The ABC23 Files
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Is L.A. Sludge Really So Bad?
Stan Ellis of Global Mastics doesn't give too many interviews. Luckily I got one on my personal blog when he ran for assembly. Now I have another one, this time for ABC23, and it's all about sludge.
I remembered our initial interview where Ellis mentioned he had ideas about how sludge could be converted into usable energy. I ran into him at Buck's birthday bash. Measure E had just been overturned. We said hello and started talking sludge. He wore his big cowboy hat and looked like he'd be better off on a horse than talking to a city slicker like me. A friendly conversation quickly turned into a larger exploration on the topic of sludge profitized through energy conversion and as an asphalt filler. Yes, poopy roads could happen. I left my interview with Ellis thinking, is L.A. sludge really so bad? (Sorry the digital camera video is so small) Read my report: "Is L.A. Sludge Really So Bad?" 11 comments from 7 users
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posted by
blognroll
on Aug 20, 2007 at 04:14 PM
I like to put a little on my breakfast cereal in the morning, or spread a little on my toast. That, a cup of coffee, and a big gulp of fresh Bakersfield air as I step out the door never fails to invigorate me and gives me all I need to face the challenges of the day.
posted by
ABC23
on Aug 20, 2007 at 04:18 PM
You can scrape the ash-sludge out of the sky like butter for your bagels.
posted by
CheshireCat
on Aug 20, 2007 at 04:18 PM
Stan Ellis is full of sludge.
posted by
mattloch
on Aug 20, 2007 at 04:20 PM
"Is L.A. Sludge Really So Bad (As Long As We Don't Put It On Cropland)" would perhaps be a better title.There are all sorts of ways to convert "waste" into energy. Not all of them are good. (They used to burn trash at dumps, you know.) At a certain point, the costs of burning outweigh the benefits. posted by
gsisola
on Aug 20, 2007 at 04:21 PM
"You could solve the sludge problem"...... PROBLEM being the key word here. He spoke of ways to "deal" with it. Why do we have to deal with their problem, GOD knows we have enough problems of our own. Lets not forget what this great stuff is. Just another way for L.A. to "dump" on us. If it is such a great thing to deal with this stuff, why don't they "deal" with it ? posted by
ABC23
on Aug 20, 2007 at 04:33 PM
Gsisola: Ah, but if you can turn it into profit then that brings new business to an area plagued with high unemplyment. posted by
ABC23
on Aug 20, 2007 at 04:35 PM
And in the end, it's only an idea, maybe it's just wishful thinking. Gsisola, you have a point. Because in the meantime, the sludge just keeps rolling in, the result of a losing battle...
In my water wars article it was sort of the reverse. People in the north not wanting their water to run south through the central valley... posted by
sagefever
on Aug 20, 2007 at 04:36 PM
*Heavy Metal* not the music , the elements. Toxic fumes, bacteria, *god knows what else* yummy. Maybe all good band names~ but all excellent reasons to say sludge really is that bad.
posted by
mattloch
on Aug 20, 2007 at 04:48 PM
ABC23, I don't know if you've noticed, but right now the county has kind of a surplus of fly ash. Remember the "moon piles" from a year or so back out by Shafter (or was it Wasco)? There are a few more stashed around the county away from prying eyes, and they're all getting larger, not smaller.
posted by
ABC23
on Aug 20, 2007 at 04:55 PM
Mattloch: And that's why I wrote my article, to let people know there are solutions. How do you find a solution to that one? posted by
Griffon64
on Aug 22, 2007 at 11:40 AM
Making stuff out of other stuff means that you have to invest a certain energy into the making process. And the product on the other side had better be worth more than what you put into it. In theory I'm sure you could even make cars out of ash - say you compact the ash enough and add some stuff to it to form a viable composite. But what will it cost? More than making cars in other ways, I betcha.
"Creating dried bio-solid asphalt fillers would be the same process used in refinery-based fillers. Water and unusable material must be drained from usable solids using complex heating and centrifuges. The materials are then dried and processed.The only reason Ellis doesn’t transform bio-solids into such filler material is because his company can make more money using refinery sludge. Converting Los Angeles sludge into a filler-related product could take five years for any company to develop into a solid business." Bingo. I call sludge on this one. ( oh, and it is "coarse", not "course", right? ) As a postscript, I'm all for finding uses for the waste we create, so I agree with Ellis on that one. I have to wonder just how much "filler" the country really needs and whether this "filler" can't be produced cheaper and of better quality using different processes.
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