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AgroWaste to Oil a Growing Market

Posted by Zonk on from the more-than-just-compost dept.

EvilTwinSkippy writes "Last May Slashdot covered the story of Changing World Tech's opening of a plant that converts agricultural waste to oil. Fortune magazine has picked up the story, and followed up on their success. Apparently the turkey guts are not as profitable to recycle as hoped, the company paying $30-$40/ton for animal offal. They are producing diesel fuel at $80/barrel (compared to $50/barrel for petroleum derived diesel). However, the plant has been successful enough to spawn ventures in Europe and the U.S. A pilot plant in Philadelphia has successfully used the process to safely break down and extract oil from sewage, medical waste, electronics, even leftovers from petroleum refining. The solids are metal, pure carbon, and fertilizer. And aside from gas and oil, the only other thing the system produces otherwise is sterile water."

11 of 472 comments (clear)

  1. Sterile water? by Roadkills-R-Us · · Score: 5, Funny

    Does that mean it can't reproduce?

  2. SEWAGE! by Evil+W1zard · · Score: 5, Funny

    Well I have the perfect marketing slogan for this! We can call it STOOL FUEL, Straight from people's butts into your engines.

    --
    News Reporters Make Tasty Polar Bear Treats!
    1. Re:SEWAGE! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      How about Ass2Gas?

    2. Re:SEWAGE! by JPelorat · · Score: 3, Funny

      STFUEL?

      --
      Hokey statistics and ancient misconceptions are no match for a good thought in your head, kid!
  3. Medical waste? by Aardpig · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...from sewage, medical waste, electronics...

    Wouldn't it be truly ironic if the medical waste was liposuction fat (think Fight Club)? Then, the clinical obesity afflicting one in three Americans would itself be powering the automobiles that are, in part, responsible for the obesity.

    --
    Tubal-Cain smokes the white owl.
    1. Re:Medical waste? by That's+Unpossible! · · Score: 3, Funny

      I know a more efficient way: it's called "cycling".

      That depends on your definition of "efficient."

      I am in decent shape, and only rarely am I able to obtain a speed of 60MPH on my human-powered bicycle, and even then only for moments at a time. (Usually after colliding with a vehicle traveling at 60MPH.)

      --
      Ironically, the word ironically is often used incorrectly.
  4. $30-40 a ton for offal? by Nine+Tenths+of+The+W · · Score: 4, Funny

    A)Do they deliver?
    B)What's Darl McBride's address again?

    --
    Slashdot: News for Nerds, Stuff that matters only to them
  5. Oil from medical waste???? by VAXcat · · Score: 4, Funny

    It's PEOPLE! Soylent Diesel is PEOPLE!!!!!

    --
    There is no God, and Dirac is his prophet.
  6. You misspelled "is" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    the giant flaming shitheap IS Nebraska....

    There, better.

  7. Re:Price may not be a problem for long by abigor · · Score: 5, Funny

    "Yes, but this is not a turkey-specific process."

    That's one phrase I never thought I'd ever see.

  8. Re:Price may not be a problem for long by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Yes, but this is not a turkey-specific process. Consider, e.g., biomass (waste or otherwise)...

    OMG! Oilent Green is made out of people! People!