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Ernest....be not afraid!
Rejoice!
Sounds suspiciously like the Weizmann
organism.
There is no way that any patent on this gaslight
era technology is going to hold up to challenge. They may have bio engineered
the bug to be more productive, and are patenting that.
Otherwise this is something you could do in your
back yard with your lawn clippings/sewage and the proper bug and enzymes. It's
no different than making wine. Then you just use fractional distillation to get
the fuel out. It may be possible to separate the constituents with a
molecular sieve which would be even better.
The aviation fuel market is the perfect place to
start something like this, because it is small (relatively) and the oil
companies don't really want to be bothered with it. 100LL is going to go away
soon and something must take it's place. If it costs half as much as 100LL I
would gladly buy it. Since the states don't make much revenue from Aviation
Fuel, they won't perceive the threat. That will allow companies in this market
to move forward and eventually achieve economies of scale. Then they can start
to move into the automotive fuel market and the cat is out of the bag.
Expecting the government and the oil companies to
solve this problem is asking two foxes to guard the henhouse.
I watched the hearings with the oil companies and
congress on seaspan. If you missed it, my executive summary is as
follows:
Government : We make more money per gallon than
anybody. We won't let you drill or build a new refinery. We want the rest of
your profits. We're here to help....honest we are, poor people, evil capitalist
pig, fairness, etc. (wink, wink, thanks for the campaign
contribution).
Oil Companies: We're making a killing, but you
won't let us drill to bring the cost down to the consumer, or spend billions on
new refineries. Woe is us, Woe is us. People should conserve. (wink wink,
keep up the good work).
Lots of noise and smoke........nothing
changes.
We continue to play the fool in this
game.
There are various algae and bacteria that can
produce octane, and diesel (lipids) directly. There are currently many
efforts at bio engineering them to be much more efficient. There are several
companies in the commercialization stages of this effort, and third gen fuels on
the way. 1 acre of soybeans can make about 20 barrels of bio-diesel (first gen),
but it requires prime farm land and good water that should be used for food
production. 1 acre of algae can produce 200 barrels of bio-diesel, and it can do
it on a superfund site with municipal effluent (second gen). Third
generation fuels are in the works.
Bio-tech has advanced tremendously in the last 10 years. In addition the
demand from China, India, Brazil, and the former Eastern Block is making it
impossible for OPEC to drive the price down. That has always been the real
secret weapon. There are many different ways to produce liquid fuels. Coal to
liquids, Gas to Liquids, Oil shale, Biological and thermal processes. Every time
somebody would start to do this, or if we tried to increase domestic oil
production, OPEC would flood the market with cheap crude. Thereby preventing any
competition and maintaining OPEC's monopoly. That power is now
gone. Perhaps we made the conscious decision in the cold war to use up
everybody else's oil while sitting on ours...makes sense to me. Then the
Greenies emerged or were created. Regardless of what you or I
personally think, bio based distributed energy is
on the way, whether the powers that be want it or not.
Just THINK!!! Al Gore could produce at least a
couple of barrels a week from verbal sewage alone.
Whether you are a greenie or not, or whether there
is oil in the ground or not is beside the point.
Companies, and countries can control something 2000
ft under ground. Grass clippings, sewage, and bacteria are not so easily
controlled. Even if only half of our energy comes from these sources, it will
force the price of conventional petroleum products down worldwide and end the
monopoly of energy by the few. I'm sure the greenies will find something to hate
about this too. They can jump up and down and scream all they want. It doesn't
matter.
You don't still believe the squished
up dead dino juice fairytale do you??
Peace
Monty
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