[itsahoot]

Thermodepolymerization -- or "thermal depolymerization" -- is a process that converts stuff into oil. And by "stuff" I mean just about anything: garbage, medical waste, animals and animal parts (e.g., cows with mad-cow disease, or offal from chickens that have been made into McNuggets), used computer parts, tires, and so on, seemingly ad infinitum. This is not just a theoretical process. It is real, out-of-the-lab stuff happening on an industrial scale. It's being done by ConAgra Foods in Carthage, Missouri(click on link below to see plant) -- at one of the company's Butterball Turkey plants, where up to 200 tons of turkeys are being turned into oil every day. Once more: This is real stuff. Garbage is being turned into oil by a process that's safe, clean, and in use today. Essentially, thermal depolymerization or TDP mimics a process the earth itself uses to 'process' what gets buried and break it down. Over millions of years, heat and pressure break the bonds that hold these waste products together. TDP accelerates the process. The leading company doing TDP is Changing World Technologies of West Hempstead, N.Y. More to come...http://www.changingworldtech.com/home.html

[redgolum]

I am actually at least a little familiar with the process. It is being done, and will probably be done on a larger scale in the future.

In fact, I used to work for a company that made industrial grade veggie oil for lubrication, and that plant in Carthage was one of our direct competitors.