[coyote]

Courtesy of Anni Cats:
Tyson Foods sees fuel in animal fat

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'C')HICAGO (Reuters) -- The largest U.S. meat producer, Tyson Foods Inc., produces 2.3 billion pounds of animal fat a year and the company thinks that could be turned into fuel, Tyson officials said Monday.

"We believe it's a win for our energy independence, it's a win for our environment, and we believe it will be a big win for our shareholders as well," said Jeff Webster, an official with the company's Corporate Strategy and Development team.

[NEOPO]

Straight news with little stock pop ups off to the side of the page

[NeoPeasant]

So what have they been doing with all that fat before now? Dumping it down a bottomless animal fat well?
Which animal fat derived products are going to zoom in price as the fat gets diverted to fuel production?

[NEOPO]

right!! I am buying stock in spam and hotdog/bologna producers

[smallpoxgirl]

Yeah. That's the really amazing thing is that it's enough fat to meet the caloric needs of everyone in America for about 2 weeks. It's the "I'd rather drive than eat this week" diet.

[Newsseeker]

And just how much fuel is required to harvest the feedstock to feed the animals before the fat ever occurs? Not very efficient if you ask me and is the fat in question waste or something that people eat? If it is waste that is one thing but if it is a product that people are eating then it is less likely that this energy intensive process will yield any results.

Just some thoughts

[Colorado-Valley]

Has anyone ever seen a movie called "Soylent Green?"

[smallpoxgirl]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Newsseeker', 'A')nd just how much fuel is required to harvest the feedstock to feed the animals before the fat ever occurs? Not very efficient if you ask me and is the fat in question waste or something that people eat? If it is waste that is one thing but if it is a product that people are eating then it is less likely that this energy intensive process will yield any results.

[TheDude]

Read (or see) the Omnivore's Dilemma or Fast Food Nation to learn more about the modern food chain. With cows it's pretty much a diet of corn, which is raised industrially for their benefit - fatter cows are more economically productive but aren't as good for us as leaner cows raised on grass, which is what cows evolved to eat, of course. Also interesting is that corn is dependent on humans to grow - it was a mutation of a Central American plant and if seeds are left to sprout in the wild they'll fail.

[pup55]

The long time viewers of PO.com are reminded of the project in Missouri, now run at some level by Con Agra, which supposedly had constructed a plant to convert "turkey offal" a.k.a. byproducts and various other waste items, into something that approaches crude oil.

Aside from some minor issues such as an incredibly foul odor, and the second law of thermodynamics, they thought it would work. They had the idea that they would build their plant next to a Tyson Foods turkey plant so as to get the "cheap" by products.

To make a long story short, Tyson decided that they could make more money selling the "offal" to local reprocessors, who presumably turned it into some other useful material, such as turkey food (ugh) rather than give it to the fledgeling plant next door to have it turned, by thermal depolymerization, into "oil".

There is a long thread on this project.

http://www.peakoil.com/fortopic505.html

So, Tyson's "commitment", if any, to this idea, is only as deep as the next quarter's balance sheet.

[perdition79]

animal fat can be used for soaps, explosives, animal feed and possibly motor fuel. By the time this post-peak ride is over, we will be living like native americans, using every part of the buffalo in an attempt to avoid the inevitable.

[SolarDave]

How disappointing. I jumped in thinking this was an exercise thread.

[TorrKing]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('perdition79', 'a')nimal fat can be used for soaps, explosives, animal feed and possibly motor fuel. By the time this post-peak ride is over, we will be living like native americans, using every part of the buffalo in an attempt to avoid the inevitable.

[TheTurtle]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('TheDude', 'R')ead (or see) the Omnivore's Dilemma ... to learn more about the modern food chain.

[pup55]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'N')EW YORK (Reuters) - Tyson Foods Inc. (NYSE:TSN - news) and Syntroleum Corp. (Nasdaq:SYNM - news) are set to announce plans for a $150 million plant that would turn fat from Tyson plants into fuel, The Wall Street Journal Online reported on Monday.

[emersonbiggins]

You know, if not for this animal byproduct feedstock conversion into synfuel, we would have piles upon piles of entrails surrounding us, eventually covering all the land surface of the earth in a thick layer of greasy lipids. I, for one, welcome our Tyson overlords who are working diligently to rid the Earth of such a grisly fate.

Oh wait, they're merely diverting the feedstock from other productive uses in order to make synfuel? Say it ain't so!

[mmasters]

Human fat will be next

[eXpat]

What if they start targeting this?



Soylent Green !!!

[Clouseau2]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('eXpat', 'W')hat if they start targeting this?



Soylent Green !!!

[mmasters]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Clouseau2', '
')Finally an "inexhaustable" supply