Posted on 03/07/2006 6:05:28 AM PST by S0122017
Japanese make gasoline, fragrance from cattle dung By Kozo Mizoguchi, The Associated Press
TOKYO — Scientists in energy-poor Japan say 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. (Photo gallery: This week in science)
"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.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Gasoline? Okay, great.
But, "One vanilla ice cream cone, please?"
ARE YOU KIDDING ME! ! !
Any bets that this process requires more energy than it creates?
"Man...if I didn't know any better, I'd swear this ice cream tasted like...!"
(They certainly couldn't be any worse than the one they started with, could they>)
Note to self: Do not eat any Japanese vanilla ice cream.
Viva la free market!
You mean: "One vanirra ice cleam cone, prease?" ;)
I guess we can no longer call their cars "rice burners".
Amateurs! MacGyver could take cow dung and extract vanilla and gasoline simultaneously.
"I'll take the chocolate brownie instead please."
Since the manure is probably used on farms I doubt there is too much processing costs that are normally associated with the dung...probably just gas to drive a truck from the ranch to a farm.
> ... 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.
Unfortunately, each 1.4ml extracted required 1.5ml of
gasoline to generate the heat and pressure.
Well, maybe not, but since the claim was silent on the
matter of cycle efficiency, my presumption is not
optimistic.
"You mean this car runs on cowsh&t, man?"
/Cheech and Chong
" Any bets that this process requires more energy than it creates?"
That's not the only issue in Japan. They don't have land mass to be able to just bury their trash like we do. They have to spend enormous amounts on recycling and it's part of their culture.
For example, one thing you won't see in Japan very often is a trash can in a public place. Everyone is responsible for getting rid of their own trash. Believe it or not, they don't even have paper towels in their restrooms. Some places have hand dryers but most everyone brings their own little cloth towels to dry their hands in the restroom.
A marketers dream:
New Herbal Shower Shampoo
Vanilla Essence -- Now with Cow Dung!
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