PeeWee double dog dared me!

[Deaf Bob]

http://grist.org/list/crude-oil-made-out-of-pig-poo-is-totally-going-to-save-our-bacon/

Our future...

[Deaf Bob]

Crude oil made out of pig poo is totally going to save our bacon
By Sarah Miller

This may look like an ordinary pig butt, but it’s a fuel-generating machine. (Photo by Travis S.)
One pig produces about eight pounds of manure a day. (Try not to think how many Reader’s Digests it might go through if it eliminated sitting on a toilet — you’ll just gross yourself out.) Anyway, that’s a lot of waste. But now, thanks to scientists at the University of Illinois, it might represent a lot of precious, vehicle-propelling, revenue-producing crude oil.

That’s right: Scientists have figured out a way to turn some of the stinkiest feces ever pooped out an animal’s butthole into an important alternative to petroleum. The process uses thermochemical conversion, in which heat and pressure act on the pig doo-doo in a controlled, extremely sped-up version of what the Earth does to dead mammoths or whatever over the course of millions of years.

So of course this is already awesome news, and it’s made more awesome by the fact that safely disposing of pig manure is a huge headache. (It’s what we call a two-fer, which is also what a pig calls it when he poops twice.) They’re already trying out this mega-compressed pig poo as a binder for asphalt in a road project in Illinois, which is not the most useful application for oil (it goes IN the car, guys), but the researchers have been able to refine the stuff into a fuel they say could compete with diesel. A 10,000-hog farm could produce about 5,000 barrels of crude oil per year, which we hope to use to power vehicles taking us anywhere that sells bacon.

[pdub]

Good job Bob!

[oletrux4evr]

let's see.........5,000 barrels isn't even close to the current demand for fuel, so how many farms are needed?. 10,000 pigs will need to eat tons of feed to produce that much manure.....how much corn will that take? Very high cost/yield ratio. Pig farms already have trouble with the odor issues...... I don't think this is anywhere close to being practical. It doesn't pass the smell test.

[DanStokes]

I think the point is that the current uses of pig droppings are limited and this gets rid of the poo. I'm convinced that there is no single solution to the energy deal but instead it'll take many solutions working together to keep us rolling - and this might be one of them. The real question is, "Does this produce more fuel than it takes to make it?" Or would we be better off turning it into methane.

Still, a great possibility.

Dan

[pdub]

Yeah, my reply to Bob on email was sort of a statistical guess that for every 10,000 pigs-on-a-farm, there will be a few hundred pissed off neighbors.

But I finally got Bob to post an attachment! Bob done good.

A great exercise. But wait....could we actually run on pig shit? Intriguing....

[Deaf Bob]

I'm wondering, when it is made into asphalt...does the miles of roads smell like pig shit?

[pdub]

I'm wondering, when it is made into asphalt...does the miles of roads smell like pig shit?

It sure does in eastern North Carolina, and they haven't even paved with that yet!

Sorry Dan....

[DanStokes]

Eastern NC roads smell like sea shells. At least, some of 'em do - but not as much as Florida roads.

Dan

[hoofhearted]

What do you think it will do to the people with fart cans on their cars??? We will have to call the pig poo cans now.

[SuperBuickGuy]

there's that familiar song in the wind, this thread is well on its way to derailler... not that it would stink any more then it does already

[Deaf Bob]

Derail away... Bothers me none...:

[Pumpkin]

This is easier

[pdub]

Derail away... Bothers me none...:

Derail ME. Bob sent me that on email and I sure nuff double dog dared him to post it up here.

You can't go against a double dog dare. I forced him!

pdub

[Deaf Bob]

This is easier

That guy is a hell of a pig jockey!
Made me lol!
You gotta try it sometime...