Poop fuel; potties for progress

There are, as noted by many others, agricultural and biological roadblocks to the growth and usage of biofuel feedstocks like corn, corn stover, switchgrass, chicken offal, etc. But the following article notes that there is one by-product that given just a few tweaks (and hopefully some serious olfactory offensiveness reduction), could be used right away to produced some bio-diesel. With an emphasis on "bio".

Biodiesel From Sewage Sludge Within Pennies A Gallon Of Being Competitive

And we're the source of it. Yes, us humans. The feedstock source is sewage sludge. Which means our poop, suitably rendered. Now, there are still a few steps to be taken to make this work, but according to the article, it's on the verge of price competitiveness now; and one shock (such as discussed briefly in my errand sharing post) could push gas prices higher and thus make poop fuel competitive.

"Sewage sludge is an attractive alternative feedstock - the United States alone produces about seven million tons of it each year.

Sludge is a good source of raw materials for biodiesel. To boost biodiesel production, sewage treatment plants could use microorganisms that produce higher amounts of oil, Kargbo says.

That step alone could increase biodiesel production to the 10 billion gallon mark, which is more than triple the nation's current biodiesel production capacity, the report indicates."

What else are we doing with it? I can't imagine that all of it can be used for fertilizer, so I think it's just sitting there. Converting it to fuel and burning it makes a lot of sense.

Most of the other ideas for disposing of at least some of it involving creating or capturing other combustible by-products (like methane), or making and burying bio-char. Bio-diesel makes a lot more sense to me.

Sludge