tohostudios King Of Kaiju
Number of posts : 30892 Age : 64
| Subject: New Biofuel Fri Jan 30, 2009 8:45 am | |
| Ewwwwwww... - Quote :
- If you thought heating your home with cow methane or corn
is bizarre, wait until you hear how one Beverly Hills doctor is gassing up his SUV.
While gross, the point Dr. Bittner is trying to make is important. There are alternatives if the technology and infrastructure is there to make them available.
Liposuctioning unwanted blubber out of pampered Los Angelenos may not seem like a dream job, but it has its perks. Free fuel is one of them.
For a time, Beverly Hills doctor Craig Alan Bittner turned the fat he removed from patients into biodiesel that fueled his Ford SUV and his girlfriend's Lincoln Navigator.
Love handles can power a car? Frighteningly, yes. Fat--whether animal or vegetable--contains triglycerides that can be ex- tracted and turned into diesel. Poultry companies such as Tyson are looking into powering their trucks on chicken schmaltz, and biofuel start-ups such as Nova Biosource are mixing beef tallow and pig lard with more palatable sources such as soy- bean oil.
Mike Shook of Agri Process Innovations, a builder of biodiesel plants, says this year's batch of U.S. biodiesel was likely more than half animal-derived since the price of soybeans soared.
A gallon of grease will get you about a gallon of fuel, and drivers can get about the same amount of mileage from fat fuel as they do from regular diesel, according to Jenna Higgins of the National Biodiesel Board. Animal fats need to undergo an additional step to get rid of free fatty acids not present in vegetable oils, but otherwise, there's no difference, she says.
While using fat to fuel cars might be environmentally friendly, it's definitely illegal in California to use human medical waste to power vehicles, and Bittner is being investigated by the state's public health department.
_________________ "The cat is the most ruthless, most terrifying of animals." - Spock in the "Catspaw" episode of ToS Season 2.
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Guest Guest
| Subject: Re: New Biofuel Fri Jan 30, 2009 9:25 am | |
| Man, I just left at least a half a tank in the bathroom when I got up this morning. |
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Fat Freddy Metal, Movies, Beer
Number of posts : 37962 Age : 54
| Subject: Re: New Biofuel Fri Jan 30, 2009 9:46 am | |
| - detuned wrote:
- Man, I just left at least a half a tank in the bathroom when I got up this morning.
_________________ "If you're a false, don't entry, because you'll be burned and died!"
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sam Metal is in my blood
Number of posts : 3012 Age : 35
| Subject: Re: New Biofuel Fri Jan 30, 2009 10:27 am | |
| alright...I'm sticking with gasoline | |
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