Why not artificial oil?

[mattaxelrod]

With the technology that we possess, I wonder why someone can't come up with an artificial oil or petroleum that could be substituted for the real stuff that comes from the Middle East. Has anyone ever tried it?

 

[mikea]

With the technology that we possess, I wonder why someone can't come up with an artificial oil or petroleum that could be substituted for the real stuff that comes from the Middle East. Has anyone ever tried it?

Sure. Biodiesel. Used cooking oil.

 

[Pi1otguy]

You can make turkey and garbage into oil.

 

[rpadula]

Or we can just speed up the process with oil shale. Interesting article.


-Rich

 

[Tom-D]

Ask your self a simple question.

What did Americans use in the coal oil lamps?

After they shot almost all the whales, they started to use coal oil, which was more expensive than the crude oil discovered in Penn.

But is it still more expensive?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coal_oil

http://www.energyquest.ca.gov/story/chapter08.html

http://www.moneyweek.com/file/13377/could-coal-replace-oil.html

And the best for last

http://thefraserdomain.typepad.com/energy/2005/07/about_coal_liqu.html

 

[Steve]

German experience...

http://www.fischer-tropsch.org/primary_documents/gvt_reports/BIOS/bios_1697.htm

 

[steingar]

Oil is a miracle, with more energy per weight than any other substance on Earth by orders of magnitude. All the technology in the world can't get you something from nothing. No oil, no energy. Ethanol, biodiesel, and all the other synthetic fossil fuels deliver less energy than oil, and many use petroleum in their processing.

 

[Chip Sylverne]

There is a lot of research work being done using synthetic biology to create an enzyme that will use plant matter in creating a "biofuel" that closely mimics dinofuel. Very promising, but a ways off.

 

[steingar]

More wishful thinking than anything else. Plants are already highly efficient at capturing sunlight, and they do a good job of making biomass. Oil is millions of years of biomass compressed over time by the earth. If a plant puts that much energy into a storage product, its hard to see where it will ge the energy to grow or reproduce.