Thursday, March 20, 2008

Today's Lottery Ticket

“He who burns his food goes hungry”
Chinese proverb



Discovery could end energy crisis

A Tifton agricultural researcher says he has found the solution to the world’s energy crisis through genetic modification and cloning of bacterial organisms that can convert bio-mass into hydrocarbons on a grand scale. The local researcher believes his groundbreaking discovery could result in the production of 500 to 1,000 barrels of hydrocarbon fuel per day from the initial production facility. The hydrocarbon fuel — commonly known as oil or fossil fuel when drilled — will require no modification to automobiles, oil pipelines or refineries as they exist today and could forever end the United States’ dependence on foreign oil, he said.

J.C. Bell, who brought the world powdered peanut butter, has spent the last four years, identifying the bacteria that produces hydrocarbon and then finding a way to genetically alter it so that it could produce hydrocarbon in greater volume.

Bell cited a USDA study that projected it was possible to produce two billion tons of bio-mass that could be converted to hydrocarbon with some modification to agriculture and forestry practices.

Pamela Serino, Chief of the Department of Defense Energy Support Center at Fort Belvoir, Va., said she was very excited about Bell’s technology. “

Now that his discoveries have been patented, his corporation formed — Bell Bio-Energy, Inc. — and his government communications established, Bell announced his discoveries to the local press on Friday morning.

Bell said he never considered ethanol for his research. “He who burns his food goes hungry,” Bell said. “That’s an old Chinese proverb.” Instead he concentrated on bio-mass and hydrocarbons. “If it grows it’s bio-mass,” Bell said. Bio-mass is any living or recently dead biological material. Hydrocarbon is an organic compound consisting entirely of hydrogen and carbon. Decomposed organic matter provides an abundance of carbon and hydrogen and is naturally occurring in crude oil .. . [Article]

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wise observation about not burning one's food, I never knew Wm. T. Sherman was Chinese ... Great article, thanks - let's hope it's not another cold fusion boondoggle and we can wean ourselves off the middle eastern (and Venezuelan) product and stop abetting those that despise us. - Vice Sgt Boone

Rodger the Real King of France said...

He's late to the game, he's got some stiff competition:

Tim's full observation continued HERE.

Blogger Tim : 9:29 AM EDT : 9:29 AM EDT

Anonymous said...

1 metric ton of dead hippycan beconverted into 80 galons of biodiesel via heat depolymerization.

No bacteria required. Just a zero oxygen oven.

Juice said...

What is in your archives is always amazing.
Until we are able to silence or overwelm the environmental movement, no scientific progress will allowed to assist our condition. First they shout blood for oil, then genetic alteration. Break out the big guns or we're done.

Anonymous said...

Juice, don't forget about "No nukes!!"

Desert Cat said...

Producing methane from biomass is old hat. (There is no mention in that article of *which* hydrocarbons.) It's been done and has been no mystery for decades (centuries?) The only thing that can be new might be the isolation and selective breeding of more efficient bacteria, which is what he appears to have based his patents on.

The article talks about "oil", but there's no mention of how methane might be converted to heavier hydrocarbons though. Methane by itself is basically natural gas and can only be used for that application. If someone could figure out an efficient way to convert methane into gasoline, then we'd be talking!

Anonymous said...

Hate to play the Conspiracy Threat card here, but can you even begin to imagine how disruptive this (or any other viable alternative energy source) could be to the entrenched power structure in this country and in the middle east? Anything that would endanger the cashflow to the mideast would trigger a war, I have no doubt.

cmblake6 said...

Posted up higher on this page re: this bacterium and the salvation of the Amwerican economy. Hell YEAH!!!!

Anonymous said...

Natural gas makes a pretty good fuel for vehicles.

Desert Cat said...

Right, but the unsubstantiated implication in that article was that heavier hydrocarbons were possible using this technology. I'll believe *that* when I see it.

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