[John Valentine]

I hate to point out the obvious . . . but if oil sells for $50 a barrel, these guys can make it for $15, why not patent the process and just sell it for $49 a barrel. That one dollar differences is BILLIONS in profit.

One problem is where to get 600 million tons of turkey guts. Thee aren't that many turkeys.

[alloysteel]

One problem is where to get 600 million tons of turkey guts. Thee aren't that many turkeys.

But there certainly is that much sewage discharge, and solid waste now going into landfills. Add to that agricultural wastes from other sources, and we could have a glut of petroleum of various grades that wouild cause the shutdown of practically every operating oil well in the world.

Looking at the bigger picture, countries that are now poor in petroleum, and are bidding on the world market for this resource, such as China or India, could adopt the technology and get themselves a twofer answer

Not so good for most of the Middle East, in the short run. But then, if you ever need sand....

[GGpaX4DumpedTea]

"...600 million tons of turkey guts. Thee aren't that many turkeys."

Translate that 600 million tons as organic waste, not just turkey guts. Of course, we need to remember that there are many more turkeys than those being proscessed for Thanksgiving and Christmas - think of the ones you know - some even post on this forum. :)

[Yardstick]

Thee aren't that many turkeys.

That's what I'm thinking. And even if you have other sources of organic material, you're still talking about intermediate sources. The carbon's gotta come from somewhere, and in the case of turkeys it's from turkey feed, which is probably some sort of grain product grown with petroleum-based fertilizers. This is a nifty idea but ultimately it's just a recycling scheme. It doesn't solve the basic problem of where to get the hydrocarbons in the first place.

[BohDaThone]

600 million tons is 2 tons for every man woman and child in america per year. Or over 10 pounds per day per person!