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

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

[ggekko]

The company has also obtained multiple DOE grants. The DOE folks are a notoriously skeptical group so this is a significant endorsement of the workability of the company's technology.

[citizen]

where is that Pres. Bush qoute from?

[Question_Assumptions]

Some feedstock contains 100 BTUs worth of energy locked into organic molecules in the form of waste. It takes 15 BTUs worth of energy to process that 100 BTUs out of the feedstock into 100 BTUs worth of oil, gas, etc. In other words, waste + 15 BTUs = 100 BTUs of energy. The "something for nothing" is the energy locked in the waste. It is like using 15 BTUs of energy to pump 100 BTUs of oil out of the ground and refine it into 100 BTUs of oil, gas, etc. You aren't making energy. You are converting it into a usable form. If, of course, this works as advertised.

[zeugma]

IMO, you never see anything really important in the major media. They are too busy printing any words of wisdom that come out of Sean Penn's mouth.

The biggest question I have about the output of the tech mentioned in the article concerns the non-oil related stuff. I'd be interested in knowing if they are able to separate out the heavy metals and such. Otherwise, they'll have a hard time disposing of anything they can't actually use. Now, if they can process that stuff down to the point where you end up with neat little piles of FE, AL, SI and such, then I'd have to say that this is the biggest news of this young century.

[honway]

You wrote:
That 15% simply means you are putting in 100 Btus and getting 85 back as fuel.

From the article:
That means for every 100 Btus in the feedstock, we use only 15 Btus to run the process

The process uses 15 Btus to produce 100 Btus. Keep in mind that 15 Btus comes from discarded plastic, used tires, waste from a turkey processing plant, etc.

Considering waste that would end up in landfills is being turned into energy, the process is actually better than getting something from nothing, imo.

[honway]

http://www.changingworldtech.com/publicprivate.htm

"America must have an energy policy that plans for the future, but meets the needs of today. I believe we can develop our natural resources and protect our environment." -President George W. Bush

[US_MilitaryRules]

just to keep track of this info.

[Chewbacca]

I would buy stock too, but would prefer to open fanchise businesses all over the country.
Create independant States and communities.
License the technology to government military bases to produce jet fuel from all the recycled paper refuse and sewage.

[m1911]

Just stay away from the garbage mashers on the detention level.

[Crusher138]

Yeah, but we are talking about most of the "energy" coming from fairly useless stuff. When you look at the entire process of drilling and refining oil in the traditional sense, I'm sure its efficiency, when viewed as an entire process, isn't too great.

[CollegeRepublican]

I read a book a few years ago about Mad Cow and other prion type diseases and at the time of publication it was thought that prions were simple protiens that were somehow mutated versions of normal protiens. The mutated protiens would change the normal proteins into mutated protiens in a chain reaction like process. These "bad" proteins would then die or kill areas of the brain causing a spongy area in the brain. It was stated in the book that it was hard to break down these proteins. However, I am sure that it is possible under the right pressure and heat conditions, but this process may not produce the given requirements. It is too early to know. I do like the idea and would be interested in reading more about it. :)

[manic4organic]

"It will make 11 tons of minerals and 600 barrels of oil, high-quality stuff, the same specs as a number two heating oil."

Number two oil. I'll say! That's offal clever.

[boris]

"Yeah, but we are talking about most of the "energy" coming from fairly useless stuff. When you look at the entire process of drilling and refining oil in the traditional sense, I'm sure its efficiency, when viewed as an entire process, isn't too great."

If it were not then nobody would drill and refine oil. The reason oil drilling pays off is that the 'battery' was charged over millions of years by photosynthesis from the Sun. Oil is condensed solar energy, which is 'free' because we are obtaining it for far less energy than one can release by burning it.

[boris]

"The process uses 15 Btus to produce 100 Btus."

With math like that I am not surprised this approach appeals to you. My original statement is correct: 100 BTUs in (feedstock); 85 BTUs out (useful energy).

Period.

--Boris

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

"That means for every 100 Btus in the feedstock, we use only 15 Btus to run the process."

If that is true and this process is all that it is cracked up to be, then the Saudis will be sucking hind teat before long.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

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.

[Mr. K]

you caught that line too? Call me when it is up and running.

[m1911]

Those turkey parts (or plastic bottles, or whatever) have btus stored in them also - but not in a form that's useful. This process changes the form of the energy storage without adding any. According to the article, the energy used to recover (not create) those btus is 15% of the btus recovered.

This doesn't seem to be about mystical energy from nowhere, it's about reforming available energy into a usable form.

[webstersII]

"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. "

Sounds like it will be of interest to the guys who took care of Jimmy Hoffa and the rest of the "family". Ain't technology grand?

[MalcolmS]

"I bet any money the environmental wackos will find something wrong with it though."

That's easy - it's still hydrocarbon fuels. It doesn't do anything about greenhouse gases. In fact, it encourages them.

Negative on that. Here's the cycle.

1. Corn plants grow by extracting carbon from atmosphere

2. Turkey's eat the corn plants

3. Turkey guts get reprocessed into oil

4. SUV burns oil, returning carbon to atmosphere

It's a closed carbon cycle. The only time carbon gets added to the atmosphere is when something is fed into the machine that was originally manufactured from drilled oil. For example, plastic made from Texas crude; but that's no worse than the situation today. All other organic sources, slaughterhouse waste, sawmill waste, agro waste and sewage reprocessing represent a closed carbon cycle and a vast improvement in the global warming scenario.

Of course you know this means a new ice age is coming since we need increased atmospheric carbon to offset the previously scheduled ice age ;)