U.S. Sustainable Energy Corp. demos economical fuel for deisel and gas engine (Video link)

http://www.ussec.us/index.php?page=87 ^ | 10/31/2006 | USSE

[lyonel]

In tropic soy bean can yield twice per year. However oil palm is the preferred crop because they averagely produce 12,000 kg per year per acre of fruits at an oil extraction rate of 18%. This amount to 2160 kg of palm oil per acre. With conversion rate of 85% to biodiesel, it is 1836kg of biodiesel per acre per year. In S.E. Asia it is a hot investment item this year.

[TKDietz]

A barrel of oil is 42 gallons. How much gasoline and diesel you get varies considerably, but it's a lot less than 40 gallons. I've read that on average we only get about 19 gallons of gasoline from a barrel of oil. I don't know if that is true or not, but I do know that a good bit of each barrel of oil is not converted into liquid fuel. A lot of it gets used for things like asphalt, plastics, etc.

[TKDietz]

"every acre devoted to the growth of fuel is an acre tqaken away from the growth of food."

That's not necessarily true. We export more corn for instance than we convert into ethanol. Much if it is dumped on foreign markets cheap. The Mexicans are raising a big stink about this now because our corn actually sells down there for less than what it costs for them to produce it themselves. We're putting Mexican farmers out of business, and they're getting all upset about it and talking about how "maize" is such an important part of their history and culture and how bad we are for dumping all this cheap corn on their markets. We will never come close to actually replacing all the fuel we burn in our cars with ethanol or biodiesel. We couldn't grow enough feedstock for that. But we aren't anywhere close to cutting into our food supply yet. We still have capacity to grow a lot more biofuel feedstock before that happens. As long as we don't overdo it we'll be fine and we'll be able to supplement our fuel supply, create lots of jobs, and keep more of our money here instead of sending it to crazy Arabs and evil dictators.

[Toby06]

This isn't typical biodiesel. I watched the video but it cut out before anything really got started.

[Toby06]

Biodiesel isn't some snake oil, you could use it in your home furnace with no modifications.

[Texas Mulerider]

>>This has been a fun discussion full of good information and hopefully a first look into a bright new source of fuel.

Indeed! IMHO biodiesel is the most promising of the biofuels. I'm surprised no one has mentioned algae as the most prolific crop for producing oil; it produces exponentially more usable oil than soy, palm, or rapeseed (algae produces between 5,000 and 15,000 gallons per acre/year). And it can be pond-cultivated in arid regions, thereby eliminating competition with productive farmland.

Won't happen anytime soon, but this guy thinks it's theoretically possible to replace all petroleum currently used in the U.S. for transportation purposes with homegrown biodiesel:

Widescale Biodiesel Production from Algae

[P-40]

We couldn't grow enough feedstock for that.

Not yet. :)

[Recon Dad]

Wow, had no clue. I've got a half acre of property that is just taken up by grass right now and if I dig a........

After trying to watch the entire 43 minutes of the streaming video I came to the conclusion that if in fact their plan really works the first thing they need to do is get some people out front to deliver the message. I like the home spun look of the demo, but they need marketing help very badly.

[Old Professer]

Yup.

[Old Professer]

The presenter would have been better off hiring the Oxy-clean guy.

[Recon Dad]

Marvelous! I unfortunately am plagued by a horrible case of naivete.

[US_MilitaryRules]

Stock price down 40% today. Who woulda thought that!

[Recon Dad]

I can't imagine what it could be, but stocks and gambling are very similar. Somebody knows something.