Pinks, Gasoline, Abiotic Petroleum , and Titan

So I'm sitting here watching Pinks on the Speed channel, checking out an e-mail I got with a link from WorldNet Daily (many times know as Wingnut Daily) about abiotic oil. Oil not from ancient plants and dinosaurs. More like like ancient synthetic oil!

First off to make a long story short, the kid on Pinks WON the race with his big block 1st gen camaro, and gave back an 85 Monet Carlo to a real smooth talker, running a big block, NO2 and what we NY'ers call a good line of bullshit. I didn't the Camaro kid would win. He was a true sportsman.

The OTHER interesting thing; boring science, yet CRUCIAL for the running of *my* Camaro and Mustang is the continuity of cheap and availible petroleum. In particular gasoline.

There is a theory that petroleum "fossil fuels" are NOT biological in origin. In other words, the gas in my tanks ain't from dinosaurs. Of course this doesn't sit well with many of todays petroleum engineers/geologists (To RAMFM folks IIRC, TtT was/is a petroleum engineer - where's he been?) :-)

Most scientsits say that the origin of methane is mostly biological. This months "Nature" says the methane that SATURATES Saturns moon Titan is NON-BIOLOGIAL. Or *ABIOTIC*. Again to keep the post short, you can read:

formatting link
Page 4 (of 6) paragraphs 3 & 4.

What does this mean for petroleum? The supposed nutjobs saying todays gasoline, diesel, petroleum derivatives MAY NOT have biological origins may be right and the accepted theory that all this oil, gas methane etc came from rotting plants, dinosaurs, Old Yeller and Aunt Matilda.

Come to think of it, with all the driving, fixing, and changing oil I do, that's gotta be a HELL of alot of dinosaurs simply to get my cars rolling around. Perhaps todays petroleum engineers will revise their theories? Perhaps abiotic petroleum is wrong. But I think petroleum and its derivatives (plastics, asphalt, manufacuting) will be around a HELL of alot longer than the "Peak Oil" folks think. Perhaps the earths gas tank ain't on "E" by a long shot.

Reply to
Jimmy
Loading thread data ...

Makes sense. Always did seem that there were never enough dinos and plants to account for that much oil. Some, sure... but all? And geologically, carbon molecules, one of the building blocks of life and the rest, are found throughout the universe by all accounts. Some day they're going to discover that the oil was the lube for the tectonic plates, and as we drained it, things started getting worse... worse weather, badder quakes, etc..... Now where was that deep core dip stick????? : 0 )

Reply to
Spike

I never really bought into the idea that oil is just old festering dino carcasses. Think of how many it would take to make up one oil field and did they all decide to drop over dead at very specific spots around the planet. Now I would buy into the idea it might be decayed plant material. The size of peat bogs and coal seams make plant originated carbon deposits much more plausable.

If dinos are responsible for oil deposits then we need to take all the road kill, fast food grease, human bodies etc. and bury it now so that we can make crude oil a renewable resource just like trees. Instead of "soylent green" being edible maybe it will be combustible. :)

Reply to
Michael Johnson, PE

Oh, I vote for edible.... Mmmmmmm.... with Tabasco sauce and catsup, dissolved in hot water.... : 0 ) LOL

But seriously.... why bury the road kill and wait... essentially it's a time, pressure, heat kind of thing.... like man made gems, just dump 'em in a hopper, fire up the kiln, and squeeze the living daylights out of the stuff.... : 0 )

Reply to
Spike

I watched a TV show awhile back where a guy had a contraption that processed garbage/waste into a form of crude oil. He could take all types of waste from diapers, tires, organics etc. and through a pressurized cooking process generate oil. He said it was a net surplus of energy but he wasn't too open about the details.

Reply to
Michael Johnson, PE

SNIP

Something tells me he was using near as much energy to produce the oil as he harvested... AND he had to deal with the smell....

A bit like the guys who claim they achieved fusion... for a nanosecond... and it only cost them about a zillion dollars....

Reply to
Spike

That is probably the case with this guy. If he had really invented an efficient method to do what he claimed someone would fund it. Personally I think converting natural processes like ocean currents, thermal differences in ocean depths, geothermal, tidal action, photoelectric etc. is where we should be concentrating. There is enough energy available from these areas to supply all our needs and then some. I'm sure the environmentalists would scream about it though.

Reply to
Michael Johnson, PE

All kidding aside, there is actually a company that can do this. Changine World Technologies has some kind of pantented contraption that uses a technology called "Thermal Depolymerization". The hype is they can make "anything into oil". In practice, they are trying and have suceeded in taking turkey guts and making it into #2 crude oil...basically diesel fuel. They *say* they can extract 85% of the energy of a stream of turkey vicera and get some small amounts of by-products that can also be reused/recycled. There is a Wikipedia article on it, but Wikipedia took a bashing today in the press because some guy ( Brian Chase) at a shipping company modified an entry stating that John Seigenthaler Sr had participated in the assasinations of JFK & RFK or something like that, and did it as a prank using his companys PC to modify the article. Somebody from of all places, wikipedia-watch.org traked down the IP address. Now Brian ain't got no job.

With that said, here's the l>

Reply to
Jimmy

Reply to
Jimmy

Reply to
Michael Johnson, PE

SNIP

In one of the Scandinavian countries they have already harvested wave action in a big way.

Reply to
Spike

Nest someone will propose tapping into the human body's power plant ala "The Matrix"....

Reply to
Spike

No way, Michael! This is America! NIMBY! Not In My Back Yard.

You can't build a natural gas fired generator in NYC without some civic group loosing sleep over it!

Here's a discussi> If it was a viable alternative we would see refineries/cookers springing

Reply to
Jimmy

Michael...from the website for changing world.

Looks like a slick sales brochure, so be skeptical, but they do have a plant in Carthage Missouri. Isn't Don Manning in MO? Or was? Anyway, probably not close. But this faq gives the output of the plant.

formatting link
If it was a viable alternative we would see refineries/cookers springing

Reply to
Jimmy

I thought Don was from Michigan but I could be wrong. I bought a Kenne Bell blower from him years ago.

I don't think the biodeisel route will take off because it consumes a valuable resource in the process - that being food. Plus I read where we can't produce enough bio matter to make much of a dent in our fuel use.

I th> Michael...from the website for changing world.

Reply to
Michael Johnson, PE

Americans already have too much food. We have an oversupply of food as the media keeps pounding into our heads...60 percent or something like that are overweight or obese...so I think bio diesel has tremendous potential. Especially seen in light of national security issues where WE MUST stop buying middle easter oil. This should have been mandated on

9/12/2001, but what do I know.

You may be right though about electric if they can get that range without hav> I thought Don was from Michigan but I could be wrong. I bought a Kenne

Reply to
Jimmy

My problems with biodeisel is it consumes a food which could be put to better use than being burned in our cars like feeding starving people. Also, it will result in extensive tilling of soil and use of man-made fertilizers, neither of which is good for this country's long term health and well being. We also can't produce enough bio-matter to solve our energy problems and just the process of planting, growing, transporting, storing and converting to biodeisel that much organic matter consumes a huge amount of energy.

I believe technology advances will solve the battery problem in the next

10-15 years. Aside from dealing with dead used batteries the use of this type of technology is very environmentally friendly. Plus, it will allow the hotrod hobby to remain alive and well.
Reply to
Michael Johnson, PE

MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.