Fossil fuel from e.coli?

[Xtrema]

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/opinion/a-brave-new-world-of-fossil-fuels-on-demand/article1871149/

If this works, oilsand is fucked.

[Quiet10]

:eek:

That's amazing and scary at the same time.

[Canmorite]

"It anticipates that this yield could hit 25,000 gallons an acre a year when scaled for commercial production, equivalent to roughly 800 barrels of crude an acre a year."


Rank 1

country United States

18,690,000 (bbl/day)

Date of Information 2009 est.

18,690,000*365=6,821,850,000 barrels a year.

6,821,850,000 consumed per year/800 Barrels a year per acre=8,527,312.5 acres needed to equal the consumption of the US alone.


The combined reduction of 60 million acres by urbanization and the 120 million acres lost to production because of erosion, leaves the United States only about 290 million acres of arable land.

By way of comparison, Cornell University’s David Pimentel, an authority on ethanol, says that one acre of corn produces less than half as much energy, equivalent to only 328 barrels. If a few hundred barrels of crude sounds modest, recall that millions of acres of prime U.S. farmland are now used to make corn ethanol.

Scalable? Maybe. Still doesn't solve the issue of emissions and greenhouse gases. It would be profitable though, because if you can control the supply...

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2174rank.html

http://dieoff.org/page40.htm

[ZenOps]

Feeds directly on carbon dioxide? Thats a world ending scenario Dun Dun Duhhhh.

If it was airborne that is - it could technically consume all of the carbon dioxide... Which will kill off all vegetation on the planet that was not able to adapt to low carbon dioxide conditions.

I say we create an organism that feeds directly on oxygen at a microbial level - and wipe out all mammals. Oh wait, they already did it, that organism is Rob Anders.

[Toma]

There is SOME mechanism at work that "makes" oil....

I really believe that we actually have an unlimited supply.

It wasn't long ago that people also thought that methane and natural gas were strictly made through an 'organic' process as well.....

I think someday, we will find out that "Fossil" fuel is not as described.

[codetrap]

Originally posted by Canmorite
"It anticipates that this yield could hit 25,000 gallons an acre a year when scaled for commercial production, equivalent to roughly 800 barrels of crude an acre a year."



18,690,000*365=6,821,850,000 barrels a year.

6,821,850,000 consumed per year/800 Barrels a year per acre=8,527,312.5 acres needed to equal the consumption of the US alone.



Scalable? Maybe. Still doesn't solve the issue of emissions and greenhouse gases. It would be profitable though, because if you can control the supply...

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2174rank.html

http://dieoff.org/page40.htm

Does this solar process have to be on arable land? Why not set it up in the desert?

[Canmorite]

Originally posted by codetrap


Does this solar process have to be on arable land? Why not set it up in the desert?


“[this] technology can produce virtually unlimited quantities of fossil fuels with zero dependence on raw materials, agricultural land, crops or fresh water. It ends the hazards of oil exploration and oil production. It takes us to the unthinkable: liquid hydrocarbons on demand.”

Interesting. How DO they scale it then, if it doesn't require...anything?

[ZenOps]

I dunno, its sounds kind of dangerous to me.

Think about it like this. Every decade or so, we have a nearly uncontrollable fire somewhere in the major forests of the world.

If you have ever seen a dry Canola field go up in flames (because of the oil) its an impressive sight for the very short period of time it burns compared to anything else. Corn is fine, because it requires a metabolic process to get it into an instantly combustable state. But this stuff, sounds like it makes the oil right off the plant - which is basically the same as putting matchsticks everywhere.

Now, if they could grow it underground without sunlight like a fungus and not be hogging the land we should be using for growing real food, that would be worthy of a Nobel peac... I mean Confucius Peace Prize.

[BerserkerCatSplat]

Originally posted by Canmorite


Interesting. How DO they scale it then, if it doesn't require...anything?

The key there was FRESH water. It works with brackish or salt water, so any coastal area will work just fine as a production facility.

[max_boost]

Originally posted by Xtrema
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/opinion/a-brave-new-world-of-fossil-fuels-on-demand/article1871149/

If this works, oilsand is fucked.

89coupe better sell his house because it ain't gonna go up if this works.

I'm not a smart guy but how feasible is something like this? Can it actually work in reality or would the oil execs hire some guys to take care of it so to speak and it'll never be heard of again. :nut: :dunno:

[Cos]

fucking amazing!

Combine this, nuke technology, wind and solar. We may be off fossil fuels before I die.

[DayGlow]

They will eventually trace the start of the zombie apocalypse back to this genetically modified bacteria.

[Toma]

Originally posted by DayGlow
They will eventually trace the start of the zombie apocalypse back to this genetically modified bacteria.
Yeah, genetically altering something that can already kill us.... just scares me for some reason lol

[dexlargo]

Sounds like snake oil to me.

[1barA4]

Originally posted by dexlargo
Sounds like snake oil to me.

Actually, the previous poster may have been right. Watch it get bought out for a lot of money and we never hear of it again, even if isn't full-scale commercially ready and only laboratory-proven.

Alternately, snake oil!

Then again, there's a canadian company that figured out through a very simple catalytic process, how to extract the sulphur from sour gas for fertilizer. There's a few O&G startups that are looking to buy up some shut in sour gas wells to hook those up to in order to get sulphur to sell to fertilizer companies...and a lot of people said that was snake oil when it first was pitched.