Possible green energy source?

[Jack M]

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2008/11/04/microbe-fuel.html

[tex1230]

there's an outfit in the SF bay area working with that kind of stuff - very cool tech, just got some VC funding from a friend of mine. Right now it can make diesel, but the cost is around $1200 a gallon...hopefully they will bring it down :D

[Justin A.]

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2008/11/04/microbe-fuel.html

It's cool and all, but the facts remain that hydrocarbon combustion doesn't result in anything that can be considered "green", the internal combustion engine is a model of inefficiency, and even home-brewed fuels that are meant to be combusted like aren't going to help with emissions or pollution problems.

It's a good cause, but I can't see how the internal combustion engine will ever play a part in going green.

I wonder if this excretion can be made into plastics and the like?

[tex1230]

the petroleum-like products produced in this process are much cleaner than the stuff in the ground - no sulfur, much cleaner burning. yes, it's not perfect, but it is a whole lot better than what's being done now.

[Steve Prokopiw]

that more people haven't bought into the idea of using waste veggie oil in diesels.75% less emmisions, same power,more lubricity,longer lasting engines.Technology for this continues to get better and more convenient.And hey,we sure like cookin with oil.

[dingbat]

I like this idea: Big Osmotic Power Type Thingy

[utahcarver]

I know just a tiny bit about mycoorganisms (fungus) and would be concerned just how GREEN this technology would be. Fungi produce by-products called mycotoxins. For instance, aspergillus, a fungus which grows on sugar beets, corn, tobacco and peanuts has been found to be heat stable in a lab setting. Use of fungal components or fungus for 'green fuels' might lead to some potentially lethal amounts of airborne mycotoxins. Again, I'm not an expert on this technology but, I'd be rather leery of any fuel which could produce yet another type of pollution on the planet.

Aspergillus has been linked to cancer in humans and it's toxins would certainly be considered potentially viable.

Mark

[Jrobb]

An account that my employer services produces produces test media for the biotech industry. As his side project he uses anerobic bacteria to produce Hydrogen. Says he gets veggie scraps for free from a local Dole processing plant, feeds his baby bacteria that live in beer brewing equipment he got off Ebay this veggie matter and they produce Hydrogen as a byproduct. The sad part is he's pitched the idea to get funding to some govt. agencies and the like and they all say "it can't be done" and has been threatened with legal recourse if he continues to contact them. He has the capacity to produce enough Hydrogen to power (electrically) his building if needed.

It's sad to think how many other "start-ups" and backyard scientists haven't or won't ever start-up because they've never been given a chance.

J

[EnisiWaya]

An account that my employer services produces produces test media for the biotech industry. As his side project he uses anerobic bacteria to produce Hydrogen. Says he gets veggie scraps for free from a local Dole processing plant, feeds his baby bacteria that live in beer brewing equipment he got off Ebay this veggie matter and they produce Hydrogen as a byproduct. The sad part is he's pitched the idea to get funding to some govt. agencies and the like and they all say "it can't be done" and has been threatened with legal recourse if he continues to contact them. He has the capacity to produce enough Hydrogen to power (electrically) his building if needed.

It's sad to think how many other "start-ups" and backyard scientists haven't or won't ever start-up because they've never been given a chance.

Realize this in general those that go to work in a field in the government are the bottom 20% of those who have studied the subject. I have had to deal with government decision makers whose only exposure to a subject field of research was a pass/fail "survey" class.

Back in the day when i was the lead engineer and department manager of 23 person engineering research team, I found out about a Gov't research grant of $250,000 for a feasibility study of "On Board Weigh in Motion" systems for the trucking industry. So I put about 100 hours into the concept and wrote a grant request. This is the paper presented at a major international engineering conference on how to deploy such a system cost effectively within one year.

Practical on-board weigh-in-motion system for commercial vehicles (Proceedings Paper)

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Proceedings Vol. 2903

Mobile Robots XI and Automated Vehicle Control Systems, Chase H. Kenyon; Pushkin Kachroo, Editors, pp.156-161

Date: 23 January 1997

Paper Abstract

Many commercial carriers are currently operating vehicles which are overweight, creating an unsafe and illegal situation. However, the cost to law enforcement agencies to stop vehicles for roadside weight checks is prohibitive, while the cost to the nation in lost travel time adds shipping costs which are reflected in the price of every product transported by truck. Overweight trucks also become a threat to public safety when, on public highways, solid cargo breaks loose or liquid cargo leaks. The solution is an on-board monitoring system. With such a system, trucks under their legal weight limit would be allowed to travel past state borders and checkpoints without being stopped. THis would save money both in law enforcement and shipping costs to the nation as a whole. A properly designed system would also have the capability to warn both the driver and local safety and enforcement personnel when the truck is loaded beyond capacity or any other unsafe condition. This paper will detail a system that would even in early limited production be cost effective for both the law enforcement agencies and the operators of trucking fleets. In full production the systems would be cost effective even for smaller or owner/operator trucks. This is a safety system that could become standard equipment similar to seat belts, ABS, and airbags. The initial testing of sub-assemblies and sub-systems which could be deployed now for beta test has been completed.

DOI: 10.1117/12.265340

Current SPIE Digital Library subscribers click here to download this paper.

© SPIE - Downloading of the abstract is permitted for p

Notice the dates and realize we still do not have such a system for our trucking industry. We did not get the grant. It went to a college in Ohio I believe. The reason we were given was that it was a grant for a feasibility study not a Beta deployment. The college spent the money and published their findings. Their findings and conclusions were we would not even be close to having the technology needed and the ability to build even a prototype system for at least 20 years. I had already built it and tested it with cordwood loads on a Dodge pickup before I presented the above linked paper on the subject.

GWS

aka Chase H. Kenyon, CMfgE, M

[cail]

An account that my employer services produces produces test media for the biotech industry. As his side project he uses anerobic bacteria to produce Hydrogen. Says he gets veggie scraps for free from a local Dole processing plant, feeds his baby bacteria that live in beer brewing equipment he got off Ebay this veggie matter and they produce Hydrogen as a byproduct. The sad part is he's pitched the idea to get funding to some govt. agencies and the like and they all say "it can't be done" and has been threatened with legal recourse if he continues to contact them. He has the capacity to produce enough Hydrogen to power (electrically) his building if needed.

there are people working on bacterial fuel cells. they don't produce that much power though... they'd mainly be used as small power sources.