WorldChanging
07-29-06
Bio-oil from Agricultural Waste | David Zaks
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Researchers at Iowa State University have coined an innovative process to
transform agricultural waste into bio-oil. A development that brings us one step
closer to a closed loop energy system. The oil can be used for "boiler fuel and
perhaps transportation fuel." The feedstocks are currently cow manure and corn
stalks, but they expect to be able to proccess other agricultural wastes in the
future.
First, the manure needs to be dried so it can be burned... That makes it possible
to move to the next step: rapidly heating the mixture in a bubbling, fluidized bed
reactor that has no oxygen. It's a process called fast pyrolysis. The process
thermochemically breaks the molecular bonds in the mixture. It produces
charcoal that can be used to enrich soil. And it produces vapors that are
condensed to a thick, dark bio-oil."
Samy Sadaka from the Center for Sustainable Environmental Technologies
figures if half the animal manure in the country were processed into bio-oil, that
would produce the equivalent of 45 million tons of oil.
Definitely an emerging technology to keep your eyes (and nose) on!
Posted by David Zaks at July 29, 2006 05:17 PM | TrackBack