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To: kevkrom
Probably the most abundant and attractive source for biomass is human sewage.

If this technology is for real, I can see cities building refineries on-site at their sewage treatment plants, and then using it to run, well.... whatever diesel engines it works best for.

Of course, there's still solid waste to get rid of, but I think there's probably a lot less of it.

10 posted on 12/07/2004 1:39:43 PM PST by r9etb
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To: r9etb

I beleive everything gets rendered to oil/gas, water, carbon, and minerals (basically, any non-hydrocarbons in the feedstock). As long as you can separate and collect the minerals, you should be able to return them straight to agricultural or industrial use, rather than having them as waste.


12 posted on 12/07/2004 1:42:21 PM PST by kevkrom (If people are free to do as they wish, they are almost certain not to do as Utopian planners wish)
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To: r9etb

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.


21 posted on 12/07/2004 1:49:07 PM PST by Sam the Sham
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To: r9etb

According to other articles, human and animal sewage are one of their projected feedstocks. The efficency would be less because of the relative lack of lipids in sewage, but the avoided costs and environmental benefits are even more attractive.


57 posted on 12/07/2004 2:33:33 PM PST by Rockingham
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To: r9etb
I can see cities building refineries on-site at their sewage treatment plants,

As an aside, sewage plants already use methane extracted from the sewage to drive generators. Our little town does, generating enough electricity to mainly run the plant, but other cities generate enough to sell back to the grid.

78 posted on 12/07/2004 3:39:58 PM PST by marron
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