August 21, 2006

 

US develops new technique to extract crude oil from pig manure

 

 

As oil and gas prices continue rising, researchers at the University of Illinois are refining a process that would transform pig manure into petroleum that can be refined into industrial fuel.

 

Led by professor Zhang, the students pressure-cook the manure to obtain usable petroleum. Even though the technique may not revolutionise the energy industry, it holds promise as a way to make use of the millions of tonnes of manure churned out by pig farms each year.

 

The main idea behind the project is to make use of thermochemical conversion, a principle that basically follows how crude oil is made in nature. In nature, crude oil is derived from prehistoric plant and animal substances that have been "pressure-cooked" inside the earth for millions of years.

 

Zhang believes the process could be replicated in the laboratories using pig manure that could produce petroleum molecules within an hour.

 

Through balancing the temperature so that it is hot enough to break down the manure's molecular bonds and keeping a pressure high enough to keep it from turning into a gas, the researchers were able to create conditions that allowed the pig manure to morph into oil.

 

Although the technology can be modified to break down any organic material, the researchers focused specifically on swine manure.

 

Zhang and his students first developed the technique to dispose of pig manure to reduce its environmental impact, in the process, they discovered it may be possible to use it to produce energy.

 

The oil price hike and the resulting government policies to develop alternative sources of energy have spurred investor interest in technologies that are able to convert everyday products into fuel.

 

In fact, the researchers have found that the end-product contains three times the energy used to produce it.

 

Inevitably, this technique has attracted the interest of entrepreneurs.

 

Worldwide BioEnergy, a company based in Jefferson City, Mo., has licensed the technology from the university.

 

The company has in turn sub-licensed the technology to two engineering firms that are developing pilot plants. Production is slated to start within two months - one using swine manure processed in a mobile plant, the other using sewage.

 

Based on estimates, pig-based petroleum could eliminate 10 percent of the region's foreign oil imports, still, such technology is unlikely to reduce America's reliance on crude oil.

 

Chief Executive Officer Brian Appel of Changing World Technologies, a company that converts turkey offal into petroleum, said getting such products into the mainstream market is tough, as refineries are not likely to accept the product due to its relatively small volumes.

 

Refineries process millions of barrels of crude oil a month and are not likely to accept small scale production at this time, he said. Their systems are also not adapted to refine such products.

 

Getting the energy into the power system is another challenge as utilities may not be ready to accept these sources into the national power grid.

 

Still, the technique has received accolades from pig farmers in the Midwest who, not only for oil, welcomed a way to reduce the odour of pig manure and a chance to appease the numerous complaints from residents living near pig farms.

 

Zhang said he envisions a future when each swine farmer would have a little plant to process the manure locally and still have a useful product to show for it in the end.