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See the original image at discovermagazine.com —

Anything Into Oil

discovermagazine.com — Turkey guts, junked car parts, and even raw sewage go in one end of this plant, and black gold comes out the other end.

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  • ketyung, on 09/06/2008, -4/+17The article seems so old, dated April 2006
    • diggThis77, on 09/08/2008, -0/+5I saw this when it was *new* back in 06, still cool though. I'm still trying to figure out how they're going to scale this down to the size of a blender and put in black letters "Mr. Fusion".
      • pox05, on 09/09/2008, -0/+1i also received this story on discover mag. when it was on the cover 2 years ago, but a good article. read it if you haven't already.
  • Evicted, on 09/06/2008, -10/+14I really wish people would stop trying to turn things into oil. Its far more environmentally destructive than pulling it out of the ground. Clean energy would be nice, not more greenwashed dirty energy.
    • awarnick, on 09/07/2008, -1/+19This would be great, but unfortunately, the world does run on oil right now and we may as well use the garbage that is available to supply it, otherwise we will just have to take it out of the ground.
      • directrix13, on 09/08/2008, -2/+4That's the point. Taking it out of the ground uses a lot fewer resources (read less energy), than converting turkey guts into oil.
      • Bagitagain, on 09/08/2008, -2/+1But once we reach a certain point, wouldn't taking it out of the ground cost as much or more? Is it possible that working on such technologies could be considered "good preparation"?

        FYI, I do agree that we should get whatever we can from the ground and offshore, here in the US.
    • HonestAbe, on 09/08/2008, -0/+7And how do you propose we store and transport that energy?
    • roddack, on 09/08/2008, -0/+8you do know that everything from Asprin to Jet Fuel is made with oil right?

      It isn't such an easy source to replace over night it will take a long time. In the mean time we may as well keep turning things into oil while we work on alternate sources.
    • AndreiOttawa, on 09/08/2008, -0/+8How about turning garbage into oil and then pumping oil back underground? But seriously, we now have this great technology available to recycle the trash and nasty bi-product of food industry. We should use it to full extent.
      • biogears, on 09/08/2008, -0/+3Maybe the Earth's current oil was converted trash pumped down there eons ago by an ancient civilization? Ok, just a thought :()
    • Icyfenix, on 09/08/2008, -5/+1We NEED to get the(several) space elevator(s) working. This ***** needs to be done outside of our atmosphere and we need a economic way to get it up and then down again.
      • smurfsahoy, on 09/08/2008, -0/+1Pressurizing turkey guts needs to be done in outer space... why?
    • laserdog, on 09/08/2008, -0/+5Once the world is out of oil, America's landfills will be the next great petrolium reserves.

      Imagine how much plastic we've squirreled away there...
  • awarnick, on 09/07/2008, -0/+9This article might seem old, but the company is still very relative. Changing world technologies http://www.changingworldtech.com/, has been selected as a modern marval by the history channel, http://www.changingworldtech.com/press_room/index. ... and will be feature Modern Marvels on history channel.
  • tpclicker, on 09/07/2008, -2/+5Mmmm...turkey
  • zadadka, on 09/07/2008, -4/+5subst *.* : useful.oil /silent /quick /resume /green |derivative.log
    >error...cannot convert multiple chemical strings...
  • shawncharles, on 09/07/2008, -0/+15Age doesn't matter as long as it's good content :)
  • Spankus, on 09/08/2008, -17/+5why not dead Iraqis?
  • OfNumbers, on 09/08/2008, -0/+17"Rotting heads, gnarled feet, slimy intestines, and lungs swollen with putrid gases have been trucked here from a local Butterball packager and dumped into an 80-foot-long hopper with a sickening glorp."

    That reminds me, Thanksgiving is around the corner.
    • buckrogers1965, on 09/08/2008, -0/+2That reminds me, I have turkey jerky, nom nom nom!
  • lajaw, on 09/08/2008, -11/+3Weren't the Germans doing this during Hitlers reign? It's not new.
  • discofreak, on 09/08/2008, -11/+3Seriously? The article is forever old...

    Ignoring that, why not just drill? It's cheaper, more effective and more profitable - not to mention you'd be getting a higher quality oil.
    • SpookyPig, on 09/08/2008, -0/+8Hydrocarbons are hydrocarbons. It's like saying you're going to get a better quality water.
    • NJank, on 09/08/2008, -0/+3just like everything else, they're predicting that economies of scale bring costs to the consumer down below the refined crude. Two years ago they were approaching competitiveness.

      And the depolymerization process works on anything from chicken fat to plastic trash, assuming the plant can tweak it's pressures and temps enough to handle the variety. thus, they could absorb solid waste streams coming from cities and residences. no need for your recyclables to be cleaned and rinsed either.

      But, it still ain't cheap. I did a college report on it 11 years ago. it's better now, I don't think there were any real plants then. maybe in another decade they'll be commercially viable. Who knows.

      If anyone has a link to a RECENT article, you know, less than two years old, it'd be interesting to see how these guys are doing. Did the local DNR shut them down for being too stinky.
    • biogears, on 09/08/2008, -1/+4I'm fine with the US drilling for the oil sitting on its own property, but converting other stuff to oil like this sounds like a great idea. And it looks like a private business is making some money at it which tells us its not using more energy that it creates - unlike some crazy plans. More power to them!

  • Rudegar, on 09/08/2008, -1/+1wonder if it's smelly?
    • maeveautumn, on 09/08/2008, -0/+3There were complaints of smelliness. "Renewable Environmental Solutions, the subsidiary of Changing World Technologies that runs the Carthage plant, spent $2 million on biofilters, scrubbers, and other odor stoppers. Between July and late September complaints had dwindled from 23 to 5 a week, says Mark Rader, an environmental specialist with the department's southwest regional office."

      Sounds like it might smell a bit, but perhaps not as bad as one might expect.
    • NJank, on 09/08/2008, -0/+3RTFA: answer=yes, but they're working on it.
    • NJank, on 09/08/2008, -0/+3here's the first line from the article:
      "The smell is a mélange of midsummer corpse with fried-liver overtones and a distinct fecal note"
    • Smuikas, on 09/08/2008, -0/+4Probably not as bad as paper mills. Those are the worst - and can be smelled for miles.
  • maeveautumn, on 09/08/2008, -1/+3I heard about this technology back in a biology class I took in 2003. The article says it is pretty efficient, and it does provide a use for what would otherwise be garbage, but it's still not going to be the solution to our energy problems. It just provides us a bridge to supplement what we currently have.

    I agree with Evicted. We ultimately need to see over that bridge to the land on the other side by developing better clean energy solutions.
  • willgonz, on 09/08/2008, -0/+3I wondered where it all went when I flushed the toilet.


  • taketheleap, on 09/08/2008, -0/+5"http://digg.com/environment/Anything_Into_Oil_5"

    Fifth time is the charm, eh?
  • hamobu, on 09/08/2008, -0/+1Great to see that we reuse waste products into something use full.

    Also good to see free marker find a profitable solution to several environmental problems at once.

    I wonder is $4 profit per barrel is after overhead or does it only include marginal costs.
  • blqysmg, on 09/08/2008, -2/+3Okay, let me get this straight. Burning oil is bad, because it produces carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, soot, and other pollutants or contaminants, right? Isn't that what science is telling us? Even such oil-dependent people as George W. Bush is telling us that we are "addicted to oil." If oil is our crack, then this and other "green" alternatives to in-the-ground crude oil are just alternate ways to manufacture crack. Is the best way to get an addict clean to provide him with a better, cheaper, more renewable source of crack? I don't think so.
    • texpundit, on 09/08/2008, -0/+4Ah, so if a person were badly hooked on heroin, would just make them stop cold turkey, even though it most likely would kill them...or would you give them methadone to help them off the heroin and on to a healthier life?

      Our country is the junkie, the economy is our life and oil is heroin.

      Think of biofuels (such as the one in this article) as methadone.
    • smurfsahoy, on 09/08/2008, -0/+1They are cutting down on emissions, which probably aren't nearly as bad as a coal plant to begin with. These people getting a lot of complaints surely has a lot to do with them building 2 blocks away from residences.

      As for greenhouse gases - the feedstock comes from waste that would have just rotted anyway, and thus released the exact same greenhouse gases (either just into the atmosphere, or as methane, which could be burned for energy at a landfill, either way). Most of the CO2 emissions from oil that comes from here, therefore, are likely neutral.
  • kd1s, on 09/08/2008, -0/+2So Discover is finally discovering TDP. How interesting. It's an amazing process but it does require a significant energy input initially until the oil can be separated out. Then it's pretty much a self fueling process, just keep feeding it garbage and it'll spit out oil, carbon, and other components.
  • wiggles, on 09/08/2008, -0/+2This article made the rounds in '06. They had big plans for this technology, but in the past two years, have only their pilot plant to show for it. It's great that they're able to make crude from refuse, but the articles I've read on this say that the process is just not scalable enough. They also have serious issues with emissions. The residents of the town in Missouri where the pilot plant is keep complaining about the stench. There is no panacea.
    • jazzysgrandpa, on 09/10/2008, -0/+0The biggest problem they have with emissions is finding someone with enough smarts not to purchase any more sites in town. I have heard, somewhere on the net, the plant in Carthage is just 2 or 3 blocks from some residents' doors.
      I was born in 1961 & computers that did pretty simple things were still filling rooms in those days, so I have absolutely no doubt they can overcome any limitations to this pretty quickly with enough resources behind it.
      True, there is no panacea, at least not yet, and if & when the day comes there is one, this won't be it, but it is a critical bridge strategy to get us to clean, abundant energy while freeing us from foriegn oil.
  • EffYoo, on 09/08/2008, -1/+2still pollutes like hell, why waste the money on it?
    • WayneCA, on 09/08/2008, -1/+4You have better things to do with animal byproducts and waste than to turn it into oil?
    • EffYoo, on 09/09/2008, -0/+1Yeah, bury it and let it decompose like we do with all the other garbage. Its GOOD for the environment to fill landfills with decomposable stuff. It's called composting.

      Also, junked car parts will not become oil. Hydrocarbons need hydrogen, oxygen and carbon, iron and chromium cannot become oil. This would be used on organic waste, stuff that would be better off composted considering the damage done to the environment to try and turn this into oil.
  • brianmcculloh, on 09/08/2008, -0/+3Someone submit this to Mike Rowe of Dirty Jobs.
  • Graffiacane, on 09/08/2008, -4/+2"Black Gold" refers ot coal, not oil.
    • Graffiacane, on 09/08/2008, -2/+0Or is that "Black Diamond?" Whatever, I don´t care go away.
    • mechnoch, on 09/08/2008, -0/+4Come and listen to a story about a man named Jed
      A poor mountaineer, barely kept his family fed,
      Then one day he was shootin at some food,
      And up through the ground came a bubblin crude.

      Oil that is, *BLACK GOLD*, Texas tea.

      Well the first thing you know ol Jed's a millionaire,
      Kinfolk said "Jed move away from there"
      Said "Californy is the place you ought to be"
      So they loaded up the truck and moved to Beverly.

      Hills, that is. Swimmin pools, movie stars.


      Well now its time to say good by to Jed and all his kin.
      And they would like to thank you folks fer kindly droppin in.
      You're all invited back a gain to this locality
      To have a heapin helpin of their hospitality

      Hillybilly that is. Set a spell, Take your shoes off.

      Y'all come back now, y'hear?.
      • Wrathernaut, on 09/08/2008, -0/+2Beverly Hillbillies theme music > Any dictionary
  • alloystudios, on 09/08/2008, -3/+1There's a finite amount of oil on the planet. Nobody knows how much, but it definitely won't last forever. Finding alternatives is the only logical way to survive. I'm not sure if killing turkeys is the correct answer, but it's a start.

    Also, though we haven't figured it out yet, I'm sure there's some reason the earth has oil in it. I mean things don't usually exist in the physical world for no reason. I'm pretty sure the planet didn't expect us to suck all of its oil out.
    • floorman56, on 09/08/2008, -1/+3I'm not sure if killing turkeys is the correct answer

      It will turn your poop into oil too
  • cfuse, on 09/08/2008, -4/+3Does it work if you use Iraqis?
  • poogy21, on 09/08/2008, -1/+2Butterball dumps 270 tons of turkey guts a day?!!

    Isn't this a sign that we consume too much?!
  • RGraber, on 09/08/2008, -1/+1I live near this plant. It smells like burning feathers. And, from what I hear around town, the product is inferior and still not financially viable.
  • CourtneyGQ, on 09/08/2008, -0/+0sugar + pollen + bees = a clean buring hydrocarbon biofuel called wax .... sustainable and scaleable with the added bonus of creating a delicious byproduct called honey....
  • fadingsignal, on 09/08/2008, -0/+1"In 20 minutes, the process replicates what the deep earth does to dead plants and animals over centuries, chopping long, complex molecular chains of hydrogen and carbon into short-chain molecules. Next, the pressure and temperature drop, and the soup swirls through a centrifuge that separates any remaining water from the oil"

    Talk about not being wasteful! Way to get every last molecule.
  • lornali, on 09/09/2008, -0/+1Recycling at its best
  • HackOfAllTrades, on 09/09/2008, -0/+0The hype smells worse than the plant itself.

    This process actually works. Yes, it really can turn turkey fat into oil. That's because fat consists of glycerine bound to three fatty acid chains. And it really is a great way to turn animal parts bound for landfill into a useful byproduct.

    The hype comes in when they claim "anything into oil." Old car tires? No way. Animal protein and bones into oil? Show me.

    This story stank in 2006, and it stinks today.
  • slapthemonkey, on 09/09/2008, -0/+1I would say it is a laudable initiative
  • 2oonhed, on 09/09/2008, -0/+1I would like a higher rez .jpg of the turkey guts, please.
  • benmc, on 09/19/2008, -0/+0The naysayers are forgetting two things: converting organic waste into oil is far more efficient than letting it become rot... and the process also creates fertilizer of supreme quality.

    So, instead of landfill, we get better vegetables, and usable oil. As the technology evolves it will become even more efficient.
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