Turkey Oil

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-02-2003
Turkey Oil
6
Fri, 05-28-2004 - 4:34pm
Here is an article of actually making oil from Turkey parts and is actually working!

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Monday, May 24, 2004 · Last updated 3:10 p.m. PT

Mo. plant makes oil from Turkey offal

By MARGARET STAFFORD

ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Someday, if the hopes and dreams of investors in a small plant in southwest Missouri come true, Americans may be using oil derived from what is left of a turkey after it has gone through a rendering plant.

The blood, guts, skin, feathers and bones, called turkey offal, are being converted into oil at the plant in Carthage, about 50 miles west of Springfield. Owners of the plant announced this week that they have begun selling between 100 and 200 barrels of the oil per day.

The plant is operated by Renewable Environmental Solutions, based in Downer's Grove, Ill., which is a joint venture of ConAgra Foods Inc. and Changing World Technologies, Inc.

A method called Thermal Conversion Process converts the offal from turkeys at a nearby Butterball plant into oil, fatty acids, natural gas, minerals and carbon.

The process can convert any carbon-based form, essentially by speeding up the method the earth uses to break down dead plants and animals into petroleum hydrocarbons. Using specific heat, pressure and water, the feedstock's long molecular chains are broken into gas that is recycled to run the plant, water that is returned to municipal water streams and the other products that are sold.

The advantages of the process are significant, according to Brian Appel, chairman and chief executive officer of Changing World Technologies.

He said it uses far less energy than other waste-to-energy products, creates fewer toxic emissions and destroys most pathogens in the feedstocks, while creating environmentally friendly fuels and fertilizers.

If the process becomes widely accepted, it would reduce the mountains of animal waste accumulating in the world, help reduce global warming and prove that biomass is a viable alternative energy, Appel said.

"All this adds up to reducing our dependence on volatile parts of the world," Appel said.

Appel acknowledges that some critics say the process cannot work as well as supporters claim or won't become economically useful.

"What you have to do is build the first one, quiet the critics who are putting doubt into the market and then prove you can build these on a large scale," Appel said. "It will take time to develop. ... You have to start somewhere, and this is the start."

Leonard Bull, associate director of the Animal and Poultry Waste Center at North Carolina State University, has seen presentations on the Thermal Conversion Process and liked what he heard.

"I'm very supportive of it," said Bull, who is not connected with the project. "That technology offers a lot of possibilities."

Bull suggested the biggest hurdles facing Renewable Environmental Solution will be finding markets to make the plants profitable and eliminating political and market barriers that currently discourage alternative energy production.

The oil produced at the Carthage plant is being sold to oil blenders and local people for use as a heat source. A local utility also is testing the product. When the plant is fully operational this summer, it will produce about 500 barrels of oil, which will be sold at prices competitive with No. 2 diesel oil, Appel said.

The entire project, which included initial testing at Philadelphia's Naval Business Center, costs about $80 million, with the plant at Carthage costing about $25 million. Investors have paid about $25 million, while the federal government has added about $5 million in grants, Appel said.

RES is currently undergoing environmental assessments required to build plants in Colorado, Alabama and Nevada, he said.

Bull said other companies and investors interested in alternative energy programs will be watching the Carthage plant closely.

"If it's successful economically as well as technically, then it will make it easier for others who have similarly complex technology to get backers, investors and move forward," Bull said. "If it doesn't, it will have the opposite effect."

P.J. Samson, president of RES, is unfazed by the pressure.

"We get generally positive responses, a lot of people saying this should be done and it's great we're trying it," Samson said.

"Of course, some folks say it can't work. I just ask them, 'What do you want me to do with my oil?'"

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On the Net:

Renewable Environmental Resources: http://www.res-energy.com

Changing World Technologies: www.changingworldtech.com

ConAgra: www.conagra.com

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-24-2003
In reply to: gem069
Fri, 05-28-2004 - 4:37pm
Dear lord, something new for PETA to focus on!
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-18-2000
In reply to: gem069
Fri, 05-28-2004 - 4:43pm

That's a great idea. Good use for the unusable.


Will vegans buy into this? ;)

 


Photobucket&nbs

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-02-2003
In reply to: gem069
Fri, 05-28-2004 - 6:37pm
I was thinking, if this process works so well from disgarded parts from turkeys maybe it could be expanded to use all paultry and cattle disgards, that would end up being millions of barrels of oil?

Then couldn't this same process be expanded to many other products that are commonly dumped into all landfills?

But I kinda of got the feeling that the oil companies would make sure this process won't ever grow?

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-24-2003
In reply to: gem069
Sat, 05-29-2004 - 9:33am
The technology to run automobiles with something OTHER THAN GAS has existed for years - decades. But the big oil companies as well as the "Big 3" auto manufacturers have managed to keep the gas guzzling, oil dependence right on center stage. The "Big 3" contend that it would be too costly for them to re-tool and we know that the big oil companies would lose bazillions of dollars and their execs would have to go to work at McDonalds. Anything that's a threat to their business is something that needs to be squashed.

But the "Big 3" have started, in recent years, to come through with this technology, recognizing that there is BIG MONEY to be made in it because there are more tree-huggers today than there were 20 years ago, and it's those very tree-huggers that have created such a big demand for these vehicles. What's unfortunate is that they limit the number of vehicles they produce, shorting the supply while the demand grows, so that they can get top dollar for the vehicles. But, the more vehicles (models) they "convert" the better their business will be down the road and I'd almost guarantee that you'll find in the next 10 years that purely gasoline driven vehicles will become the "nostaligic" choice of the older generation.

I also say, why stop at just the unusable parts of turkeys and cows? Why not take the whole cow that had to be put down due to Mad Cow disease, or the horse that broke it's leg and had to be put down, or all the critters that nobody wants that end up going into the gas chamber and then the incinerator at the shelters? I'm sure there are plenty of RATS in the major cities that could be rounded up for the cause!

How would you like that position? "Director of carcass procurement" for the new "oil" company? LOL!

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-02-2003
In reply to: gem069
Sat, 05-29-2004 - 12:19pm
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If it paid well....I would! lol

True other methods have been around as alternatives to fossil fuels but this method works very well. I think this idea will just be another idea that will never get any attention no matter how good it is?

I would be thinking that if the oil companies were thinking a little ahead they know that the fossil fuels in the USA is limited and maybe they can invest now and have something else ready when the oil runs out(because it will take years to develope things like hydrogen facilities) and they will still have a monopoly on it fabrication and distrubution?... but I guess it comes down to ,,,,,,, give me the money today and forget the future?

I saw on the news the other day...Germany has a small sub that actually uses the sea to fuel it's hydrogen engine. The ocean has an endless supply of hydrogen that can be extracted from the sub.

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Back in the early 1900's Ford and Rockafella were talking about which fuels should be used the new automovile. Ford wanted Alcohol becasue he new it was easily made in the gud ole USA and of course Rockefella wanted fossil fuels and we all know who won that.....the guy with the most money to pay off and have high officials rule in his favor and we have all been stuck in that hole every since.

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-16-2003
In reply to: gem069
Sat, 05-29-2004 - 9:46pm
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My first thought was "turkey? they are so dry, why not goose or duck". But on second thought why stop at animals? Why not burn all the garbage. Speaking of garbage some cities generate electricity from methane gas released from refuse. Then we could charge our electric cars and happily create trash. Just don't litter--recycle!