Biodiesel from turkey company Changing World Technologies files IPO
It seems that Changing World Technologies have finally solved the offal odor pollution problem at their turkey byproducts to biodiesel plant and are ready to begin bigger and better things. The company, which uses a thermal conversion process (TCP) to break down waste into fuel and organic fertilizer, wants to raise $100 million to fund an expansion and has filed an S1 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to begin the process. The allocation and price of shares in the IPO will be decided by an auction process handled by the offering underwriter, WR Hambrecht & Co, as well as other securities dealers. The company currently produces between 4 to 9 million gallons of biodiesel a year and could reach 54 million gallons a year with the expansion. Although it is currently selling its fuel to industrial boilers, it has been approved by the EPA for use a an additive in diesel. It will have to be improved somewhat to be considered for full use as a transportation fuel.
[Source: Cnet.com / Green Car Congress]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Joseph 3:36PM (8/17/2008)
So biofuel from animals is becoming a reality. Good, but not so good if you're vegetarian or something like that.
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larry hagedon 5:52PM (8/17/2008)
We sure have plenty of dead chickens and turkeys, as well as feathers, manure and packing house wastes to make a lot of fuel.
In fact all human, animal and industrial sewage and garbage in America will one day be made into fuel.
I like the high temp process they are using here the best of the various technologies available because it leaves the least amount of byproducts. Methane production by bacteria for instance still leaves a lot of compost to do something with.
Pyrolitic reduction uses it all up but for a bit of hard crystalline like product that makes a good road building ingredient
larry hagedon
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AmericanFlexFuelExperience/
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FLOORMAN56 3:57PM (8/18/2008)
Every sewage treatment plant in the U.S. should have one of these hooked to it
BoneHeadOtto 10:54PM (8/17/2008)
this biofuel is made from the wast products at trukey processing plants. Good news is it can be made from just about anything.
http://www.mindfully.org/Energy/2003/Anything-Into-Oil1may03.htm
The process detailed here on wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal_depolymerization
promising that almost anything carbon based can be used.
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meme 11:22AM (8/18/2008)
It's *not* biodiesel. It's conventional diesel from organic waste. That may sound like a trivial difference, but it's not; they're completely different chemicals.
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Domenick Yoney 6:02AM (8/23/2008)
From the company website,"Is TCP oil just another form of biodiesel? If so, why is there a debate on characteristics and quality?
CWT’s oil is a renewable “bioderived diesel fuel” so yes, we are ‘bio-diesel’. Just like the commonly-accepted biodiesel products available, TCP oil is a liquid produced from biomass, except the term “biodiesel” has been associated with a specific type of fuel (methyl esters). Both of these fuels offer an alternative to traditional fossil fuels, and like any new product, methods to handle appropriately need to be developed."
My source articles referred to their product as renewable diesel but I thought that seemed a potentially controversial term so I went with biodiesel because, as the company notes, it is derived biomass. I didn't come across any compositional analysis to be able to make comparisons to "fossil fuel" diesel.
meme 7:37PM (8/18/2008)
The article didn't say, so you just used an inaccurate term on purpose?
If you want to know what's in it, at the very least, you could have gone to Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal_depolymerization
Paraffins 22%
Olefins 14%
Naphthenes 3%
Aromatics 6%
C14/C14+ 55%
That's conventional petroleum, not biodiesel (methyl esters).. Now, it's not in the exact same mix as in diesel; as with any "crude", you have to refine it to get the cut you want. Diesel is generally something like:
Paraffins 55%
Naphthenes 12%
Olefins 5%
Aromatics 24%
Residuals 4%
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Domenick Yoney 7:14AM (8/19/2008)
"...you just used an inaccurate term on purpose?"
Personally, I am in agreement with the company and don't think the term is inaccurate. The feedstock came from a "biological source" and has a profile not significantly unlike diesel fuel so I maintain that, in this case, the term "biodiesel" is sufficiently accurate.
I did look at the wikipedia entry for thermal depolymerization and originally was going to link to it but CWT began using the expression "thermal conversion process (TCP)" to describe their process at the Carthage, MO plant and their is no entry for that. It is interesting to note that in the thermal depolymerization wiki it is said that the product produced from the turkey feedstock is "comparable" to diesel fuel. One could argue that it would be inaccurate to call it diesel as well since there is an obvious difference.
I respect that your opinion differs from mine on this point and suspect we may just have to agree to disagree.