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March 28, 2006

Pig Poop Gas?

Well, this could be interesting.

They say you can’t turn a sow’s ear into a silk purse, but University of Illinois researchers are working some interesting magic at the other end of the animal.

“We are the first to actually do this,” professor Yuanhui Zhang says proudly of his team’s ability to turn swine manure into crude oil. He’s a bio-environmental engineer at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign who has led the 10-year research project that recently announced a breakthrough in porcine petroleum.

Saw this on Ace's, and he has a funny perspective. I'd have to depend upon people who know actual science to figure out whether this is viable or not for large scale production. Maybe it just depends on how much you feed the pigs.

Posted by slublog at March 28, 2006 12:00 AM

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Comments

The article doesn't have anything about the actual science in there, so I can't comment on that. But methane production from animal wastes isn't really new. I guess just harnessing it was the hard part.

So, why just pigs? I understand cow manure comes in pretty large batches too . . .

Posted by: Hal at March 27, 2006 11:32 PM

I think pigs are easier to farm intensively on relatively little acreage.

Posted by: MainiacJoe at March 28, 2006 08:22 AM

I'D LOVE TO SEE IF YOU COULD FEED A PIG LARGE SUMS OF FOOD THAT CREATES HI-METHANE. THEN LETS SEE IF YOU CAN LIGHT A PIGS FART ON FIRE. I WONDER IF NASA EVER CONSIDERED BOTTLING PIG/COW METHANE TO PROPEL THE SPACE SHUTTLE. BE ALOT CHEAPER THAN LIQUID OXYGEN/LIQUID HYDROGEN. THEN WE COULD TRY TO LAUNCH A PIG INTO SPACE USING THE SPACE SHUTTLE'S PLATFORM.

Posted by: METHANE MAN at July 8, 2006 05:22 AM

I own a truck wash and we wash out pig poo it would be alsome to make my own gas too, where can you get this poo converter lol.

Posted by: Travis at June 8, 2007 01:30 AM

I have at least 2 tons of it

Posted by: Travis at June 8, 2007 01:32 AM

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