BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                SB 498
                                                                       

                      SENATE COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
                              Senator Jerry Hill, Chair
                              2013-2014 Regular Session
                                           
           BILL NO:    SB 498
           AUTHOR:     Lara
           AMENDED:    January 7, 2014
           FISCAL:     Yes               HEARING DATE:  January 15, 2014
           URGENCY:    No                CONSULTANT:      Rebecca  
           Newhouse
            
           SUBJECT  :    BIOMASS: CONVERSION TECHNOLOGY
           
            SUMMARY  :    
           
            Existing law  , under the California Integrated Waste Management  
           Act (Act): 

           1) Requires each city or county source reduction and recycling  
              element to include an implementation schedule that shows a  
              city or county must divert 50% of solid waste from landfill  
              disposal or transformation by January 1, 2000, through  
              source reduction, recycling, and composting activities  
              (Public Resources Code §41780).

           2) Establishes a state policy goal that 75% of solid waste  
              generated be diverted from landfill disposal through source  
              reduction, recycling, or composting by 2020 (PRC  
              §41780.01). 

           3) Defines "transformation" to mean incineration, pyrolysis,  
              distillation, or biological conversion other than  
              composting and specifies that "transformation" does not  
              include composting, gasification, or biomass conversion  
              (PRC §40201).

           4) Defines "biomass conversion" to mean the controlled  
              combustion, when separated from other solid waste and used  
              for producing electricity or heat of specified biomass,  
              including, agricultural crop residues, bark, lawn, yard,  
              garden clippings, leaves, silvicultural residue, tree and  
              brush pruning, wood, wood chips, and wood waste and  
              nonrecyclable pulp or nonrecyclable paper materials (PRC  









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              §40106).

           5) Specifies that "biomass conversion" does not include the  
              controlled combustion of recyclable pulp or recyclable  
              paper materials, or materials that contain sewage sludge,  
              industrial sludge, medical waste, hazardous waste, or  
              either high-level or low-level radioactive waste (PRC  
              §40106).

            This bill  :  

           1) Includes conversion technologies in the definition of  
              "biomass conversion."

           2) Defines "conversion technology" as a method capable of  
              converting biomass into marketable products and fuels  
              through a noncombustion thermal, chemical, or biological  
              process. 

            COMMENTS  :

            1) Purpose of Bill  .  According to the author, "Existing  
              California law defines "biomass conversion" as the direct  
              combustion of certain listed types of biomass materials  
              such as yard clippings, wood waste, and agricultural  
              residues.  This definition excludes conversion technologies  
              that can more efficiently generate electricity from those  
              same biomass materials with lower air emissions.  SB 498  
              will help facilitate cleaner and more efficient  
              technologies to develop in California for converting  
              organic waste to electricity and help the state reach its  
              75% waste reduction goal. Specifically, SB 498 includes  
              conversion technologies (CT) within the definition of  
              biomass conversion.  While CT could potentially have  
              positive environmental impacts in California, our ability  
              to use CTs as a potential "tool in our tool box" of waste  
              diversion technologies is hindered by a lack of inclusion  
              of CT in current conversion definitions."  

           2)Conversion technologies  .  According to CalRecycle, conversion  
             technologies are processes that can convert organic  
             materials into usable forms of energy including heat, steam,  
             electricity, natural gas, and liquid fuels. 









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             Thermochemical conversion processes are characterized by  
             higher temperatures and faster conversion rates and include  
             combustion, gasification, and pyrolysis.  Pyrolysis is the  
             thermal decomposition of feedstock at high temperatures  
             (greater than 400?F) in the absence of air, whereas  
             gasification is a process that uses air or oxygen and high  
             heat, (typically above 1300?F) to convert feedstock into a  
             synthetic gas or fuel gas. Gasification uses less air or  
             oxygen than incineration processes. Thermochemical  
             conversion is best suited for lower moisture feedstocks.  

             Biochemical conversion processes include aerobic conversion  
             (i.e., composting), anaerobic digestion (which occurs in  
             landfills and controlled reactors or digesters), and  
             anaerobic fermentation (for example, the conversion of  
             sugars from cellulose to ethanol).  Biochemical conversion  
             proceeds at lower temperatures and lower reaction rates.   
             Higher moisture feedstocks are generally good candidates for  
             biochemical processes.  
              
             Physiochemical conversion involves the physical and chemical  
             synthesis of products from feedstocks (for example,  
             biodiesel from waste fats, oils, and grease--known as FOG)  
             and is primarily associated with the transformation of fresh  
             or used vegetable oils, animal fats, greases, tallow, and  
             other suitable feedstocks into liquid fuels or biodiesel. 

             The definition of transformation in current law captures  
             many thermochemical and biochemical conversion technologies,  
             but some processes that would technically qualify as  
             conversion are specifically excluded by statute, namely  
             composting, gasification and  biomass conversion  (i.e.,  
             combustion of greenwaste). 

            3) Solid waste diversion credit for biomass at conversion  
              facilities  .  Current law requires jurisdictions to divert  
              50% of solid waste from landfill disposal or transformation  
              through source reduction, recycling, and composting  
              activities. Prior to 2008, diversion estimates to determine  
              compliance with the 50% diversion mandate were performed by  
              calculating the quantity of solid waste generation and  
              estimating the amount of diversion.  SB 1016 (Wiggins)  









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              Chapter 343, Statutes of 2008, changed the diversion  
              calculation by only considering the quantity of disposal,  
              as reported by disposal facilities (transformation  
              facilities and landfills) and the jurisdiction's  
              population, and comparing that value to a baseline rate of  
              disposal.

              Biomass conversion, currently defined as the controlled  
              combustion of specified biomass feedstocks when separated  
              from municipal solid waste, is excluded from the definition  
              of transformation, and therefore, biomass that is combusted  
              at a biomass conversion facility is not counted as  
              disposal.   SB 498, by adding conversion technologies in the  
              definition of biomass conversion, would exclude those same  
              feedstocks when processed by conversion technologies, from  
              being counted as disposal  . 

            4) Biomass in California  .  According to data from the  
              California Biomass Collective, there are 28 operational  
              facilities in the state using wood or agriculture biomass  
              with a net generation of 565 megawatts (MW).  In addition  
              to these larger scale, biomass combustion facilities, there  
              are a handful of small scale, demonstration and/or research  
              projects in the state that use a noncombustion conversion  
              technology, which generate or plan to generate anywhere  
              from a fraction of an MW to several MWs using biomass. Of  
              these facilities, the Dixon Ridge Farms in Dixon, CA uses a  
              gasification technology to generate 0.1 MW of electricity  
              from woody and agricultural biomass, and the Cabin Creek  
              Biomass Facility Project in Placer County is proposing to  
              construct a two-megawatt wood-to-energy biomass facility  
              that would also use gasification technology. 

            5) Biomass and RPS  .  Current law identifies electrical  
              generation facilities that use biomass as renewable  
              electrical generation facilities and can be certified, if  
              they meet fuel specific requirements, by the CEC as  
              RPS-eligible, and therefore may be used by retail sellers  
              of electricity, and POUs to satisfy their RPS procurement  
              goals. 

              The California Energy Commission defines biomass as any  
              organic material not derived from fossil fuels, including  









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              the feedstocks eligible under biomass conversion. 

              Because, for facilities using biomass to generate  
              electricity, the CEC looks at the biomass used, and not the  
              type of technology used to process that biomass,  SB 498  
              does not alter current law regarding RPS credit and biomass  
              conversion technology facilities  .

            6) SB 804  .  SB 498 (Lara) is very similar to the version of SB  
              804 (Lara) heard in this committee last year, and that  
              passed out on a 6-1 vote. SB 804 was subsequently amended  
              in the Assembly Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials  
              Committee to add a new chapter containing various  
              additional requirements for noncombustion biomass  
              conversion technology facilities, and was ultimately vetoed  
              by the Governor.  

              According to the Governor's veto message, "This bill would  
              expand the existing definition of biomass conversion to  
              include non-combustion thermal, chemical, or biological  
              processes. While I agree with the intent of the bill, last  
              minute amendments made the bill overly complicated and  
              unworkable. Therefore, I am directing the Department of  
              Resources, Recycling and Recovery, in conjunction with  
              stakeholders, to develop a sensible approach that would  
              apply to all biomass facilities irrespective of the  
              technologies used."

            7) Definition of conversion technology  .  SB 498 defines the  
              term conversion technology for the purposes of the amended  
              section.  This definition, in addition to including  
              conversion technologies such as gasification-type or  
              pyrolysis technologies, is relatively broad and may also  
              capture anaerobic digestion and composting processes.  The  
              committee may wish to suggest that the author commit to  
              working with committee staff, CalRecycle and stakeholders  
              to determine if the definition of conversion technologies  
              needs to be narrowed, and if so, to amend the definition as  
              appropriate. 
           
            8) Related legislation  .  SB 804 (Lara) of 2013 included  
              conversion technologies in the definition of biomass  
              conversion and added requirements for those facilities. SB  









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              804 was vetoed by the Governor. 

            SOURCE  :        California State Association of Counties 
                          County of Los Angeles
                          
            SUPPORT  :       Anaergia Services
                          City of Torrance
                          City of Vernon
                          County of Santa Barbara
                          County of Ventura
                          Los Angeles County Solid Waste Management  
                          Committee/
                                Integrated Waste Management Task Force
                          Rural County Representatives of California


            OPPOSITION  :    None on file