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UK firm develops jet fuel made from human poo | The starting material is generated in excess and available in plenty. It is a win-win for everyone that the waste is repurposed. (interestingengineering.com)

submitted 11 months ago by L4s@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world

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UK firm develops jet fuel made from human poo | The starting material is generated in excess and available in plenty. It is a win-win for everyone that the waste is repurposed.::undefined

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[–] rob_t_firefly@lemmy.world 12 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Together, the research team developed a process to convert human waste into a thick, black liquid that looks like crude oil and behaves like it. Using fractional distillation, the team can then derive the fuel of interest, much like oil refineries do.

Based on the (almost no) data available here, this does seem likely to be a lot of steps and a lot of energy required just to turn the poop into the substitute for crude oil, and then do all the standard further refining of that into jet fuel. I'd be very dubious about the actual real-world value until some magical further data is shared, because this innovation surely won't help anyone if the fuel it makes is more expensive than regular jet fuel.

[–] GreyEyedGhost@lemmy.ca 10 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

I'd be completely unsurprised to learn they were using thermal depolymerization. The process was patented about 30 years ago and can take just about any organic material and turn it into essentially light oil. When there was a plant testing it with turkey carcasses in the US, way back in 2003, it was competitive with oil production costs, provided that turkey guts cost less than $20/ton and oil cost more than $80/barrel.

I have been saying we should use this for waste treatment plants since they first started testing this. The water we get at the end is more pure; drugs, most chemicals, and germs are broken down; and we get a saleable product at the end. Depending on the cost to build and run, we could get a better result for less money.

Now, let's talk about the efficacy of converting human remains and the price of cemetery plots...

[–] barsoap@lemm.ee 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Now, let’s talk about the efficacy of converting human remains and the price of cemetery plots…

I mean seriously but yes crematoriums should be hooked up to district heating, apparently they don't even use much energy if you operate them right. There's a slow-burning trend in Germany to move from traditional cemeteries to dedicated forest plots: First you get cremated, then put in a biodegradable urn, then buried under a specific tree. Unmarked, but it's in a register somewhere so next of kin can find it.

[–] GreyEyedGhost@lemmy.ca 1 points 10 months ago

I'm thinking a step past cremation, where oil and solid fertilizer is produced. So harvest the oil and fill that urn with the non-hydrocarbon solids, and go from there.