Research: Pig Manure Can Become Crude Oil

Yahoo ^ | 04/13/04 | JIM PAUL

[m1-lightning]

URBANA, Ill. - A University of Illinois research team is working on turning pig manure into a form of crude oil that could be refined to heat homes or generate electricity.

Years of research and fine-tuning are ahead before the idea could be commercially viable, but results so far indicate there might be big benefits for farmers and consumers, lead researcher Yanhui Zhang said.

"This is making more sense in terms of alternative energy or renewable energy and strategically for reducing our dependency on foreign oil," said Zhang, an associate professor of agricultural and biological engineering. "Definitely, there is potential in the long term."

The thermochemical conversion process uses intense heat and pressure to break down the molecular structure of manure into oil. It's much like the natural process that turns organic matter into oil over centuries, but in the laboratory the process can take as little as a half-hour.

A similar process is being used at a plant in Carthage, Mo., where tons of turkey entrails, feathers, fat and grease from a nearby Butterball turkey plant are converted into a light crude oil, said Julie DeYoung, a spokeswoman for Omaha, Neb.-based Conagra Foods, which operates the plant in a joint venture with Changing World Technologies of Long Island, N.Y.

Converting manure is sure to catch the attention of swine producers. Safe containment of livestock waste is costly for farmers, especially at large confinement operations where thousands of tons of manure are produced each year. Also, odors produced by swine farms have made them a nuisance to neighbors.

"If this ultimately becomes one of the silver bullets to help the industry, I'm absolutely in favor of it," said Jim Kaitschuk, executive director of the Illinois Pork Producers Association.

Zhang and his research team have found that converting manure into crude oil is possible in small batches, but much more research is needed to develop a continuously operating reaction chamber that could handle large amounts of manure. That is key to making the process practicable and economically viable.

Zhang predicted that one day a reactor the size of a home furnace could process the manure generated by 2,000 hogs at a cost of about $10 per barrel.

Big oil refineries are unlikely to purchase crude oil made from converted manure, Zhang said, because they aren't set up to refine it. But the oil could be used to fuel smaller electric or heating plants, or to make plastics, ink or asphalt, he said.

"Crude oil is our first raw material," he said. "If we can make it value-added, suddenly the whole economic picture becomes brighter."

Zhang's site: Zhang's site: http://www.age.uiuc.edu/faculty/yhz/index.htm

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

Old news.

Posted on FR in September of '03.

[Adam36]

How about this technology.
Car that runs on cooking oil and soybeans

http://www.burkeoil.com/enviro.htm

Did you know that some of the diesel trucks, cars and buses driving around your town are running on alternate fuels instead of diesel fuel? It's cleaner, it's available today, and best of all – it's affordable.

While Detroit offers several variations of new Alternative Fuel Vehicles (AFV) that average over 50 miles to the gallon, independent fuel marketers are introducing “Biodiesel,” a healthier, renewable energy solution that seems to be meeting just about everyone’s approval.

Dennis K. Burke, Inc. is excited to announce that our Burke Gas Station on Beacham Street in Chelsea is the first station in the state of Massachusetts to offer biodiesel products – Biodiesel B20 at the pump and Biodiesel B100 in drums and pails.

Biodiesel is a clean, diesel fuel substitute made from soybeans, canola, and recycled cooking oil from restaurants. It can be burned safely in any standard, unmodified diesel engine, either in pure form (B100) or in a 20% blend (B20) with 80% petroleum diesel. Most truck manufacturers recommend using B20 in their engines.

Pure biodiesel is completely biodegradable, and poses minimal concerns to soil and water contamination. Biodiesel is also non-toxic to plants, animals and humans.

On the performance side, biodiesel’s higher cetane rating results in excellent engine performance and fuel economy. Biodiesel has outstanding lubricity characteristics. Blend ratios as low as 1% can provide up to 30% more lubricity over convent and best of all – it's affordable.

While Detroit offers several variations of new Alternative Fuel Vehicles (AFV) that average over 50 miles to the gallon, independent fuel marketers are introducing “Biodiesel,” a healthier, renewable energy solution that seems to be meeting just about everyone’s approval.

Dennis K. Burke, Inc. is excited to announce that our Burke Gas Station on Beacham Street in Chelsea is the first station in the state of Massachusetts to offer biodiesel products – Biodiesel B20 at the pump and Biodiesel B100 in drums and pails.

Biodiesel is a clean, diesel fuel substitute made from soybeans, canola, and recycled cooking oil from restaurants. It can be burned safely in any standard, unmodified diesel engine, either in pure form (B100) or in a 20% blend (B20) with 80% petroleum diesel. Most truck manufacturers recommend using B20 in their engines.

Pure biodiesel is completely biodegradable, and poses minimal concerns to soil and water contamination. Biodiesel is also non-toxic to plants, animals and humans.

On the performance side, biodiesel’s higher cetane rating results in excellent engine performance and fuel economy. Biodiesel has outstanding lubricity characteristics. Blend ratios as low as 1% can provide up to 30% more lubricity over conventional diesel fuel. And a higher flash point means it's safer to handle.

Now, before you say “Well it's about time,” the concept of using vegetable oil-based fuel dates back to 1895 when Dr. Rudolf Diesel developed the first compression-ignition engine specifically to run on vegetable oil.

Biodiesel is registered with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as a fuel and fuel additive and meets clean diesel standards established by the California Air Resources Board (CARB). B100 is a recognized alternative fuel by the Department of Energy (DOE) and the United States Department of Transportation (USDOT).

The EPA is also allowing federally mandated fleets the option to operate an existing diesel vehicle on blends of biodiesel in lieu of purchasing a new alternate fuel vehicle.

Local communities share the health benefits too – particularly decreased smoke and pollutants from buses and town vehicles as more and more fleets switch to the alternative fuel. Biodiesel has been thoroughly tested in urban bus applications by the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Department of Transportation. Biodiesel is the only alternative fuel that can be used in urban buses without incurring large capital expenditures.

As one of New England's largest suppliers of diesel fuel, gasoline and motor oil prodional diesel fuel. And a higher flash point means it's safer to handle.

Now, before you say “Well it's about time,” the concept of using vegetable oil-based fuel dates back to 1895 when Dr. Rudolf Diesel developed the first compression-ignition engine specifically to run on vegetable oil.

Biodiesel is registered with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as a fuel and fuel additive and meets clean diesel standards established by the California Air Resources Board (CARB). B100 is a recognized alternative fuel by the Department of Energy (DOE) and the United States Department of Transportation (USDOT).

The EPA is also allowing federally mandated fleets the option to operate an existing diesel vehicle on blends of biodiesel in lieu of purchasing a new alternate fuel vehicle.

Local communities share the health benefits too – particularly decreased smoke and pollutants from buses and town vehicles as more and more fleets switch to the alternative fuel. Biodiesel has been thoroughly tested in urban bus applications by the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Department of Transportation. Biodiesel is the only alternative fuel that can be used in urban buses without incurring large capital expenditures.

As one of New England's largest suppliers of diesel fuel, gasoline and motor oil products, Dennis K. Burke is proud to be first in bringing biodiesel to Massachusetts.

[Rippin]

Since pig farming is politically incorrect, I'd say this has a chance of working.

[Anitius Severinus Boethius]

An operating plant based on the CWT-TP process has been constructed in Carthage, MO next to a turkey-processing slaughterhouse. The CWT-TP facility processes approximately 200 t/d of turkey offal and grease continuously, 7 days a week. Included in the feedstock are the offal, bones, heads, feet, blood and feathers from the turkeys. The plant produces about 500 bbl/d of API 40+ oil together with about 7 t/d of carbon, 8 t/d of mineral fertilizer, 12 t/d of a nitrogen-rich fertilizer, and a medium Btu gas that is used internally.

Looks like the plant in Carthage running at full capacity (200 tons a day of turkey waste products) can produce 500 barrels a day of light crude in addition to the solids and methane. Not an amazing amount, but imagine every poultry factory, slaughterhouse, and pig and dairy farm with a similar factory. All that waste being reduced dramatically and all the oil being produced consistantly. Will Saudi Arabia be broke in 5 years? No. But we may see a dramatic decline in imported oil with 10 years or so.

[SierraWasp]

"Hey, don't you work for Enron?"

No more than you work for "Mutha Earth News!"

What's with your quotin John "Fallujah" Kerry?

Did you watch "Water World" too many times?

I'm sorry, but all you alternative energy dreamers are gonna end up just as disappointed as the William Miller crowd that Christ didn't return on schedule in 1844!!!

[CedarDave]

I went to the Board of Directors and I see that John Riordan is listed. From his Resume:

John F. Riordan is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Gas Technology Institute (GTI), which was created in April 2000 with the merger of Institute of Gas Technology (IGT) and Gas Research Institute (GRI). With more than 40 years of experience in the natural gas and chemicals industries, Mr. Riordan has served as President and CEO of MidCon Corp.; as Chairman of the Board, President and CEO of Natural Gas Pipeline Company of America: and as a member of the board of Occidental Petroleum Corporation....

I served in an advisory capacity to GRI/GTI from 1989 through 2001 and met many times with their researchers. I have great respect for that organization, and for John to lend his name and expertise to this emerging technology and this small company says volumes about what they are doing. We may indeed be on our way to marginalizing the Arabs, though not for 20 years or more.

[Lazamataz]

Research: Pig Manure Can Become Crude Oil

Islamic automakers throughout the world have declared a fatwa against this researcher. ALLAH AKBAR!

[DannyTN]

I was thinking of calling it mecca-oil.

[ckilmer]

From an article, "Anything Into Oil" about the process; thermal depolymerization process, or TDP. Looks like it may be more efficient than other energy producing industries.


//////////////////

Unlike other solid-to-liquid-fuel processes such as cornstarch into ethanol, this one will accept almost any carbon-based feedstock. 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, an intimate human creation could become a prime feedstock. "There is no reason why we can't turn sewage, including human excrement, into a glorious oil," says engineer Terry Adams, a project consultant. So the city of Philadelphia is in discussion with Changing World Technologies to begin doing exactly that.
"The potential is unbelievable," says Michael Roberts, a senior chemical engineer for the Gas Technology Institute, an energy research group. "You're not only cleaning up waste; you're talking about distributed generation of oil all over the world."
/////////////////////

the second implication is just as awsome as the first one--because it will impact money flows and immigrant flows around the globe. How does that work. Concentrates wealth and in the hands of a few players and sucks money disproportionately out of poorer countries. Its a regressive tax. As a result oil decapitalizes countries that don't have oil and even with those countries who do have oil--the wealth tends to be concentrated in the hands of few. If oil creation can be decentralized as much as this technology promises then money/capital will tend to flow back to underfunded areas of the world. With more money comes more opportunities and there will be less demand to move from third world countries.

[m1-lightning]

What's with your quotin John "Fallujah" Kerry?

NIMBY

Did you watch "Water World" too many times?

Water World sucked.

I'm sorry, but all you alternative energy dreamers are gonna end up just as disappointed as the William Miller crowd that Christ didn't return on schedule in 1844!!!

So you are a prophet?

Help me out here because you are making it difficult. I don't understand why you have such bitterness towards relieving our foreign dependence on oil.

Since you didn't work for Enron, do you work for any other energy companies?

Do you work for a waste management group?

Did you lose your life savings into stock of waste to energy plant?

Have you or are you currently living in Saudi Arabia? - Related to the prince?

Do you oppose drilling in ANWAR or the Gulf of Mexico?

Don't want one of these plants in your backyard?

Was this originally your idea and someone stole it?

Homer Simpson told you so?

[D Rider]

It is already at 40 gw installed power and has maintained a 25 percent growth rate for about 10 years. That is doubling every 3 years.

The only limiting factors, are Greenpeace complaints that they shred birds, and the fact you can't build them within site of land owned by the Kennedys or other "Limousine Liberals".

Just think, if the windmills are strategically placed in the path of migratory birds, and a system is devised to capture and process the bird fragments, we could have a dual fuel plant.

Just a thought. ; )

[CedarDave]

PINGING Farmfriend. This thread is generating heat very nicely!!

[BMiles2112]

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.
Not to be crude, but I can already see it coming.
"Well, Grandma DID want to be cremated, and we ARE low on gas... Anyone thirsty?"

[PsyOp]

There is irony here...

My thoughts exactly.

Can't wait to tank up some. Then I'll go find a mosque and drive back and forth in front of it so they can get a whiff (being sure to adjust the carb to run real rich). Then I'll let them know they've been breathing pig-poop fumes (camera handy so I can memorialize the looks on their faces).

[mingwah]

Anyone want to alert environmentalist Kennedy to the possibilities? NC hog farmers would be hopeful of shutting Kennedy up with this news.

b. The evening was ended with a speech given by President of the WKA, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Kennedy said he considered the pork business a “truly evil, pirated industry that can only make money by breaking the law.” He told the crowd that North Carolina’s rivers were worse today than they ever have been and that people get brain damage by stepping into the Neuse River. In an interview with an Iowa TV station, Kennedy said, “"Let me tell you, the best thing would be if this industry did leave the country." In closing his speech, Kennedy said he was more fearful of the pork business than he was of Al Queada or foreign enemies.

[CedarDave]

I hate windmills (except for small ones for individual farm/ranch generation). The hundreds that are typically put up on mountain tops are a blight on the horizon and do more than their share of bird killing. The eco-nazi's, in their hatred of fossil and nuclear fuels, are oblivious to the downside of this "green" technology.

[Ditto]

If every sewer plant in the country were generating usable methane for fuel and oil from our human sewage, we'd be talking about a large operation with large output.

Actually, it has been used in the past, and quite frankly from an energy standpoint, it's not all that efficient -- at least the way it was done before this new TDP process. The prime example I'm aware of is the Hyperion Wastewater treatment plant in Los Angeles. It has large digesters where the sewage "stews" in bacteria and methane gas is drawn off. The methane is used to fire gas turbines that supply some of the electricity to run the facility. The turbines also exhaust heat which is used to super dry the compost (what's left at the bottom of all the settling ponds). The dried compost is burned in a fluidized bed boiler which is used to produce more electricity to run the plant.

The concept behind the plant, (which was funded by the EPA) was to have a zero discharge facility (no sludge to landfill) and to have it be energy self-sufficient. From what I understand, it never reached either of those goals. The biggest problem was the BTU content of the methane was not only very low, but also highly variable. To keep the gas turbine running at any kind of efficiency, they had to supplement the methane with with natural gas. The same was true with the dried compost --- the BTUs were all over the place.

But it does sound like this TDP process could be a good solution for municipal sewage. Instead of fighting the water, they use it as part of a molecular process as opposed to a physical process.

[Carry_Okie]

Yours is as good a recommendation as any I could request. Still, I have a question:

Dr. Peter Joseph is one of the country's formost authorities on byproducts of combustion insofar as they affect human respiration. He has a hunch that these "biodiesel" compounds may produce methyl nitrate as a byproduct of combustion. Methyl nitrate is the culprit resulting from combusted MTBE, which abetted an increase in asthma rates of 85% in Philadelphia (much of which was due to bogus ADA claims). What do you know about the byproducts of combustion in the use of refined products from these biodiesel compounds?

[Hodar]

but it's quite another to jump to dreamy conclusions with the scofflaws of the laws of nature!!!

What, pray tell, is a violation of the law of nature? In all sincerity, the process of Thermal De-Polymerization is nothing except an acceleration of what mother nature does all by her lonesome. Instead of taking tens of millions of years, we speed it up such that it takes all of a couple hours. There is no law of nature that is threatened, let alone broken.

It's all a matter of time + heat + pressure + components. That's what makes fossil fuels, that's what makes diamonds, and that's what makes a fine beer. We just added the pressure, heat and components and shortened the time. It's the same process.

[farmfriend]

Rights, farms, environment ping.
Let me know if you wish to be added or removed from this list.
I don't get offended if you want to be removed.