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Lab finds new method to turn biomass into gasoline
Reuters ^ | Apr. 21, 2009 | Jasmin Melvin

Posted on 04/28/2009 6:50:10 AM PDT by decimon

WASHINGTON — U.S. scientists have combined a discovery from a French garbage dump with breakthroughs in synthetic biology to come up with a novel method for turning plant waste into gasoline, without the need of any food sources.

A synthetic biology lab at the University of California San Francisco identified a compound able to use biomass to produce a gas that can be converted into a gasoline chemically indistinguishable from fossil-fuel based petroleum.

(Excerpt) Read more at comcast.net ...


TOPICS: Agriculture; Business/Economy; Science; Society
KEYWORDS: energy; gasoline
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1 posted on 04/28/2009 6:50:10 AM PDT by decimon
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To: thackney

Franco-Yanko biofuel ping.

Didn’t see this one posted.


2 posted on 04/28/2009 6:51:14 AM PDT by decimon
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To: decimon

Given time we will all be fossil fuel.


3 posted on 04/28/2009 6:52:11 AM PDT by screaminsunshine (!!)
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To: decimon

Undoubtedly the Demonrats will find some excuse for not allowing anyone to use it, just like they won’t allow drilling offshore.


4 posted on 04/28/2009 6:52:22 AM PDT by phoenix07
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To: decimon

Biomass to gas to catalytic intermediate to liquid gasoline. I estimate a cost per gallon of $ 12-30.


5 posted on 04/28/2009 6:52:48 AM PDT by pabianice
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To: decimon

There’s a lot of bio waste in D.C.


6 posted on 04/28/2009 6:54:58 AM PDT by bgill (The evidence simply does not support the official position of the Obama administration)
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To: pabianice
I estimate a cost per gallon of $ 12-30.

Perfect, put it in production. The government will buy all you can make.

7 posted on 04/28/2009 6:56:56 AM PDT by Tarpon (You abolish your responsibilities, your surrender your rights.)
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To: pabianice
I estimate a cost per gallon of $ 12-30.

Until they start drilling the great untapped biomass wastelands of Nevada, aka The Grand Buffet Biomass Fields.

8 posted on 04/28/2009 6:59:16 AM PDT by randog (Tap into America!)
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To: bgill
There’s a lot of bio waste in D.C.

The only known substance to produce ever more of itself from thin air.

9 posted on 04/28/2009 6:59:26 AM PDT by decimon
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To: pabianice
How much capital expense are you amortizing over whet period? What are your assumed feedstock cost?
10 posted on 04/28/2009 6:59:27 AM PDT by Jack of all Trades (Bait and Switch - that's change ain't it?)
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To: decimon

Already been done.

11 posted on 04/28/2009 7:00:58 AM PDT by dfwgator (1996 2006 2008 - Good Things Come in Threes)
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To: pabianice

From the article:

With improvements in the rate of production from genetic engineering, Voigt estimates that gasoline could be produced at $1.65 per gallon from sugar cane bagasse.

He expects fuel from cellulosic sources like poplar would be cheaper at $1.10 to $1.30 a gallon. But creating reliable cost models at this point is hard since there are no cellulosic fuel crops in production to base an estimate on, he said.


12 posted on 04/28/2009 7:01:12 AM PDT by marvlus
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To: decimon
WE really haven't heard a peep from 'Changing World Technologies' and their waste by-products into oil process. They apparently have 2 factories up and running, and with Oil at the recent $120+/barrel high, they should have been raking in the bucks as they claim they can 'create' oil for ~$25/barrel.

The plant is apparently up and running, but not as effectively as they had first hoped.Thermo Depolymerization Process

They initially said they could make oil for $15/barrel from turkey offal. Now, they are barely surviving - but the idea is functional.

13 posted on 04/28/2009 7:02:15 AM PDT by Hodar (Who needs laws .... when this "feels" so right?)
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To: Hodar
WE really haven't heard a peep from 'Changing World Technologies'...

The plant is apparently up and running, but not as effectively as they had first hoped.

I think you've well summed it up.

14 posted on 04/28/2009 7:04:42 AM PDT by decimon
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To: marvlus
Voigt estimates that gasoline could be produced at $1.65 per gallon from sugar cane bagasse.

With all the bagasses I see out shopping, they should never run out of feedstock.

15 posted on 04/28/2009 7:05:56 AM PDT by decimon
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To: decimon

Does it only work with French garbage?


16 posted on 04/28/2009 7:18:01 AM PDT by SWAMPSNIPER (THE SECOND AMENDMENT, A MATTER OF FACT, NOT A MATTER OF OPINION)
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To: phoenix07

Good point...to libs it’s not about the economy or the nation, it’s about power...nothing else.


17 posted on 04/28/2009 7:19:38 AM PDT by ontap (Just another backstabbing conservative)
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To: decimon
Labs can now design a piece of DNA on a computer, email it to a DNA synthesis company and have the actual DNA mailed to them in a matter of weeks.

Pretty fascinating little fact, that....

18 posted on 04/28/2009 7:19:45 AM PDT by r9etb
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To: decimon

Sounds worthy of more research. Much better than ethanol.

Of course the left won’t fund this. Anything that acutally allows Americans to use more gasoline (and thus does not knock our standard of living down) is bad. If this can help keep gas prices down and gas supplies up, the left will hate it and not support it.


19 posted on 04/28/2009 7:33:35 AM PDT by Secret Agent Man (I'd like to tell you, but then I'd have to kill you.)
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To: decimon
turning plant waste into gasoline

My car turned into a driveway.

20 posted on 04/28/2009 7:39:30 AM PDT by Dan(9698)
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