In a breakthrough that could bring methane-fueled passenger cars closer to being a fixture in American garages, researchers have created a way to store methane gas in slimmer, flatter fuel tanks, obviating the need for the bulky gas compression cylinders that take up precious trunk space and tend to turn off mainstream consumers.
RED HERRING | Move Over Prius: Here Comes the Corncob Car
Hog fat. Triglycerides. Cooking grease. Algae oil. These are among the latest ingredients being cooked up in what a team of researchers at North Carolina State University (NCSU), Raleigh, hope will become a green alternative to petroleum-based jet fuel.
The process converts low-grade fats and oils, including animal fats, into jet fuel by subjecting them to extremely high temperatures, reducing the original materials to fatty acids and removing carbon dioxide from those acids. Those fatty acids, called alkanes, are then reformed into the hundreds of different molecules that comprise jet fuel.
The result could be a cleaner-burning, renewable aviation fuel that releases far less soot and harmful pollutants into the great BIG blue than conventional, petroleum-based fuels, said project leader and NCSU aerospace engineering professor Bill Roberts. The low quality animal fats and oils that would be used to make this bio-jet fuel are 30 percent cheaper than the virgin vegetable oils commonly used in automotive biofuels, Mr. Roberts said.
RED HERRING | Flying Fat
[A] small group of entrepreneurs—those who grow commercial algae—see biodiesel’s pain as an opportunity. The green slime is rich in lipids (read: oil), meaning it could theoretically yield far more oil per acre than veggies. Estimates vary widely. Some claim it could yield anywhere from 3,500 to 20,000 gallons per acre, as compared with about 680 gallons per acre from palm, the highest oil-yielding crop.
Even better, because it would require less land, and could be grown in factories or ponds—not on arable land—algae could help stave off criticism that biofuels threaten the food supply, and could slash prices for biodiesel. “It’s very exciting,” says Laurence Alexander, a vice president at the research division of investment bank Jeffries & Co.
RED HERRING | Playing with Pond Scum
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Green Guide for Health Care
Meet startups that are making money by inventing new waste disposal methods...
By Jeffrey Gangemi
Forget the recycling bin. Meet the waste conversion pioneers-startups that reduce the costs and pollution associated with traditional waste disposal methods. These companies convert solid waste into marketable materials or energy sources, or sell services and equipment that improve the disposal process itself.
Read on for profiles of four such small businesses.
Hotter Than the Sun: Startech Environmental
Startech Environmental's pioneering technology sounds like something out of a science-fiction movie. Using a process that heats plasma to three times the temperature of the surface of the sun, the publicly traded company's device, called the Plasma Converter System, disintegrates waste by tearing apart molecular bonds. The device can convert nonhazardous and hazardous substances (including industrial byproducts, medical waste, and chemical industry waste) into valuable products such as ethanol and synthetic diesel fuel. Startech's first customer, the U.S. Army, bought one of the converters to dispose of chemical weapons. Today, waste disposal outfits and chemical manufacturers also buy the units.
Less Trashy: Seahorse Power
Seahorse Power manufactures the BigBelly, a solar-powered cordless trash compaction system. The efficient system's motor turns motorcycle chains that bring down a metal ram that compacts garbage, giving the unit about five times the capacity of a regular trash can. The company is also developing new systems for municipal recycling stations and for corporate clients.
Power Shake: Feed Resource Recovery
Instead of letting organic waste add volume to landfills, Feed Resource Recovery uses it to produce biomethane and a potent organic crop fertilizer through anaerobic digestion technology. The system essentially harnesses the natural process of decomposition, recovers leftover biofuel energy, then converts it into electricity. Feed Resource Recovery manufactures units that can be installed in stores, manufacturing plants, or restaurants, providing a seemingly endless pit for organic refuse, a power source, and a way to reduce garbage disposal bills.
Treading Lightly: Lehigh Technologies
Lehigh Technologies produces rubber powder from scrap tire and waste rubber feedstock. Its manufacturing process works like this: Scrap feedstock, which it gets for cheap from rubber recycling businesses, is cleaned of all residual steel and fiber, sent through a cooling tunnel where it is frozen using liquid nitrogen, then ground and pulverized. The end product is ultra-fine particles in various tiny gradients that can be sold to tire manufacturers, paint companies, and plastics companies as a cheap replacement for petroleum.
Garbage 2.0 | BusinessWeek
Los Angeles' airport set to get a LEED-certified overhaul, ready by 2010
LAX Gets Green Facelift
