, but with over 30 landfills in the state of Colorado there should be more of these plants in operation. The only landfill gas to energy Taylor Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08809923943981940095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8857757521979634478.post-89637298068210667202011-04-23T14:54:00.000-06:002011-04-23T14:54:54.133-06:00How much methane does a landfill produce?I have been doing a lot of research to try to determine how much methane or LFG an actual landfill can produce. Many factors go into the production of the LFG and include, age of garbage, temperature, moisture level, and type of garbage. In general the more organic the garbage the more methane and carbon dioxide that is produced. Also, the warmer the better and the higher the Taylor Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08809923943981940095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8857757521979634478.post-45374176044291071662011-04-23T10:45:00.000-06:002011-04-23T10:45:01.174-06:00Landfill Gas, does this sound familiarMaking the shift from anaerobic digestion to other types of waste to energy technologies will be easier if we look into a process that is nearly the same. This type of technology is known as landfill gas. Landfill gas is produced in almost all landfills and many times the landfill gas that is produced is lost to the atmosphere. Landfill gas is made up of 50% methane(CH4) and 50%Taylor Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08809923943981940095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8857757521979634478.post-23953645641166832882011-04-18T20:10:00.000-06:002011-04-18T20:10:07.564-06:00Back to the Future!How long has the idea of using trash for energy been around? At least since the the movie "Back to the Future" came out in 1985. In "Back to the Future," Doc fills his time machine with garbage to power a trip back to the future. Mr. Fusion, the name given to this garbage to energy generator, may have seemed like some science fiction idea that may never become reality, but it Taylor Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08809923943981940095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8857757521979634478.post-61515200690976248432011-04-13T14:56:00.004-06:002011-04-13T15:41:35.548-06:00DIY Anaerobic DigesterTaylor Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08809923943981940095noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8857757521979634478.post-2515397429384018992011-04-10T23:21:00.001-06:002011-04-11T16:22:30.025-06:00Whos more wasteful? -- or -- Who releases more waste energy streams to the environment? A Cow or a Human?So after doing my last post I became curious of who is more wasteful releases more energy to the environment, a cow or a American citizen. As in who throws away more Garbage being the assumed largest waste stream for the human and manure being the largest waste stream for the cow (garbage being manure for the cow). Off the top of their head I'm sure most people would say Taylor Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08809923943981940095noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8857757521979634478.post-57779317314244603802011-04-10T22:52:00.001-06:002011-04-10T22:53:59.801-06:00Shifting from cow manure to garbageThroughout my blog I have focused on anaerobic digestion of cow manure. While this has been proven to be a valuable source of energy not everyone or every city is near a large population of cattle. Take for instance here is Colorado, northeast Colorado has a large population of dairy farms and cattle feedlots, however, Denver and the other front range cities are farther away. Taylor Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08809923943981940095noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8857757521979634478.post-37640089082921161962011-03-23T16:22:00.000-06:002011-03-23T16:22:46.826-06:00Self-Evaluation #2For the second blogging time frame I believe that I have improved my blogging. I have posted 9 additional posts and received 12 comments. I have commented back to others who have commented on my posts very frequently. I have also followed several other blogs that are interesting to me and commented on their posts. When I have came across articles or news that seems helpfulTaylor Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08809923943981940095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8857757521979634478.post-87221688645020655552011-03-23T15:02:00.000-06:002011-03-23T15:02:46.038-06:00Spring Break 4-Wheeler JumpingHere is how me and some friends from back home spent Spring Break. YFZ 450 jumping the John Deere 280 skid steer used to build the jump.
Taylor Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08809923943981940095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8857757521979634478.post-68671772242995080532011-03-23T14:27:00.002-06:002011-03-23T14:32:49.464-06:00Senior design and complications with anaerobic digesters: temperatureNot only is agitation of the sludge an important aspect of anaerobic digesters, temperature is even more important. The sharp temperature fluctuations here in Colorado cause issues with the living organisms. The optimal temperature for these organisms is 85 F to 95 F. This is much higher than the average temperature here in Colorado for more than 3/4 of the year. Only parts of Taylor Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08809923943981940095noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8857757521979634478.post-74997839408642544372011-03-21T15:18:00.001-06:002011-03-21T15:18:31.781-06:00Senior design and complications with anaerobic digesters: agitationI chose my topic of waste to energy at the beginning of the semester having a interest in the industry and technology. Later I was able to pick from four senior design topics for my Chemical and Biochemical major, one including a gasification of waste streams to energy. One stipulation of the project was to integrate a biochemical process with the thermochemical process of gasification to Taylor Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08809923943981940095noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8857757521979634478.post-43057595618491531492011-03-02T15:53:00.000-07:002011-03-02T15:53:29.216-07:00Waste to energy close to homeAfter looking all over the web to try to find waste to energy plants, turns out I was looking to hard. This weekend I found out a feedlot (Teague Diversified) from my home town has been operating an anaerobic digester to produce electricity for several years now. After talking with my father about my Science Communication class I am currently in and my blog on waste to Taylor Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08809923943981940095noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8857757521979634478.post-55506375947198399362011-02-23T17:23:00.001-07:002011-02-23T17:36:26.732-07:00Skiing down the roof of a Waste to Energy Plant while blowing smoke rings???I hope the title of this post caught the attention of some, and yes I do literally mean snow ski down the roof of a waste to energy plant. Recently the a competition to design a waste to energy plant in Copenhagen, Denmark was wrapped up, and the winning design included a ski slop and a smoke stack that emits 30 meter smoke rings every time 1 ton of CO2 is emitted from Taylor Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08809923943981940095noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8857757521979634478.post-50827804818668732732011-02-23T16:48:00.000-07:002011-02-23T16:48:58.577-07:00Waste-to-Energy, Europe vs. USAAfter researching all types of waste to energy I have noticed an interesting trend, almost all of the information on the Internet about waste to energy is somehow always related to some European country, and it seems that the US is hardly ever mentioned. Why is that? I find this issue to be very interesting and therefore I am going to look into why this this and see if anyone else canTaylor Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08809923943981940095noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8857757521979634478.post-41754891047584480752011-02-21T16:07:00.000-07:002011-02-21T16:07:11.993-07:00Burning Trash to Zapping TrashIf any of you are from a rural area you may have once burned your trash instead of paying for the garbage man to come to your house to dispose of the trash in the local landfill. This has been a common way for many to dispose of their trash for quite some time now. In recent history however, companies and towns have taken this same idea and upgraded that old rusty barrel to huge Taylor Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08809923943981940095noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8857757521979634478.post-39452809656171081682011-02-09T16:39:00.000-07:002011-02-09T16:39:49.822-07:00Brylie's New TrickThis post has nothing to do with waste to energy, but it does have to do with me teaching my dog how to get me a beer out of the fridge! Here is the video I got of her yesterday, after working hard all day Monday to get the skill mastered (not really mastered yet, but close). Hope you enjoy!
Taylor Rhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08809923943981940095noreply@blogger.com4