Oil Problem solved.......with Bug Dung.....

[JustRalph]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article4133668.ece

Scientists find bugs that eat waste and excrete petrol

Silicon Valley is experimenting with bacteria that have been genetically altered to provide 'renewable petroleum'
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00352/DieselFuel385_352162a.jpg

“Ten years ago I could never have imagined I’d be doing this,” says Greg Pal, 33, a former software executive, as he squints into the late afternoon Californian sun. “I mean, this is essentially agriculture, right? But the people I talk to – especially the ones coming out of business school – this is the one hot area everyone wants to get into.”

He means bugs. To be more precise: the genetic alteration of bugs – very, very small ones – so that when they feed on agricultural waste such as woodchips or wheat straw, they do something extraordinary. They excrete crude oil.

Unbelievably, this is not science fiction. Mr Pal holds up a small beaker of bug excretion that could, theoretically, be poured into the tank of the giant Lexus SUV next to us. Not that Mr Pal is willing to risk it just yet. He gives it a month before the first vehicle is filled up on what he calls “renewable petroleum”. After that, he grins, “it’s a brave new world”.

~more at the link~

[ddog]

this one I like.

Build it.

[HUSKER55]

Wouldn't that be a hoot. :lol: Eating out of house and home would take on a brand new meaning. Imagine someone fighting for rights to your trash,...and sewage.

Got to admit...it would be ironic and poetic. I hope it works.

I wonder how long it takes to make a barrel of this renewable oil? Then looms the even larger question, How many barrels a day on an annual basis can we produce, even under ideal conditions?

Upon reflection, if it works..who cares. We benefit anyway.

What the hell, those politicians in DC might be worth something after all.:lol:


husker55

[ezrabrooks]

The use of microbes in the production of oil and gas has been around for some time. I have heard of them being injected down hole to induce fracturing to enhance production, with their dung giving off methane gas. Don't know how effective the process has been...but turning a bunch of little dirt eating microbes loose underground never sounded quite right to me.

[Tom]

Take that home and plant it in your garden. Grow an oil well.

[witchdoctor]

Sound like a new way for tracks to make money. Plenty of wood chips and Horse $hit(fecal matter not trainer speak). Round that stuff up, make more money and rebate the bettors. A no loss situation. :ThmbUp:

[ezrabrooks]

Sound like a new way for tracks to make money. Plenty of wood chips and Horse $hit(fecal matter not trainer speak). Round that stuff up, make more money and rebate the bettors. A no loss situation. :ThmbUp:

Only ethanol plant that makes sense is located in the Texas Panhandle, near a feed lot, and uses cow manure as a fuel source.

[Tom]

Well, corn-boys, this year's crop is history.
The food supply is severly hurt by this moronic idea to use food for fuel.
Now what? :lol::lol::lol::lol:

[DJofSD]

Only ethanol plant that makes sense is located in the Texas Panhandle, near a feed lot, and uses cow manure as a fuel source.

Mike Rowe has an episode of Dirty Jobs where the droppings of the diary cows are swept into a trough then fed into a holding tank. Methane city. I've read where some farmers are or nearly self-sufficent energy-wise from methane from waste.

Are those altered hydrocarbon producing "bugs" patented?

[ezrabrooks]

Mike Rowe has an episode of Dirty Jobs where the droppings of the diary cows are swept into a trough then fed into a holding tank. Methane city. I've read where some farmers are or nearly self-sufficent energy-wise from methane from waste.

Are those altered hydrocarbon producing "bugs" patented?

No idea on the bugs being patented. I have seen claims of microbes that feast on carbon rich shales, giving off methane, and creating pore space to allow the shales to give up gas trapped therein...whether it works, I have no idea. First use of microbes that I remember was in oil spill clean up.

I remember the Dirty Jobs episode on producing methane from diary cow manure. Methane has been produced from land fills for a long time. The main problem with this type of methane is that is very low BTU, and is really only good as a low grade boiler type fuel.

[ezrabrooks]

Well, corn-boys, this year's crop is history.
The food supply is severly hurt by this moronic idea to use food for fuel.
Now what? :lol::lol::lol::lol:

Yep, the strain on the food supply, coupled with using energy to create energy, was never questioned when the ethanol backers were lobbying for subsidies....why does that not surprise me?

[JustRalph]

With 75% of Iowa underwater.............. a prediction of a 33% increase in corn prices later this year...............sounds a tad bit low to me..........

[GameTheory]

This company:

http://www.changingworldtech.com/

Has been turning "anything" into oil for a few years now. This creates oil AND gets rid of waste. The technology is out there -- it is just a matter of using it...

[witchdoctor]

One of my partners pointed out that trai companies went out of business because they thought they were in the railroad industry. Instead they were in the transportation industry. Today companies like Exxon need to understand they are not oil companies but instead are energy companies.

[so.cal.fan]

This is a fascinating story, Ralph.
Why hasn't this been written up in the U.S. press?
If it's legit.......it really should be.
:confused:

[chickenhead]

just watched "KING CORN" tonight, two guys decide to go to Iowa and grow an acre of corn and learn about the whole process.

A pretty good look at the corn industry. I knew more or less how the current subsidy system worked, I didn't know that it had been reworked in the 70's to give us what we have today. That explained a few things.

Some good footage too. Mountains of corn. Big as a damn pyramid.

[ezrabrooks]

just watched "KING CORN" tonight, two guys decide to go to Iowa and grow an acre of corn and learn about the whole process.

A pretty good look at the corn industry. I knew more or less how the current subsidy system worked, I didn't know that it had been reworked in the 70's to give us what we have today. That explained a few things.

Some good footage too. Mountains of corn. Big as a damn pyramid.

Worked in So. Indiana in the mid 90's, and one thing I learned, give those farmers a price to shoot at, and they can grow some corn.

[JustRalph]

I used to live in rural area west of Columbus Ohio. The whole damn place was corn fields. I had an airplane parked at the local county airfield. The nicest planes on the field were owned by farmers. They would bring in bushels and bushels of Corn on the weekends and just give it away to anyone on the airfield. They worked like hell in the spring and early fall........but they made some serious money. I can imagine what it is like now............