Finally - a breakthrough for oil?

heise.de ^ | December 6, 2004 | Craig Morris

[Sam the Sham]

What interests me about this technology is if it could be used to, say, recycle city garbage into cheap heating oil it could do for the Northeast and Midwest what air conditioning did for Dixie.

[Bikers4Bush]

Untrue, it would taste horrible on white bread. Liverwurst on the other hand....mmmmmmm.

[Squawk 8888]

$15 a barrel on this scale is not bad at all- ten years ago the cost of producing oil from the tarsands was ~13/bbl.

[RightWhale]

Germany has led in artificial oil processes for a long time.

[Ramcat]

Wasn't the diesel engine originally designed (by Mr. Diesel) to run on peanut oil?
Or is this an urban legend?

[RightWhale]

It probably could. Chrysler made a turbine engine that could run on peanut oil or just about any oil. It never went into production, problems with the transmission, but there was a turbine used in Indy car racing for a while. It was dropped because of transmission problems and it wasn't fair to the piston cars when the transmission worked.

[WhiteGuy]

Bump for later

[eno_]

No, that is accurate. Diesel engines were invented for tractors, and Rudolf Diesel envisioned farmers growing their own fuel. Diesel engine requirements are flexible, and biodiesel is not a wild-ass technology. Managing feedstocks and process quality will be a challenge.

[kevkrom]

$15 a barrel on this scale is not bad at all

I've seen in other articles where this price is competitive with small well drilling.

[kevkrom]

The Sierra Club and other environmental wacko organizations will come out against this.

It will put them in a bind, for sure. Clean, renewable energy is one of their stated goals, but they are really anti-property, so they'll find some way to be against it.

[kevkrom]

I can see the slogan now - "Put a turkey in your tank!"

Mmmmmm... turkey...

[sandviper]

Not poo guys..... its the guts, head, feet , in other words the stuff we don't eat.

[RC20]

I'm sure PETA will find their angle to protest. Probably the forced feeding of the turkeys which could occur to get them large for Thanksgiving as well as provide more offal.

On the other hand, could this mean that the turkeys would become more valuable kept alive?

[RC20]

I just saw the previous post. It appears I did not understand what offal was. Looks like turkeys will still be available on Thanksgiving after all.

[the invisib1e hand]

seven tonnes of turkey offal per day into oil at a cost of around $15 per barrel

Snake oil alert. Or is it a Solyent Green alert?

I can cut you a deal on the Brooklyn Bridge.

[Tom D.]

I note that the SkyWeb Express video used the music from Gone With the Wind for its background music. That did not strike me as an auspicious sign.

[kevkrom]

What interests me about this technology is if it could be used to, say, recycle city garbage into cheap heating oil

It should be able to do so, though I'd expect a much higher percentage of non-hydrocarbons in solid waste as I would from biological or petroleum waste -- more minerals, less oil and gas. Still, anything productive is better than the waste of space and material that is a landfill.

[kevkrom]

Four posts and no "junk science" posters.

First bite at #35...

[kevkrom]

the SkyWeb Express video used the music from Gone With the Wind for its background music

LOL... really? My computer doesn't have sound, so I didn't hear the music...

[GOP_1900AD]

Our next vehicle will be needed in about 4 or 5 years. At that time, I plan to seriously consider a bio diesel powered small truck.