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

[Techster]

I've been following this Changing World Technologies story since it came out several months ago. Is the Carthage, MO facility in production? If so, are there specific production results available? I understand this facility and the prototype on the east coast some place was to be about 85% efficient. That would mean 85% of what goes in comes out as a useful/sellable product.

[Carry_Okie]

I think you gave me a mixed and partial answer. Are you saying that the class of chemicals produced by TDP are the same brew of paraffins as are found in crude oil?

[Swiss]

North Carolina, Missouri, Iowa will have membership on OPEC if this technology is good.

Any John Wayne experts out there? I recall the Duke had created a recipe to make oil something like this but can't recall the details.

[Anitius Severinus Boethius]

I live about an hour east of Carthage in Springfield, and yes the plant is up and running and from what I understand it is running about as expected. The turkey processing plant is very pleased with how smoothly the operation is going and how much waste they are able to simply move across the street to be processed.

[redgolum]

Hmm, looks interesting. Not enough info to get an idea of any specifics, but interesting.

If this was used for industrial or municipal waste, there MAY be a concern with the levels of heavy metals and inorganic compounds from something like an old computer. The EPA and the state regulatory people would be all over this like stink on ..... you know.

I might have to look into these guys. I have heard quit a few stories and magic cures, but these guys might just have something here.

[BOBTHENAILER]

HOGWASH!!! Alternative energy is PIG MANURE!!!

Quote of the day.

Kerry-Nader manure can light the world....with bull__it.

With enough subsidies, we can make rubbing two sticks of wood together an "Alternative Energy Source".

[redgolum]

Ment to ping you also. See my previous posts.

[Betis70]

I dunno about John Wayne, but this story brings to mind the Fremen rendering tanks from "Dune".

"Your pig crap will mix with our pig crap."

[CedarDave]

I have to agree with your timetable on this. As existing domestic oil and gas fields play out (even following use of secondary recovery techniques like water and CO2) and expansion to new plays is fought tooth and nail by the enviro-wackos, oil companies in the US will look for new sources of oil to feed crude pipelines and existing refineries. It may well be a niche source initially, but could become much more important in the future as the third world competes with existing sources of foreign oil for their industrial expansion. Also, I think that the process could be useful in refining tar sands and oil shales with are abundant in the western US but are expensive to refine and have waste disposal problems.

[Meldrim]

Well, one place to get the intense heat would be from coal, especially since the energy represented by the coal in Illinois exceeds that found in the Saudi oil reserves.

[DannyTN]

...And then one day Jed was shooting at some food,
And out of it's rear came a bubbling crude.
Oil that is!!!
Pig-farmer's Pepsi!!!
Well the next thing you know Ol' Jed's a billionaire,
The kin folks said Jed move away from there,
Said off shore is the place you ought to be,
So you can outsource your farm to a bunch of Vietnamese.

[Grampa Dave]

I will start believing in alternative energy as a reliable energy source when one of them is available across the country.

Then, it must be cheaper than oil/gasoline and doesn't require us to $ub$idize it with taxes on gasoline and other energy.

Since the Days of Jimmy Carter, I have seen more BS and now PS about alternative energy than any real alternative energy.

When, someone develops an alternative energy source that will be available across the nation, is cheaper than Opecker Oil and more cost effective than Opecker Oil, I will invest a lot of money in that venture. In the meantime I don't invest in eco fairy tales.

[RWR8189]

I think U of I just found their new mascot.

[Rebelbase]

The irony of the possibility of destroying Islam's economy by using the feces of one of its most reviled animals is outstanding.

[Rebelbase]

Do'h!

[CedarDave]

Any liberals lurking that we can use? The produce the most BS, CS and hogwash of anyone around.

[BOBTHENAILER]

In the meantime I don't invest in eco fairy tales.

Well said and summed up neatly.

[CedarDave]

In the meantime I don't invest in eco fairy tales.

Maybe not, but it doesn't hurt to listen to them now and again.

[snopercod]

Uh, that's peak gigawatts. Most of the time, those contraptions just sit there. (The ones that aren't broken, that is.)

[Grampa Dave]

They are the same old/same old fairy tales with new actors and a different name for the fairy tale. The scam is the same.

We have been hearing about how great solar, wind, fecal matter and electric cars are for decades. All of the electric cars/trucks/buses bought in our city/county are in an impound not being used.

This morning we had a little problem with one of our wonderful low flush toilets, the second one in that bathroom in less than ten years. Low flush toilets are a prime example of eco fairy tales that ended up to be real stinkers and messes.

Later this year, Toyota/Lexus will come out with hybrid powered full size SUVs. If that works out, Toyota will probably be a great investment, and any company that enabled them to have this full sized power plant. As usual, I will wait to see before I invest.