"Vetrolium" From Agricultural Waste 438
junctionvin writes "The company Sustainable Power Corp. claims to have created a form of bio-crude oil from agricultural refuse. They use agro-waste from cracked soy beans, rice and cotton seed hulls, grain sorghum, milo, and jatropha and turn it into bio-crude oil. This crude can then be further refined into everything from gasoline to jet fuel and just about every petrochemical in between. The CEO is quoted: 'Our biggest problem is that we are too good to be true. We can literally replace every gallon of gasoline, diesel and jet fuel in the United States using just 12 percent of the waste byproducts in the country.' They also claim that their fuel burns to near 100 percent efficiency." The article doesn't mention what price the "vetrolium" would command in today's market or going forward, except to report the CEO's promise "to one day sell his gasoline for $1 less than the pump price for regular fuel, no matter what the cost. 'Even if it's $2 per gallon, I'll sell mine for $1,"' he said."
snake oil, more like (Score:5, Funny)
vaporware, literally.
awesome (Score:5, Funny)
tfa says it burns without generating any heat. i'll be taking a bath in this stuff every night, setting myself on fire, and running around the block screaming. i think the neighbors will get a real kick out of it.
and it will burn off completely. when it's done- no odor or residue. i mean how great can it get?
Re:snake oil, more like (Score:5, Funny)
$1 less than the pumps, regardless of how much? (Score:3, Funny)
price of x-1 for any value of x? sweet! (Score:4, Funny)
I can't wait until his product comes to maturity -- then demand for gas will be so low that the price will drop below $1.
"Fill her up with regular, please. You can pay me in cash."
C'mon now, better than algae (Score:5, Funny)
Algae biodiesel is far more advanced as vaporware than agricultural waste biodiesel. It claims 10,000 gallons per acre; whereas this agri-waste one claims 6 gallons per bushel. I heard that agri-animal-waste biodiesel claims 1000 gallons per cow. We need more consistency in our inflated vaporware numbers!
Re:awesome (Score:5, Funny)
Congratulations, you've just described something called 'alcohol'. Your neighbours already get a kick out of seeing you run around the block screaming after drinking a bathtub full of it.
Coming up later (Score:5, Funny)
Fuels from bodily waste. Will you choose peesel or shitroleum?
Re:awesome (Score:5, Funny)
Congratulations, you've just described something called 'alcohol'.
Alcohol burns without generating heat?
I had better sell my Bunsen burner stock ASAP.
Re:Energy Input? (Score:5, Funny)
I'm not in any way involved with the company, but I have read TFA and having done that I feel as if I can answer your questions and concerns in the same spirit:
how much energy are they using to convert it?
Absolutely none! The conversion process requires no energy at all, occurs instantaneously, and releases no harmful emissions. In fact, pure unadulterated sunshine blasts forth from the process at all times and bathes bystanders in with its gentle warmth.
if the energy costs to convert it are more than the production and transportation costs from other sources
This is not at all the case! The Vetrolium produced is immediately transported to fueling stations across the globe by faeries or the like. No energy whatsoever is required to do this and no harmful emissions are produced. Blasting forth from the fueling stations is pure unadulterated sunshine, to warm your cockles while you fuel up.
they may not really be accomplishing anything useful
Untrue! Think of something you want that uses physical raw materials? Got it yet? What you are thinking of can be produced as follows: Waste -> Vetrolium -> What you thought of + pure unadulterated sunshine. See what is missing? Harmful emissions are whats missing, which is why Vetrolium is so great.
nuclear plant
The need for atom splitting is entirely obviated by this Waste to Fuel converson process I'd like you to fund. No harmful emissions or byproducts of anything you don't want. No heat. No muss. No fuss. Shove your trash into the magic machine. When you feel warmed by the sunshine coming out, you'll know the process is up and running. Absolutely no hamrful emissions will be involved in any way.
Re:snake oil, more like (Score:5, Funny)
I personally will drink my vetrolium with a bit of tomacco juice, thank you very much.
Re:C'mon now, better than algae (Score:5, Funny)
It claims 10,000 gallons per acre; whereas this agri-waste one claims 6 gallons per bushel.
The real question is: how many furlongs per hogshead will I get in my jalopy with either?
What if gasoline is = $0.99/gallon? (Score:4, Funny)
Do they pay us to pump their fuel?
Re:snake oil, more like (Score:1, Funny)
Problem is the wear on on you're tires and steering!
Re:snake oil, more like (Score:2, Funny)
Re:snake oil, more like (Score:5, Funny)
vaporware, literally.
Running on vapors? That's nothing, I can get my car to run (sometimes, anyway) on nothing but pure vitriol. If your car has fuel invective, it may be able to use this highly volatile energy source as well.
Re:awesome (Score:5, Funny)
That's the point. Think of the next generation of students, who no longer will have to play with dangerous bunsen burners in the lab. Instead they'll fashion glassware and boil solutions in the safe, heatless flame of an alcohol lamp.
For that matter, what about people who use alcohol in their backpacking stoves? Since the alcohol doesn't burn with any heat, they can safely use their stoves in their tents.
There's no end to applications for this miracle material. We could replace the water in our fire sprinkler systems with cool burning alcohol, which would starve the fire of oxygen while burning at a temperature too low to cause damage.
I want to point out the obvious here that I'm being sarcastic. Although anybody who can't figure that out is arguably not long for this world, I'd rather not have their demises on my conscience.
New tag needed (Score:2, Funny)
that's nothing (Score:3, Funny)
every year in this country, hundreds and hundreds of people are injured, maimed, and even killed by rattlesnakes, copperheads, coral snakes, cottonomouths, and the like
what i do is i take specially trained teams into the places these vermin hide, and for free, for free, i take the snakes to a special pressing plant, where i press the snakes and turn them into a fuel you can use in your car!
i call this amazing product...
Re:Coming up later (Score:2, Funny)
Acturally, it's peesel or assholine.
Re:snake oil, more like (Score:5, Funny)
Now that wouldn't be very Green, would it? Imaging all that carbon from setting the world on fire... Sheesh...
A buck under unled.. Oh to have $0.97 gas again.. (Score:1, Funny)
I remember gas in the late 80's fall to $0.97 a gallon... does that mean he is giving us $0.03 to take a gallon of his gas???
Re:awesome (Score:3, Funny)
All this and yet my suggestion that it was okay to drink a bathtub full of alcohol went completely unchallenged.
Sometimes I wonder about you people.
Re:awesome (Score:4, Funny)