Slashdot Mirror
AgroWaste to Oil a Growing Market
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."
The more imporatnt issue is the amount of energy required to produce this "turkey gut oil". Let's say that the energy requirement to produce is equal to a barrel of oil (ie, no real energy savings)... if the price of enery goes up, so does this barrel of "turkey gut oil" goes up proportionately.
So the key is, how "energy efficient" is this process. As an AC noted, it ain't much more efficient than my above scenario.
See my journal for slashdot ID's by year. Mine created in 2005. http://slashdot.org/journal/289875/slashdot-ids-by-year
Robots using human bodies as batteries.
Menzoberranzan Networks