New article describes CWT's "Waste to Oil" technology

[suziedemocrat]

From: http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/science/20051019-9999-lz1c19barrel.html

snip about CWT...

WASTE NOT

At first glance – and that's about all you'd want – slaughterhouse waste looks like nothing you'd want to put in your car. Or even in an adjoining state. It's a wet, slimy, chunky mess of bones, hair, skin, blood, fat, feathers, offal and fecal matter.

But properly processed, some say, it makes a fine oil.

Of course, scientists and engineers have been trying for years to develop an effective, economical process for converting biowaste into useful stuff: fuels, fertilizers, specialty chemicals.

There have been modest success stories, but none involving the nasty stuff coming out of the nation's food industry. What does one do with hundreds of millions of tons of turkey and chicken guts?

One proposed answer: You overcook it.

The process is called thermal depolymerization or thermochemical conversion. Boiled to the basics, it works like this: Carbon-based waste is superheated under pressure, partially decomposing the waste's molecular structure. Pressure is then rapidly reduced, drawing off about 90 percent of the now-sterile water (which is funneled back into the system to heat up the next batch of waste).

What's left is fairly dehydrated. Minerals like calcium and magnesium (from bones) settle out and can be used as fertilizer. The remaining concentrated goo is then heated again to about 900 degrees, further breaking down molecular chains, and vertically distilled. Natural gas rises to the top of the distillation column, light oils settle to the upper middle, with heavier oils just below. Water and finally powdered carbon make up the bottom layer.

Proponents say the natural gas can power the recycling process. The oils can be used as is or further refined into gasoline and other products. Purified minerals can be sold to needy industries. Powdered carbon, for example, is used to make tires, filters and printer toner.

ConAgra Foods, the maker of Butterball turkeys, and Changing World Technologies opened a waste-to-oil plant last year in Carthage, Mo. At peak capacity, the plant is expected to produce 500 barrels of oil a day, plus natural gas and assorted commodities.

Other plants and projects are under way. In Benson, Minn., for example, a power plant fueled primarily by poultry litter is slated to go online in 2007. Cow and pig manure also are being tested. It's estimated that the manure excreted by a single farm pig during its lifetime could produce up to 21 gallons of crude oil.

Which gives new meaning to the words "gas hog."

– SCOTT LAFEE

[LiberalEsto]

1. Can we make oil from Republicans?

There's an idea for you!

[bahrbearian]

2. You can run your car for a week, with the grease from

Tom Delays hair.

[Vogon_Glory]

3. A Great idea That Will Probably Be Opposed By the Right

Since I've read of it, I thought that thermal de-polymerization is a great idea for cleaning up agricultural waste and (hopefully) sewage. As such, thermal de-polymerization will probably be opposed by right-wing ideologues because it looks too "green" and by corporate Repugs because THEIR special interests won't make enough money from it.

[Oerdin]

4. Sewage is the one I'm most interested in.

A city like New York or LA produce massive amounts of sewage which currently must be treated then dumped into oceans. If these system could be done at the same cost or slightly more then it costs to treat the sewage then we'd produce usable oil & gas along with clean water. That locally produced clean water would really help arid places like Southern California and lessen our dependence upon water brought in from other areas.

[Vogon_Glory]

5. Whirled Nertz Daffy and Eco-Friendly Power Generation

The reason I'm skeptical about the right is because I have read posts on the net by fans of WND claiming that eco-friendly power generation would "hurt the oil companies." (?!) I'm sure that other right-wingers, especially those beholden to the energy companies and to the House of Saud could think up other reasons to oppose such sane, sensible technologies.

[Vogon_Glory]

6. Sewage Treatment Is Good, Too.

Using thermal depolymerization for treating sewage is good, too. The reason I mentioned agri-business waste is because it helps put thermal depolymerization's foot in the door as a form of power generation--and I suspect that the stuff from the lagoons of pig or chicken ordure is a lot more consistent than what you'd get out of a city sewer.

Also, thermal depolymerization would be a boon for those island nations with a tourist trade. Instead of discharging their wastes at sea, cruise ships could off-load their wastes while docked and the island nations could put the waste to use as fuel for their electric generators and to run their transportation grid.

[struggle4progress]

9. CAFOs produce enormous amounts of manure, too. In my state, ..

.. the pigpoop usually ends up in gigantic lagoons, wafting its odors to the nostrils of the neighbors. And the lagoon contents usually end up sprayed on adjacent fields. Turning pigpoop into natural gas would probably be a big political winner here.

[slor]

8. James Baker...

and several other neocons are already involved with this company.

[amandabeech]

7. With the price of fertilizer going nowhere but up and fast,

especially nitrogen fertilizer, some farmers may want to get out the manure spreader instead of trucking all that nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, trace minerals, soil carbon and water to the local fuel plant.

Personally, I think that the enormous confined feeding operations may become things of the past if the price of nitrogen-type fertilizers doesn't go down. It's made from natural gas and that's up to $12-13 from what $3 a few years ago. We hardly make it here anymore, and its importation only raises our trade deficit to new heights.

[Dogmudgeon]

10. We've long discussed Thermal Depolymerization here

There are several excellent articles to be found in the Archives. (And when this thread eventually gets archived, so will your article.) :)

To generalize what I've read, TDP is an excellent technology for ecological clean-up and for generating some fuel, too. But the fuel is also a big source of atmospheric carbon (as CO2) and the bonanza won't last once most of the waste is cleaned up. After that point, it becomes much less attractive, though some of the TDP infrastructure will always be put to use.

In other words, we can kill two dirty birds with one stone -- cleaning up our massive waste and managing a transition to a post-carbon world. But there is only so much accumulated waste, and future "waste streams" won't be so robust, though every little bit will help.

If the price of the technology becomes low enough (which is likely), municipalities and farms can recycle their trash and have extra oil for fuel. In the long run, TDP will produce oil as a "boutique commodity" as we switch to better sources of power and practice better efficiency.

--p!