GE Microbes Make Ersatz Crude Oil From Many Sources

polymath69 writes "According to The Times Online, genetically modified microbes have been developed capable of turning surplus material such as wood chips, sugarcane, or others, not into ethanol, but into a substance which could substitute directly for crude oil. They claim it could be sold for about $50/bbl, and the production process would be carbon negative."

Public perception

[tomalpha]

<science scare story hat>

Two quotes FTA:

• "...capable of turning surplus material ... into a substance which could substitute directly for crude oil."
• "They start out as industrial yeast or nonpathogenic strains of E. coli..."

E.Coli, usually harmless etc, commonly found in the gut and able to survive brief periods outside it's normal (animal intestine) environment. So if this escaped into the wild, and you accidentally consumed a small amount, would it turn you into crude oil?

</science scare story hat>

No seriously, I can see tabloid newspapers having a field day with this: "Genetic Frankenstein Bugs Ate My Grandmother!"

Re:Why talk

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, but Obama wants to give them and their children microbes US citizenship. This poses a problem since we then have to build tiny ramps on all building for them to get in.

Re:Public perception

[Ihlosi]

So if this escaped into the wild, and you accidentally consumed a small amount, would it turn you into crude oil?

Not likely. But it'd probably give you flatulence of unprecedented proportions.

think of the children

[theheadlessrabbit]

These hippies are trying to destroy American oil companies!
Think of all those poor oil companies...their employees have children, think of the children!

Re:Public perception

[Anonymous Coward]

E.Coli, usually harmless etc, commonly found in the gut and able to survive brief periods outside it's normal (animal intestine) environment. So if this escaped into the wild, and you accidentally consumed a small amount, would it turn you into crude oil?

Ersatz Crude is people! Now the Matrix movies finally make sense!

Re:Great

[Anonymous Coward]

Personally I love the taste of wood chips, wheat chaff and corn husks but if they can help solve our fuel problem I am willing to tighten my belt and limit my diet to steak, peas and mashed potatoes.

Re:Public perception

[Rosco P. Coltrane]

Oh yeah, time for Stephen King to right a new book.

He's wronged so many of his last books that it would be a good idea regardless.

Re:that's the ideal

[Rosco P. Coltrane]

obviously, solar energy is the ultimate renewable energy source

Actually, there's already a way to turn solar energy into crude oil : grow plants, bury dead plants deep underground, wait several millions years, extract oil.

You do realize oil *is* solar energy right?

Re:Why talk

[dintech]

Religion perhaps?

Re:Public perception

[dintech]

I volunteer! I'd love to be a modern day golden goose.

Re:Public perception

[dintech]

Actually, maybe that's what tubgirl was up to.

Re:Why talk

[SnowZero]

Yeah, but they both "bring good things to life".

Sounds like OILIX

[Kamineko]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OILIX [wikipedia.org]

Snake? Snake?! SNAAAAAAAAKE?

Re:Public perception

[Grimbleton]

Nah, this story needs some rampant sexual innuendo, pedophilia, and themes that would give serial rapists nightmares. Let's see... Is Piers Anthony in the middle of anything at the moment?

Re:that's the ideal

[jollyreaper]

Actually, there's already a way to turn solar energy into crude oil : grow plants, bury dead plants deep underground, wait several millions years, extract oil.

This is the society that produced instant oatmeal because people can't wait the five minutes it takes to make it normally. I don't think there will be enough patience to try it your way.

Re:that's the ideal

[ozmanjusri]

Wear a big glove?

Re:Why talk

[Bonobo_Unknown]

Great! Let's chip the Amazon!

Re:Why talk

[SkyDude]

if the process really worked they would be commercializing it and completely destabilizing OPEC.

The process is likely to work, though scaling up may be a problem....

I seem to remember that when Yahoo was looking for capital investment, VCs started throwing money at a company that had no product and no sales. Same happened when they went public. So, here's a company that has a product that can replace fossil fuels at a time when fuel prices are sky-high and they're having problems scaling up?

Maybe they should start sending spam to generate funds.

Re:that's the ideal

[Bloke down the pub]

Or do it at night.

Re:Why talk

[heritage727]

What will be interesting is how the oil giants respond to this competition.

DMCA takedown notices?

Re:OMFG

[morgan_greywolf]

can i say now that water is wet and get modded informative too?

Maybe, maybe not. Depends on the temperature. Water isn't really very wet at, say, 0 degrees Kelvin.

Re:You will only shit pure gold ...

[Anonymous Coward]

No more toilet stops on those long drives!!
No more petrol stops either!!

Re:Why talk

[JPLemme]

You're obviously a sock puppet of the petro-industrial-military-capitalist-moon-landing complex who created your slashdot account to keep the truth suppressed.

/But seriously, you're trying to use logic and common sense to reason with a conspiracy theorist. Good luck with that.

Re:Great

[nategoose]

Started turning the starving third world into oil? Are you mad??

Re:Why talk

[Anonymous Coward]

you absolutely do not know what you are talking about.

1) Saudi's are only appear to be devout
2) Saudi's were actually at war with Iraq

Do you think Muslims countries do not have wars or politics? Read some history.

Re:Why talk

[sycodon]

From TFA:
"to substitute Americaâ(TM)s weekly oil consumption of 143 million barrels, you would need a facility that covered about 205 square miles, an area roughly the size of Chicago."

I would have no problem with leveling Chicago.

Re:Why talk

[Ronin Developer]

They could _bury_ the competition!

And, if a billion years or so, we might find yet another use for them...as oil.

CARBON NEGATIVE?!?

[VitrosChemistryAnaly]

From TFA:
The company claims that this "Oil 2.0" will not only be renewable but also carbon negative - meaning that the carbon it emits will be less than that sucked from the atmosphere by the raw materials from which it is made.

OMG! Isn't anyone thinking about the ramifications? I'm talking about Global Cooling!

Won't someone please think of the children?!?

Seriously, though, I nearly spit out my coffee from reading the phrase "Oil 2.0". What a creative name. *rolls eyes*

Good new / bad news ....

[Anonymous Coward]

Good news: All of our oil problems are solved! We can use this great bacteria to make any biomass into oil.
Bad New: We all need to move to Mars becasue we've accidentally converted the entire biosphere into oil.

Re:Why talk

[MrNaz]

Sounds reasonable, except that it overlooks many nasty facts that exist in the real world. Notably, the nature of monopolistic capitalism and the sheer malignancy of the petrochemical industry.

While yes, they may be able to develop a new tech to synthesize oil cheaper than it costs to pump, but the problem isn't one of simply pushing their own costs down; their profitability is dependent upon the total domination of the entire global operation.

A new technology could be held onto for a while. Once variants are developed (no tech monopoly lasts long, patent protection is a whack a mole game that patent holders can never win) they lose the position of total global domination that they enjoy now. Thus, they know that their best long term proposition is to hold onto the monopoly that they hold now, as it can and is physically enforced by a) insurmountable barriers to entry and b) a myopic US government willing to protect Big Oil's interests politically and if necessary, militarily.

In other words, I see your tinfoil hat, and raise you a tinfoil codpiece.