Glossary of Terms

A glossary of industry terms:

Bagasse - Biomass of extracted sugarcane juice. It is often cogenerated and used as a fuel source for sugar mills.
Base-Load Power Plant - Power plant that ignores total power demand and produces a steady, uninterrupted power supply. Most common types are nuclear, coal, gas, oil and hydroelectric plants. They are categorized by low cost, high efficiency and safety.
BASIC - An early computer programming language designed to unify instructions across all computers, particularly ones for home use. This was developed in response to custom languages that were only used for specific purposes (calculations, sorting, etc.). The principles guiding the construction of this language include making it more general-purpose, easy for beginners and computer non-experts to use, providing clear error messages and prohibiting the user from editing the operating system.
Biodiesel - A fuel produced from many different types oil (primarily rapeseed and soybean), often touted as an upcoming source of renewable energy.
Biogas (methane) - A gas produced by the anaerobic digestion (a natural process of oxygenless decomposition) or fermentation of organic matter, namely feedstocks.
Biomass - Material extracted from living organisms, which can then be turned into a fuel. Sources of biomass include municipal solid wastes, industrial wastes, forestry and agricultural residues.
Capital Cost Estimates - Evaluation of costs incurred on the purchase of materials to be used in the rendering of services. These can include equipment, buildings, land, and construction.
Centrifuges - Equipment, powered by a motor that puts an object into rotation around a stable axis. The force is applied perpendicular to the axis.
Citect - A SCADA system that specializes in graphical process visualization, advanced alarm management, historical and real-time trending, built-in reporting, statistical process control, and multi-threaded citectVBA and Cicode programming languages.
Clarifiers and Sedimentation Tanks - Treatment structures that filter out suspended solids in water through the use of gravity and assist with wastewater treatment.
Cleanroom Architecture - An environment in which the concentration of airborne particles is controlled. This is done through the regulation of pressurization, airflow rate, temperature, humidity and filtration.
Co-Generation Plants - Power plant that generates electricity, which then produces heat/energy (usually steam or hot water) as a byproduct that can be used in powering the plant. Topping Co-Generation plants generate electricity or mechanical power first. Bottoming plants utilize a waste heat recovery boiler to capture waste heat and reuse it to produce steam, which powers a turbine that then produces electricity.
Corn Stover - A byproduct of corn, made from the stalks that remain once corn is harvested.
Dewatering Belts - Mechanisms that remove water from waste, producing solid sludge
Digesters - A closed tank that limits the volume of solids and induces bacteria to break down organic matter.
Distiller's Grains - The co-product of drymill ethanol production. All remaining nutrients, including fat, protein, minerals, and vitamins are made into the grain, which is then used as livestock feed.
Due Diligence Consulting - Research and analysis prior to acquisition, investment or partnership. Used to determine if entity in question is viable and if their background contains anything that conflicts with intentions of interested parties.
EPC (Engineering, Procurement and Construction) Contractor Selection - The seeking and approval of a contractor with adequate industry experience and satisfactory credit who is deemed an EPC Company. This is a measure for entities seeking outside financing and investing for their projects.
Effluent System Control - The construction and maintenance of a system that controls the outflow of water from natural or man-made structures.
Ethanol - A product of various feedstocks (primarily corn and sugarcane) that can be used as fuel or in alcoholic beverages. Ethanol is produced from the starches in grains, which are then fermented and distilled into sugar and then alcohol. It is governmentally mandated that ethanol be an additive in gasoline to reduce carbon monoxide emissions.
Feasibility Study - Analysis conducted prior to a project’s inception, which seeks to determine if the project will be successful or if alternative solutions must be undertaken. This analysis includes evaluating economic, technical, scheduling, organizational, cultural and legal practicality.
Feedstocks - Raw materials of industrial processes. These include corn and other grains, wheat straw, corn stover, sugar cane, bagasse, municipal sludge, industrial sludge, food and beverage waste, municipal solid waste, seed oil and manure.
Foxboro - Provides industrial process automation systems. These systems include advanced software applications and intelligent field instrumentation.
HVAC - The climate control system of a building that serves to regulate temperature and humidity.
Influent System Control - The construction and maintenance of a system that controls the inflow of water from natural or man-made structures.
Intellectual Property Asessment - Determines the value, nature and scope of a firm’s intellectual property including patents, trademarks, and copyrights.
Java Script - The most used scripting language on the web designed to add interactivity to plain html pages.
Manure - An animal waste commonly used as a fertilizer to replace mineral salts.
Municipal/Industrial Sludge - The end product of a microbial food chain in the wastewater treatment process. It can be deposited onto agricultural land to act as a nutrient that promotes plant growth.
Municipal Solid Waste - Common waste such as trash or garbage. 32 percent is recovered and recycled or composted, 14 percent is burned at combustion facilities, and the remaining 54 percent is disposed of in landfills. (Source: EPA)
Operating and Maintenance Cost Estimates - Evaluation of costs incurred during and after the completion of a project in regards to operating and maintaining facilities.
Owner's Engineering
Precipitators - A device that removes particles from an air stream, primarily used in pollution control.
Project Definition - The designation of the scope, expectations, time, resources and results of a project.
Pump Stations - Structures that move fluid from one place to another.
Reverse Osmosis/De-ionized Water Systems - A process that propels a liquid through a filter that traps the solute on one side and allows a purified liquid to be received on the other.
Rice Straw - The remaining byproduct of rice stalks after all grain has been harvested. It can be used as a carbon-neutral energy source.
Rockwell - Provides an integrated production and performance suite with programs in design and configuration, quality and compliance, production management, asset management, data management, and performance and visibility.
Scrubbers - Devices that use a spray of liquid to remove pollutants from gas streams.
Seed Oil - Combustible, viscous fats produced by plant seeds. Feedstock seed oils include grape and flax seed.
Seismic Restraints/Rehabilitation - The construction of structures capable of withstanding seismic occurrences or the structural renovation of existing buildings with the purpose of making them more resistant to seismic occurrences.
Simple Cycle Peaking Power Plants - Power plant that produces power in cycles, at times of high usage (peak time), the output is greater and at times of low usage, the power output is less. These are less efficient than base-load power plants because they run for a shorter period of time.
Square D - Electrical distribution and industrial control products, systems and services.
Stillage - A structure, primarily used in breweries, on which casks of liquid (ale) are set
Sugar Cane - The crop from which sugar is obtained and an energy-rich crop and solar energy converter ideal for use as a feedstock
Switchgrass - A perennial species of grass primarily found on prarie lands. It can be used in producing biofuel, usually ethanol, because of its rapid growth and low fertilization. Critics of this argue that its ethanol fuel energy balance is negative, which means that it requires more fossil fuels to produce switchgrass as a fuel than what would be produced
Telemetry - Automated technology that allows data, measurements, and information to be transmitted from a remote location to the system command center.
Trickling Filters - An aerobic treatment system that uses microorganisms attached to a container as a thin film to remove organic matter from wastewater.
Visual Basic - An interpreted computer programming language developed by Microsoft to run on Windows. It allows users to create advanced forms and programs and compiled programs can be run on any computer running a Windows operating system.
Visual C++ - An advanced computer programming language that uses object-oriented programming.
Waste Water Treatment - A three-step process of removing contaminants from sewage. The first-step involves separating solids from the water stream, the second uses bacteria to breakup and decompose organic materials, and the thirs neutralizing and desposing of solids and disinfecting remaining water for reuse.
Water Filtration - The process of moving water through a medium so as to separate and remove particulate matter.
Wheat Straw - Part of the wheat plant that includes the protective cover over the grain, the stem and leaves, and the root system.
XML - A markup language which structures, stores and sends information and functions to describe data and focus on what data is.