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Today's Hamburger is Tomorrow's Fuel

20 August 2003

We may found have a solution to this planet's growing waste problem. Soon, you'll be able to transform any organic material into a reusable, combustible fuel which - at least according to multi-national automobile conglomerates - is the most precious substance on earth (see previous post).

Unlike other solid-to-liquid-fuel processes such as cornstarch into ethanol, this one will accept almost any carbon-based feedstock. If a 175-pound man fell into one end, he would come out the other end as 38 pounds of oil, 7 pounds of gas, and 7 pounds of minerals, as well as 123 pounds of sterilized water.

While no one plans to put people into a thermal depolymerization machine, an intimate human creation could become a prime feedstock. "There is no reason why we can't turn sewage, including human excrement, into a glorious oil," says engineer Terry Adams[.]

This is certainly a novel solution to the perennial problem of global recycling. However, its environmental benefit must surely be limited by virtue of the fact that it produces a commodity which contributes to further environmental destruction. In fact, this may do more ecological harm than good, since it could prolong the use of petroleum byproducts in automobiles well after the natural supply of oil is extinguished.

The simplicity of the process is certainly elegant, resembling that of a conventional oil refinery. Maybe garbology isn't such a bad field to get into after all...