BILL ANALYSIS �
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