Renewable Oil!!!
We have all become accustomed to all the talk about the energy crisis the world over. Prices of oil have more than doubled in just over a year , there are many theories that dependence on oil is ecologically damaging, hybrid cars have become the new badge of environmental awareness, wind farms for the production of electricity are spouting up all over the globe, solar collectors are being incorporated into new commercial buildings as well as residential ones, tar sands have made the Canadian province of Alberta into a global boom area, shale, nuclear and coal are expecting to experience substantial growth and the Thermal Depolymerization Process has plans to go global.What’s TDP? It is a process that is too good to be true but all indications so far say that the process can deliver on the hype. Very simply it is a process that mimics nature by transforming hydrocarbons in any product into oil without having to wait the millions of years. Mix the hydrocarbon based waste with water and soil. Heat the mixture under very high pressure and presto waste becomes oil. The experimental plant in Missouri uses as its feed stock pig feet and Turkey innards from a Butterball Turkey plant. Production has been going on for almost three years and the plant has attained the scale whereby it is expected to become profitable later on this year.
This process can solve three major problems:
(1) Get rid of waste, any waste.
(2) Produce clean oil
(3)Reduce Global Warming
The first two are obvious but why should it reduce global warming? If the process becomes very widely spread then the oil it produces will not be adding new carbon to the atmosphere since it will in essence be reusing the carbon that is already above the earths surface. It will make oil a renewable commodity.
Does this sound as if it is a phantasy? I think that it is but then I have been wrong before.
2 comments:
From the Renewable Environmental Solutions website (http://www.res-energy.com/):
"Agricultural wastes alone make up approximately 50% of the total yearly waste generation in the U.S. (6 billion tons). With the TCP, the 6 billion tons of agricultural waste could be effectively converted into 4 billion barrels of oil. Attaining this incremental domestic energy production is clearly in our national interest, because it ensures greater national energy independence. At the same time, this production provides a permanent solution to serious environmental problems caused by current waste disposal practices.
Energy Efficiency
TCP is over 80% energy efficient.
TCP has very low Btu requirements, due to short residence times of the materials in process and to holding of water under pressure.
TCP uses steam naturally generated by feedstock, thereby recapturing the expended energy.
TCP generates its own energy.
Environmental Efficiency
TCP uses recycled water.
TCP produces no secondary hazardous waste stream."
I think anything that sounds this promising should not be looked at as a fantasy. The science behind it provides sound reason as to why we should continue pursuing this form of energy. It has serious potential for reducing our carbon emissions because the process recycles carbon thereby it does not create new emissions. It is also highly energy efficient because the process requires little energy to create the oil while at the same time it produces a high level of energy that we may consume.
As I see it:
There are some issues with TDP. Firstly, if the oil being produced (however renewably) is used in the internal combustion engine then CO2 will be released. No mention is being made of the purity of the oil created-which can make it useless on existing engines.
However, this is just my unscientific opinion...probably springing up from not having read enough on the topic.
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