Rich Kassel's Blog
Diapers into Diesel!
November 20, 2007
Posted by Rich Kassel in Curbing Pollution , Green Enterprise , Health and the Environment , Living Sustainably , Moving Beyond Oil
Stop the presses!
Just when you thought that the biofuels debate was about corn, soy, and palm oil, Jalopnik.com tells us about a Canadian company that is developing a process to convert used diapers to a synthetic diesel. This isn't some urban legend being spread by an out-of-work Jon Stewart writer (although I hope the writers' strike ends quickly so John Oliver can give us his take on this potential "Brown Gold" from the great north).
They hope to use pyrolysis (a chemical breakdown of complex organic materials using great heat, usually in the absence of oxygen) to create a synthetic diesel fuel that will cost a bit under $2.00 per gallon.
Could diapers displace the soy used in Willie Nelson's tour bus ?
I don't know, but this underscores a more serious point: rather than rush to anoint corn, soy, or even Indonesian palm oil as the undisputed king of biofuels, we will be a lot better off if biofuels programs are designed to reward environmental sustainability on a fuel-neutral, technology-neutral basis.
(bookmark or email this entry)
- Rich Kassel
- Senior Attorney and Director, Clean Fuels and Vehicles Project
- New York City
- I came to NRDC in 1991 on a three-year grant, and never left. Over the...
- more→
