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EcoSystem Applies For Grant For Biofuels Feedstock Development
Dayton OH (SPX) Mar 30, 2009 EcoSystem has announced its that it has submitted a grant application to the U.S. Department of Energy's Biomass Research and Development Initiative based on EcoSystem's proprietary bioconversion technology. EcoSystem's application is based on the voracious appetite of the black solider fly, a non-pest insect, to convert locally available food scrap waste into biofuels feedstock and biobased products in a safe, clean and industrial scale engineered ecosystem. The demonstration project will be sized to convert 24,000 tons annually of food waste into natural oils, high protein aquaculture feed, and fertilizer. The demonstration project will be co-located with a regional waste transfer station in the greater Cincinnati-Dayton Ohio region where it will intercept and devour food waste prior to disposal in landfill. Natural oils produced in the project will be sold under EcoSystem's MAGFUEL brand to a refinery located in Adrian, Michigan, for conversion into biodiesel fuel. "An incredible 50% of all food grown, harvested, shipped, processed, sold and served for human consumption in the U.S. ends up in landfills," said Glen Courtright, CEO and President of EcoSystem. "The amount of resources to deal with this waste is astronomical; our society is dumping nearly 26 million tons of food scraps into landfills each year. Today the U.S. is only recovering three percent of that waste stream. We have petitioned the U.S. DOE for grant funding in support of our efforts to streamline the flow of resources into, through and out of America's food chain to reduce energy consumption, carbon emissions, and transportation and disposal costs by converting food wastes into concentrated feedstocks for regional animal consumption and next generation biofuel production." The University of Arizona estimates that the adverse environmental impact of inefficient food chain including methane emissions, land fill use, soil depletion, use of fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides could be reduced by more than 25% with landfill diversion practices. Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas (GHG), 23 times more potent than carbon dioxide. In his inaugural address, President Obama remarked that "We will harness...the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories ..." Courtright added: "we're certainly harnessing the soil by converting food scrap wastes into biofuels and biobased products, but we're also doing it in a sustainable, responsible, and economical way." EcoSystem estimates that 25% of the volume of retail, restaurant, and industrial generated food waste could be converted into black soldier fly larvae. Based upon U.S. 2010 Census data, up to 100 million gallons per year of MAGFUEL natural oils could be produced and sold to U.S. biodiesel producers using EcoSystem technology. This volume can be increased to a much larger quantities by using EcoSystem's technology to bioconvert a diverse array of waste-derived feedstocks, including animal manure, livestock processing wastes, and other agricultural wastes into MAGFUEL biodiesel feedstocks. Black soldier flies are clean, energy-efficient and voracious. They rapidly consume large quantities of feed during maturation and have a high tolerance for contaminants that would cripple algae and other bioreactor technologies. The objectives of EcoSystem's proposed demonstration project are to refine scale-up assumptions, optimize industrial scale breeding conditions, maximize feedstock conversion yields, evaluate natural oil blends for biodiesel, and document protein and fiber suitability for aquaculture feeds. Share This Article With Planet Earth
Related Links EcoSystem Bio Fuel Technology and Application News
Gas-guzzling Pentagon going green
Washington (AFP) March 29, 2009The Pentagon may seem an unlikely promoter of alternative energy, but the biggest consumer of oil in the United States is looking at ways to become just that by partnering with private firms. |
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