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| 2004-04-13 |
| A University of Illinois research team is working on turning pig manure into a form of crude oil that could be refined to heat homes or generate electricity. Years of research and fine-tuning are ahead before the idea could be commercially viable, but results so far indicate there might be big benefits for farmers and consumers, lead researcher Yanhui Zhang said. "This is making more sense in terms of alternative energy or renewable energy and strategically for reducing our dependency on foreign oil," said Zhang, an associate professor of agricultural and biological engineering. "Definitely, there is potential in the long term." The thermochemical conversion process uses intense heat and pressure to break down the molecular structure of manure into oil. It’s much like the natural process that turns organic matter into oil over centuries, but in the laboratory the process can take as little as a half-hour. A similar process is being used at a plant in Carthage, Mo., where tons of turkey entrails, feathers, fat and grease from a nearby Butterball turkey plant are converted into a light crude oil, said Julie DeYoung, a spokeswoman for Omaha, Neb.-based Conagra Foods, which operates the plant in a joint venture with Changing World Technologies of Long Island, N.Y. Converting manure is sure to catch the attention of swine producers. Safe containment of livestock waste is costly for farmers, especially at large confinement operations where thousands of tons of manure are produced each year. Also, odors produced by swine farms have made them a nuisance to neighbors. "If this ultimately becomes one of the silver bullets to help the industry, I’m absolutely in favor of it," said Jim Kaitschuk, executive director of the Illinois Pork Producers Association. Zhang and his research team have found that converting manure into crude oil is possible in small batches, but much more research is needed to develop a continuously operating reaction chamber that could handle large amounts of manure. That is key to making the process practicable and economically viable. Zhang predicted that one day a reactor the size of a home furnace could process the manure generated by 2,000 hogs at a cost of about $10 per barrel. Big oil refineries are unlikely to purchase crude oil made from converted manure, Zhang said, because they aren’t set up to refine it. But the oil could be used to fuel smaller electric or heating plants, or to make plastics, ink or asphalt, he said. "Crude oil is our first raw material," he said. "If we can make it value-added, suddenly the whole economic picture becomes brighter." Ironic that dependency on middle-east oil might be alleviated by pigs. |
| Posted by:Lux |
| #14 there was an article in Discovery on this issue last year... there are many industrial sized operations in the US that generate more than 1000 tons of pig, chicken or cattle manure per day like NMmoore, I think a lot of methane operations already exist but they are still somewhat primitive, require lots of land for the methane processing and do not reduce the disposal problem enough |
| Posted by: mhw 2004-04-13 9:50:42 PM |
| #13 [Off-topic or abusive comments deleted] |
| Posted by: mhw TROLL 2004-04-13 9:50:42 PM |
| #12 I know that there have been experiments to turn hog waste into methane using "digesters" but oil is a new slant. If the waste to oil thesis works--lookout NC and Iowa will be the next Saudi LOL |
| Posted by: Not Mike Moore 2004-04-13 9:44:08 PM |
| #11 lux it sound more like chainey4doo. |
| Posted by: muck4doo 2004-04-13 6:37:10 PM |
| #10 oh please oh please...so what if it takes multiple pigs X 10 to make enough poop. We have multiple pigs X 10 pooping every day anyway. don't you SEE the beautiful irony in this??? We can tell the Arab world to leave their oil where the sun don't shine....we don't need YOU...pig poop is more important to us than you are. It would just be the ultimate FU. |
| Posted by: B 2004-04-13 5:31:37 PM |
| #9 muck4chainey ? |
| Posted by: Lux 2004-04-13 12:11:56 PM |
| #8 That explains Haliburton's recent interest in purchasing 500 Iowa hog farms... |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2004-04-13 12:10:30 PM |
| #7 Turkey guts to oil isn't an internet myth, they're producing 500BBL/day in Missouri with another plant under construction in Italy. http://www.changingworldtech.com/pdf/GenConfLasVegas3_3_04.pdf The $20M plant produces 500BBL/day, but they don't give any information on financial performance. But then, they were paying to dispose of the waste. They say that old tires, pc's, municipal waste or any other organic material can be used. Assuming no economies of scale, that runs about $390 billion to replace our total oil imports,or roughly 3-1/2 years of oil import payments at current prices. That price tag is less than the cost of implementing Kyoto. The middle east has less than 20 years to invent a real economy. |
| Posted by: Anonymous4132 2004-04-13 11:52:39 AM |
| #6 Zhang predicted that one day a reactor the size of a home furnace could process the manure generated by 2,000 hogs at a cost of about $10 per barrel. It would be nice if the guy gave us a number on the cost per barrel on an experimental basis. If it was $30 a barrel, then they're borderline competitive with OPEC. If it's $100 a barrel, then it's at little more than the talking shop stages. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2004-04-13 10:52:27 AM |
| #5 Yeah Phil B it was turkey manure last time. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2004-04-13 10:16:46 AM |
| #4 This story gets recycled on a regular basis and SDB debunct it about a year back. Go search his archives. Even it works and it is both economically and energy viable, it doesn't scale. There aren't enough pigs even in China to make a difference to energy supply. |
| Posted by: Phil B 2004-04-13 10:12:29 AM |
| #3 Horse manure fuels our energy policy, delivered by (what else?) horse's asses, so it is fitting that pig manure should provide the thing itself. Too bad about the practicality angle. |
| Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy 2004-04-13 10:01:08 AM |
| #2 "Pig Manure Can Become Crude Oil" So . . . that means we can drill for oil in the comment threads at democraticunderground.com? |
| Posted by: Mike 2004-04-13 9:16:17 AM |
| #1 "...crude oil that could be refined to heat homes or generate electricity..." There's the catch: it can't be refined with conventional large-scale (i.e. economical) processes, and it has to be refined before it goes into my small engines or my furnace. Sorry, Zhang, but I'm afraid you lose out to the guys who are putting it into anaerobic digesters and making useful methane and fertilizer. And their processes work for dairy and chicken wastes too. Unfortunately, the payback is 15-20 years, so this is mostly just academic thesis stuff except to the extent it is used to control odors and run-off. |
| Posted by: Tom 2004-04-13 9:03:57 AM |