Posted on 03/03/2006 12:14:12 PM PST by tallhappy
Japanese Make Gasoline From Cattle Dung
By KOZO MIZOGUCHI, Associated Press WriterFri Mar 3, 7:57 AM ET
Scientists in energy-poor Japan said Friday they have found a new source of gasoline — cattle dung.
Sakae Shibusawa, an agriculture engineering professor at the Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, said his team has successfully extracted 1.4 milliliters (0.042 ounces) of gasoline from every 100 grams (3.5 ounces) of cow dung by applying high pressure and heat.
"The new technology will be a boon for livestock breeders" to reduce the burden of disposing of large amounts of waste, Shibusawa said.
About 500,000 metric tons (551,155 U.S. tons) of cattle dung are produced each year in Japan, he said.
Gasoline extracted from cow dung is unheard of, said Tomiaki Tamura, an official of the Natural Resources and Energy Agency. Japan relies almost totally on imports for its oil and gasoline needs.
The team, helped by staff from the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology near Tokyo, produced gasoline by adding several unspecified metal catalysts to the dung inside a container and applying a 30-atmosphere pressure and heat of up to 300 degrees Celsius (572 Fahrenheit), Shibusawa said. Details of the catalysts could not be disclosed, he added.
The team hopes to improve the technology so that it can be used commercially within five years, Shibusawa said.
In a separate experiment revealing another unusual business potential for cow dung, another group of researchers has successfully extracted an aromatic ingredient of vanilla from cattle dung, said Miki Tsuruta, a Sekisui Chemical Co. spokeswoman. The extracted ingredient, vanillin, can be used as fragrance in shampoo and candles, she said.
Tsuruta said the vanillin was extracted from a dung solution in a pressurized cooker in a project co-organized by a Japanese medical research institute.
A lot of puns and bad jokes possibe, I know, possible, but, if this is true ...
Now, if they can master making Shinola out of that stuff, I'm going to invest heavily.
TX once again will be on the forefront of energy production. That and Washington DC.
If they can make it from Dummyrat dung we are all set...
Japanese Cattle: Their stuff don't stink.
Sounds like another application of thermal depolymerization.
--yeah---sonds like the "hydrogen" economy--all it takes is unlimited free electricity--
This translates to 1,849,204 gallons of gasoline. I would imagine the US cattle industry is much, much larger. Hmmmmmm......
God I'd love to say to the ragheads : "Oh, sorry, we don't need your oil. We'd rather use COW DUNG."
I'd guess it needs more than it generates.
* Thermochemical conversion (TCC) is limited to the changing of manure to crude oil.
* Thermal conversion process (TCP) is limited to the changing of manure and vegetable waste to crude oil.
That'd be pretty fantastic.
I call dibs on the D.C. poop! You all heard me! I'll be RICH I tell you!
RICH!
Hhmmm...Superman use to do that with coal, and he got a diamond!
Gasoline from bulls**t, huh? Praise God! Finally, Bill Clinton is good for something.
His friends call him Chip.
Great news. We have one of the world's largest producing areas of cattle dung. Washington DC.
I tought that was Underdog.
It's all Bullsh*t these days!
Emphasis on "breaking".
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