But first things first. Today, here at the plant at Philadelphia's Naval Business Center, the experimental feedstock is turkey processing-plant waste: feathers, bones, skin, blood, fat, guts. A forklift dumps 1,400 pounds of the nasty stuff into the machine's first stage, a 350-horsepower grinder that masticates it into gray brown slurry. From there it flows into a series of tanks and pipes, which hum and hiss as they heat, digest, and break down the mixture. Two hours later, a white-jacketed technician turns a spigot. Out pours a honey-colored fluid, steaming a bit in the cold warehouse as it fills a glass beaker.
It really is a lovely oil.
"The longest carbon chains are C-18 or so," says Appel, admiring the liquid. "That's a very light oil. It is essentially the same as a mix of half fuel oil, half gasoline."
Tagged As Big Ideas, Cool, Fun
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Posted at 05:46 AM
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eliot
Wow, that is almost crazy. I wonder how much energy it takes to run the system.
I searched on Google News for more info, and apparently it was posted to /. on April 1. Not a good day for this kind of story. [1]
There's also a short article at SolarAccess.com. [2]
I guess since they are well past the theoretical stage and are building plants, we'll see how it goes.
[1] http://science.slashdot.org/science/03/04/01/184227.shtml?tid=134
[2] http://www.solaraccess.com/news/story?storyid=4087
Posted by: eliot | April 17, 2003 11:35 PM