Japanese Make Gasoline (and Extract Vanillin) From Cattle Dung

[Guest guest]

May our world someday be even more crap fueled than it is today *lol*

Seriously though - you don't get much " renewable " sources of energy!

 

They can extract vanillin from it of all things too - how wacky?!?!?! I

can see the conversations now - " Hey honey, how does this new vanilla

fragranced candle I got smell .. Well m'dear, I think it smells like

sh*t! " ....

 

On that note .. have a fantastic weekend!

 

*Smile*

Chris (list mom - having a ChuckECheese party tonight for my littlest

one who just turned 3 years old yesterday - pray for my sanity!)

 

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Japanese Make Gasoline From Cattle Dung

By KOZO MIZOGUCHI (Associated Press Writer)

From Associated Press

March 03, 2006 7:57 AM EST

 

TOKYO - Scientists in energy-poor Japan said Friday they have found a

new source of gasoline - cattle dung.

 

Sakae Shibusawa, an agriculture engineering professor at the Tokyo

University of Agriculture and Technology, said his team has successfully

extracted 1.4 milliliters (0.042 ounces) of gasoline from every 100

grams (3.5 ounces) of cow dung by applying high pressure and heat.

 

" The new technology will be a boon for livestock breeders " to reduce the

burden of disposing of large amounts of waste, Shibusawa said.

 

About 500,000 metric tons (551,155 U.S. tons) of cattle dung are

produced each year in Japan, he said.

 

Gasoline extracted from cow dung is unheard of, said Tomiaki Tamura, an

official of the Natural Resources and Energy Agency. Japan relies almost

totally on imports for its oil and gasoline needs.

 

The team, helped by staff from the National Institute of Advanced

Industrial Science and Technology near Tokyo, produced gasoline by

adding several unspecified metal catalysts to the dung inside a

container and applying a 30-atmosphere pressure and heat of up to 300

degrees Celsius (572 Fahrenheit), Shibusawa said. Details of the

catalysts could not be disclosed, he added.

 

The team hopes to improve the technology so that it can be used

commercially within five years, Shibusawa said.

 

In a separate experiment revealing another unusual business potential

for cow dung, another group of researchers has successfully extracted an

aromatic ingredient of vanilla from cattle dung, said Miki Tsuruta, a

Sekisui Chemical Co. spokeswoman. The extracted ingredient, vanillin,

can be used as fragrance in shampoo and candles, she said.

 

Tsuruta said the vanillin was extracted from a dung solution in a

pressurized cooker in a project co-organized by a Japanese medical

research institute.