Don’t drink and drive but put beer in your car!

More than 6 ML of “bottom of the barrel” beer yeast from the brewing process generated every year by US company Sierra Nevada will go to producing ethanol to power its delivery trucks and other vehicles. Sierra Nevada and home ethanol system maker E-Fuel will start test production at the brewery in California in the second quarter of this year.

The companies announced the agreement this week. The brewery in Chico, California will install E-Fuel’s EFuel100 MicroFueler that will take the waste yeast, which is largely sold off to local farmers for use as dairy feed, to produce high-grade biofuel.

The machine will aid the conversion of the waste, which includes yeast and nutrients and a 5-8% alcohol content, to 15% alcohol, “allowing for an increased ethanol yield”,E-Fuel said. It will remove water from the waste, for a high-quality ethanol end product. The companies are targeting full-scale production by the third quarter of the year.

“Creating ethanol from discarded organic waste is an example of how the Microfueler can help eliminate our reliance on the oil industry infrastructure,” said Tom Quinn, E-Fuel CEO. He said half of all farm products in the US end up being discarded and could be harnessed in this manner.

E-Fuel says its micro-refinery system eliminates the problems associated with large-scale ethanol production, citing inefficiency and emissions resulting from transport and distribution, by basing the production on the site where the fuel will be consumed.

The Microfueler is about the size of a large washing machine or refrigerator. The beer dregs will be allowed to ferment for about a week to produce ethanol and wastewater. The device can produce more than 260L of ethanol a week using the alcohol feedstock. Story sourced from www.EnvironmentalManagementNews.Net

Gold down the toilet

A sewage treatment facility in central Japan is extracting gold from sewage it incinerates, recovering some 2 kg of the precious metal for every tonne of ash from the sludge – significantly more than the 20 to 40 grams top producing mines in the country collects per tonne of excavation. Workers at the Suwa facility say that the large amount of ore they uncover probably comes from countless high-tech industrial facilities nearby, which use significant quantities of the precious metal for various components in their products.

Precision equipment manufacturers then discard unused materials or other substances, which reach Suwa for decontamination. The facility is actively engaged in recovering the gold, and selling it back to the state, Softpedia.com reported. Story sourced from www.EnvironmentalManagementNews.net. Photo and more details from http://news.softpedia.com/news/Japanese-Prefecture-Finds-Gold-in-Sewage-103458.shtml

Business Support 1: Re-tooling for Climate Change

AusIndustry program Re-tooling for Climate Change supports small and medium-sized businesses undertaking manufacturing activities in Australia. The program aims to help Australian manufacturers reduce their environmental footprint, through projects that improve the energy and/or water efficiency of their production processes.

The program provides grants between $10,000 and $500,000, up to a maximum of one third of the cost of each project.

Examples of eligible projects could include:

• investing in small-scale cogeneration plants that capture waste energy and use it to produce electricity on site;
• stormwater capture and improving water recycling for re-use in the manufacturing process;
• improving insulation and recovering waste heat to improve manufacturing process efficiency;
• process re-engineering involving the adoption of energy efficient manufacturing tools, that reduce substantially the energy used in the production process.

An eligible applicant for Re-tooling for Climate Change must:

• be a non-tax exempt manufacturing company incorporated under the Corporations Act 2001;
• have, or is part of a group, that have an annual turnover of less than $100 million in each of the three financial years before the year of application lodgement;
• be able to fund the costs of the project not met by the grant (at least two thirds of the cost of the project).

Eligible projects must be directed towards improvement of energy and/or water efficiency of manufacturing processes.   The next round of grants has a closing date in June 2009. For more details go to http://www.ausindustry.gov.au/InnovationandRandD/Re-ToolingforClimateChange 

Story sourced from Steve Sanders Dept of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research steve.sanders@innovation.gov.au

Business Support 2: Tax break for small businesses

Small businesses investing in assets of more than $1000 before the end of June will receive an additional tax deduction of 30 per cent under the Government's $2.7billion temporary tax break scheme. Under the scheme, a small business that buys and installs a $2000 computer can claim an additional $600 deduction in its 2008-09 tax return. Small businesses must have an annual turnover of $2 million or less to benefit from the scheme.

For assets worth $1000 or more purchased from July 1 to December 31, small businesses can claim an additional 10 per cent deduction. ACT Chamber of Commerce chief executive Chris Peters said the tax break would trigger quicker spending into the economy. He said the whole $42 billion nation building package would bolster confidence and entice businesses to spend on replacement of small items of capital expenditure.

''That will result in the same way as the $10.4 billion stimulus in early December which flowed quickly into retail. This will flow quickly into office supply houses, because it is retail expenditure. The stock is on the floor, ready to go.'

With thanks to Steve Sanders, Dept of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research for drawing attention to the article by John Thistleton in the Canberra Times of Wednesday 4 February 2008. Steve can be contacted on steve.sanders@innovation.gov.au. 

Business Support 3: Corporate Partners for Change

At a recent  i3net meeting (www.i3net.com.au)  at the Historical Aircraft Society (HARS) facility,  Lyn Eckersley, Industry Engagement Officer at Illawarra State Training Services presented an overview of the Corporate Partners for Change – Regional Program (CPC-R). This program is supported by the NSW Department of Education and Training (State Training Services) and is modelled on the successful Western Sydney Corporate Partners for Change which has been running for ten years.

It aims to assist employers to

• Save on training and recruitment costs
• Have access to a pool of skilled people for employment

A report on the Western Sydney initiative can be found at http://www.bvet.nsw.gov.au/news/latest22.htm. Further details from Lyn Eckersley on 4224 9328.

Event: Profit, Perils and Myths of Outsourcing

The Western Sydney Business Centre has announced another seminar in its 2009 Business Growth Seminars Program with: Profits, Perils and Myths of Outsourcing: HR, IT, Accounting and Pay Roll: 25 February 2009, 8.30am to 10.30am

“Outsourcing has historically always been seen by companies as an option to reduce costs.  Whilst this is certainly one of the benefits there are several other business benefits to outsourcing including helping business owners and managers to work on the business, and improve customer service and sales.

This seminar will cover

• How to select an outsourcing partner
• How to manage and get the most from an outsourcing relationship
• Best Model for outsourcing

To register send an email to dsrdparramatta@business.nsw.gov.au with your contact details.
For more information contact Western Sydney Business Centre (telephone 02 8843 1100);
NSW Department of State and Regional Development, Level 2, 470 Church Street, North Parramatta  NSW  2151. For future seminars go to: www.business.nsw.gov.au and click on  Upcoming Events on right hand side of home page.

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