Anything into Oil(solution to dependence on foregn oil?)

DISCOVER Vol. 24 No. 5 ^ | May 2003 | Brad Lemley

[Rate_Determining_Step]

"If a 175-pound man fell into one end, he would come out the other end as 38 pounds of oil, 7 pounds of gas, and 7 pounds of minerals, as well as 123 pounds of sterilized water. "

Let's just end energy problems forever...

[Some hope remaining.]

The $20 million facility, scheduled to go online any day, is expected to digest more than 200 tons of turkey-processing waste every 24 hours.

Man, at that rate we're going to need more turkeys.

[Some hope remaining.]

hopefully small enough to power the flux capacitor in your DeLorean.

[PeaceBeWithYou]

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[js1138]

It seems to me (twisted brain cells) that the Germans during WWII developed a process of turning coal into gasoline. Anyone know anything about this.

No problem, if cost is no object. The only thing new with this project is the claim of low cost.

[syriacus]

Your brain cells are working just fine...

http://www.cartage.org.lb/en/themes/Biographies/MainBiographies/B/Bergius/1.html

Bergius, Friedrich Karl Rudolph (1884-1949)
German research chemist who invented processes for converting coal into oil and wood into sugar. He shared a Nobel prize 1931 with Carl Bosch for his part in inventing and developing high-pressure industrial methods.

Bergius was born near Breslau, Silesia (now in Poland), the son of the owner of a chemical factory. He studied chemistry at the universities of Breslau and Leipzig, and did research at Karlsruhe Technische Hochschule with German chemist Fritz Haber, who introduced him to high-pressure reactions. Bergius worked in industry 1914-45, then left Germany and eventually settled in Argentina 1948, as a technical adviser to the government.

In 1912 Bergius worked out a pilot scheme for using high pressure, high temperature, and a catalyst to hydrogenate coal dust or heavy oil to produce paraffins (alkanes) such as petrol and kerosene. Yielding nearly 1 tonne of petrol from 4.5 tonnes of coal, the process became important to Germany during World War II as an alternative source of supply of petrol and aviation fuel. He also discovered a method of producing sugar and alcohol from simple substances made by breaking down the complex molecules in wood; he continued this work in Argentina, and found a way of making fermentable sugars and thus cattle food from wood.

[DuncanWaring]

if this technology woulda come on line a couple years ago, ...

If this technology had come on line a couple of years ago, Saddam Hussein would still have been a murderous thug a couple of months ago.

[chaosagent]

"Just converting all the U.S. agricultural waste into oil and gas would yield the energy equivalent of 4 billion barrels of oil annually. "

"A nice dream but doing it would present quite a number of logistical nightmares"

How so? Think about it. Just about all agricultural products are shipped to a central facility. Milk, corn, wheat, soybeans, etc., all get shipped out.

Now the waste will too.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

How so?

My thought was not of the waste but of distributing the end product. Infrastructure to deliver the oil etc. would need to be built and that means using energy. There would likely need to be a large network of delivery pipelines to a central depot or several depots from which trucking could then distribute it.

No matter what the hurdles are, I'm all for it.

[Sonny M]

Makes sense, to them Oil is oil. They are currently using the middle east as an excuse, but they do not like the idea of any kind of oil or fuel, there logic is that they want a "cleaner, less polluting fuel", preferrably hydrogen or electricity (for now, if that day arrives, they'll change for somone else, I think they are closet luddites In MHO).

[xm177e2]

If a 175-pound man fell into one end, he would come out the other end as 38 pounds of oil, 7 pounds of gas, and 7 pounds of minerals, as well as 123 pounds of sterilized water. While no one plans to put people into a thermal depolymerization machine...

Speak for yourself! I mean, um... that's just a crazy paranoid science-fiction conspiracy theory. No one would do such a thing. Not even me.

Muahahahaha

[Sonny M]

The "make a buck crowd" is the reason we still have whales in the ocean. If Rockefeller and Thomas Edison hadn't come along, who knows where we would be. Years ago, whale oil was used to light lamps, untill Edison came up with the lightbulb, and the whale oil that was used to heat and light, was replaced, thanks to Rockefeller with good ole deep in the ground crude.

[xm177e2]

"Oil is made of people!"

"Dinosaurs are People, Too!"

[Sonny M]

There's no doubt in my mind, that over time, with the right management, and with them striving for efficiency, they will make a profit, its just a matter of time. My guess, before they become big money success, around a decade.

[Sonny M]

I can see the return of an old industry. (And perhaps suitable jobs for those on welfare.)

Not likely, alot of those people, just do not want to work, they don't even make the effort to panhandle.

[Sonny M]

You mean open an IPO? They could make alot of money off the bat with publicity, but shareholders aren't as patient, as the government is (people generally like results). They're playing it safe with venture capitalists, and retaining control, eventually they'll do an IPO, thats always the goal of venture capitalists.

The government is basically doing the grants to help ease in the feasability, and give them some time, and leeway, so as not to be burdened while they "work the kinks out". I don't personally like giving grants, but this is an intriging situtaion.

[Sonny M]

You got it right, I know Gulf was working on making a more efficient and cost effective method then the original way, but I think they may have given up.

[Sonny M]

Be nice to watch the mideast become more dependant on US handouts.

To hell with them, no handouts, nothing, nada. Let them go back to herding goats, and sheep, let them turn and become like the worst parts of africa for all I care. If they're lucky, maybe we'll let them become day laborers.