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Biodiesel From Sewage Sludge
MTorrice writes "Scientists have developed a way to convert lipids from sewage sludge into biodiesel. The low cost and high yield of the sludge process may make it economically feasible as a source of biofuel, the researchers say. Today, biofuel producers use lipids in vegetable oils to derive biodiesel, a mixture of fatty-acid-like molecules. Biodiesel is compatible with existing diesel engines, burns with less pollution than petroleum-derived diesel does, and comes from renewable resources. But current biodiesel feedstocks are expensive, limiting the fuel's widespread use. The researchers from South Korea found that sewage sludge, the semisolid material left over from wastewater treatment, can yield 2,200 times more lipids than soybeans and costs 96% less to process. To turn the sludge lipids into biodiesel, the researchers heated them with methanol."
Sewage: the new bitcoin?
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
They say that fryer oil based bio diesel smells vaguely of fries. This slightly concerns me.. as sewage based bio diesel would smell like...
I've never taken my wife seriously when she's said my poo smells so bad I could use it to fuel my truck for the life of the vehicle.
Chewbacon
The Bible is like Wikipedia: written by a bunch of people and verifiable by questionable sources.
free liposuction for biodiesel production. People could live on fat farms, where they are paid to be fat, in exchange for all of their 'lipids'. free doritos and fox news for all.
read: soylent green won't be food, it'll be fuel.
Now we just need a car design that has a toilet you can hook your butt to directly so you can eat and poop while driving to keep fueling it.
Cueing bad Matrix references in 3... 2... 1...
Think of all the money we've been flushing down the toilet!!!
sure, it's certainly reusable and we're not going to stop producing it any time soon, but this isn't exactly going to help get us off of emission-producing combustion engines. I'd be interested to know the fuel efficiency and emissions of this fuel compared to fossil fuels. Anyone happen to be an expert on this? (my brief internet research isn't coming up with anything particularly helpful)
BOOP!
Meaning the average American would never need to leave their mechanical womb?
Despite the bullshit in the summary, biodiesel is NOT compatible with all diesel engines.
In some VW TDi engines biodiesel can and will cause problems in the fuel injection system and the EGR
system.
Of course I work on these cars for living, so I am sure one of you keyboard commandos will tell
me I am wrong because you heard it on a website somewhere. Hey, fuck up your own TDi, I could care
less. Just don't come to me for sympathy.
BP p.l.c., Chevron Corporation, ExxonMobil Corporation, Royal Dutch Shell plc, Total S.A.., ConocoPhillips Company and the OPEC Cartel would all have some very strong opinions against biodiesel - as they have already done so resulting in what should be a 1% cost-per-Watt-at-the-pump fuel source compared with fossil oil, costing almost the same if not *more*.
Such is the political environment where those with declared interests in those companies that lobby TPTATB (The Powers That Appear To Be) to protect their interests are those lobbied! I'm looking at YOU, Dubya! It's not all bombing Iraq to the Stone Age (I swear I just heard Achmed The Dead Terrorist yelp "Ooh! Upgrade!"), it's oil interests that have held back high efficiency solar plant, wind/tide farms, offshore biomass for fuel and food (kelp!), and better hybrids (I don't know of any that meet Obama's 54.5 target for whenever it is (2015?), among many other innovations that have the potential to save stupid amounts of money for individuals and put paid to war over fossil fuel.
Operation Guillotine is in effect.
Yeah, that's basically the way all biodiesel is made... But the problem with biodiesel isn't just the price of feedstock (used fryer oil is cheap enough already!), it's the price of removing stuff from the feedstock that would make the biodiesel of unacceptably low quality (free fatty acids, BCBs).
xkcd is not in the sudoers file. This incident will be reported.
But does it generate the same amount of bioelectricity as a "120 Volt Battery"?
Hectice, baby, Mercator says hello to you
You are thinking of the Bumber Dumper?
I think its a question of how many electrolytes you feedd the battery, er, human.
No! Just think about all the price hike for chilli. Chilli will be more expensive than gold!
Makes me wonder how World Changing Tech is doing, http://www.changingworldtech.com/index.asp. They have had a plant running for some years processing leftovers from a turkey processing plant. I belive their process will work with sewage too.
....If you want to make biofuels on a truly huge scale, there's only one source that actually makes sense: oil-laden algae.
Since some forms of oil-laden algae can grow in seawater, that right there means anywhere near an ocean the algae can be grown on a very large scale without the enormous expense of finding a source of fresh water. And the waste from processing oil-laden algae into biodiesel fuel can be processed further into either ethanol or turned into agricultural fertilizer.
Welcome to the stinky poo club.
We hold our meetings out-of-doors.
Taking the world by force,
one elevator at a time.
Great anime from South Korea (coincidence?)
central to the plot was recycling poop into fuel when the world's fuel ran out.
"Biodiesel is compatible with existing diesel engines" yeah, except for VWs engines since 2006.
french fries, what is biodiesel made from sewage going to smell like when a car burns it ?? that could be a really unpleasant drive through the city.
...the first time in human recorded history there is a mathematical proof with which to fuel further human population growth and development that the Oil and Gas industry can sell back to us at extremely high profits
So while Biodiesel is still not great for greenhouse emissions
Biodiesel is just fine for greenhouse emissions. It's carbon neutral, an analogue to the photosynthesis loop. It goes like this:
Sun powers plants, that's your energy in. Plants grow and pull carbon from the air and nutrients from the soil. Harvest plants. Press oil from the plants and make biodiesel. Return the leftovers to the land for fertilizer. Burn biodiesel. Biodiesel returns CO2 to the atmosphere for the plants to use back in step 2.
The problem with oil is that it isn't a loop. Pull oil out of ground, burn it, CO2 is released but there isn't anything at the beginning of this process that removes CO2 from the atmosphere. CO2 emissions go up and you get global warming.
Weaselmancer
rediculous.