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rocksfan13
03-03-2006, 04:09 PM
In the News today!


Japanese make gasoline from cattle droppings


TOKYO - Scientists in energy-poor Japan said Friday they have found a new source of gasoline — cattle dung.

Sakae Shibusawa, an agriculture engineering professor at the Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, said his team has successfully extracted 0.042 ounces of gasoline from every 3.5 ounces of cow dung by applying high pressure and heat.

"The new technology will be a boon for livestock breeders" to reduce the burden of disposing of large amounts of waste, Shibusawa said. About 551,155 U.S. tons of cattle dung are produced each year in Japan, he said.

Gasoline extracted from cow dung is unheard of, said Tomiaki Tamura, an official of the Natural Resources and Energy Agency. Japan relies almost totally on imports for its oil and gasoline needs.

The team, helped by staff from the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology near Tokyo, produced gasoline by adding several unspecified metal catalysts to the dung inside a container and applying a 30-atmosphere pressure and heat of up to 572 Fahrenheit, Shibusawa said. Details of the catalysts could not be disclosed, he added.

The team hopes to improve the technology so that it can be used commercially within five years, Shibusawa said.

In a separate experiment revealing another unusual business potential for cow dung, another group of researchers has successfully extracted an aromatic ingredient of vanilla from cattle dung, said Miki Tsuruta, a Sekisui Chemical Co. spokeswoman. The extracted ingredient, vanillin, can be used as fragrance in shampoo and candles, she said.

Tsuruta said the vanillin was extracted from a dung solution in a pressurized cooker in a project co-organized by a Japanese medical research institute.

biggiy05
03-03-2006, 06:22 PM
I saw a similar article talking about using dog shit for electricity. I think it was in Georgia that they were doing it.

Either way if that works out and it will help gas prices then I will start sending cow shit their way.

Master Ghaleon
03-03-2006, 09:59 PM
Lets see here we got


Trash day
Recycle day (Glass/plastic/cardboard)

and soon we will see shit day. We will get a 10 gal. bucket to provide shit in so we can use it for gas lol

biggiy05
03-03-2006, 10:16 PM
Lets see here we got


Trash day
Recycle day (Glass/plastic/cardboard)

and soon we will see shit day. We will get a 10 gal. bucket to provide shit in so we can use it for gas lol

I wonder if you can get more gas out of one type of shit than another. Take a shit in the bucket after you eat a few bean burritos then go back to it after you eat meat loaf.

Tygore
03-03-2006, 10:37 PM
Suddenly, Taco Bell's stock shot through the roof...

MrCow
03-03-2006, 11:20 PM
Cows produce methane. more cows means more methane.

Jigglysaint
03-04-2006, 12:30 AM
Mr Cow is tright, it will produce more methane which will add to the greenhouse effect. Also, human feces isn't as good for that kind of thing because it contains some other nasty stuff. Cows don't need to produce those extra enzymes that are needed to digest protein and fat and the like. Unless we harvested poo from vegans(which would give their diet a point, finally), it might work, but more likely they are just eating the same sugared crap we all do anyway, so it wouldn't work.

Edit: WTF? There is NO way I am ever going to eat candy made from essence of bullshit! I mean, I already take enough as it is.

ONeilcool
03-04-2006, 12:46 AM
*chuckle* Am I the only one who finds this mildly ironic that were using our bodys almost usless excess to find an answer to a crisis?

SeirraMist
03-04-2006, 12:47 AM
It works well as fertilizer, why not fuel as well?

ZTC
03-04-2006, 01:48 PM
Suddenly, Taco Bell's stock shot through the roof...
I just started laughing when I saw that (maybe because I work at one, dunno :googly: :shrug: )

hell, we'd have something to get from our 2 cows besides fertilizer :D

Cloral
03-04-2006, 09:05 PM
Yeah, but can you get enough energy out of it to make it worthwhile? The description given makes it sound like you have to apply heat and pressure to extract the fuel and then you don't even get that much. This is a lot like a thought I had the other week that ranchers should attach baloons to the cows to collect the methane they produce. Would you get enough methane from doing this to make it worth the effort and resources it would take to collect it?