Sludge Watch ==> Isreal - turning sewage sludge into gasoline

[maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca]

http://news.com.com/Turning+sewage+sludge+into+gasoline/2100-11389_3-6089033.html

Turning sewage sludge into gasoline

By Michael Kanellos

TEL AVIV, Israel--BioPetrol gets the award for finding the most novel way to 
get gas for cars.
The company is experimenting with a method of extracting oil out of sewage 
sludge, Amit Mor, CEO of Israeli investing and consulting firm Eco Energy, 
said in an interview. Mor, who advises BioPetrol, said the extracted oil 
could be converted into gasoline and natural gas.

"Sludge is a major problem in the world. Cities pay $50 a ton or more to get 
rid of it," he said. "And it's good-quality light oil."

A ton of high-quality sludge can produce about 30 kilograms, or 66 pounds, 
of such oil, Mor said. The process can also convert pulp, agricultural 
waste, plastics and tires into oil.

Although Israel found a fairly sizable natural-gas field off its coast in 
1999, the country relies on exports of oil and coal to keep the lights on. 
Getting energy out of sludge potentially could help alleviate the problem. 
The energy could be sold or, on a more practical level, used to keep things 
running in the cities where it is harvested.

In the United States, Microgy is building a facility in Texas that will 
convert manure from 10,000 dairy cows into natural gas that will be sold 
through conventional pipelines. Microgy's system breaks down manure with 
microbes. Other companies are trying to improve the process of making 
ethanol from vegetable matter.

BioPetrol does not use microbes, Mor said. It also does not produce ethanol; 
its process would yield standard hydrocarbon fuels. Instead, the company 
first dries the sludge and then combines the dried matter with proprietary 
catalysts and heat.

The process is conceptually similar, to some degree, to how some companies 
extract oil from shale, Mor said.

"The end result is the on-site reduction of dry sludge volume from 100 
percent to 5 percent," according to an information sheet hosted by the 
Israeli Industry Center for R&D.

The idea first came from Ari Sofer, an expert in sewage who operated 
facilities in the United States and Israel. Typically, people try to 
chemically convert sludge into fertilizer. "That gave him the idea," Mor 
said.

BioPetrol got its start through Israel's incubator program, sponsored by the 
Office of the Chief Scientist (click here for PDF), which gives selected 
entrepreneurs $400,000, on average, over a two-year period to help them go 
from the concept stage to becoming a start-up with a business plan and, in 
most cases, a prototype.

In other news:
HP nabs software maker for $4.5B
Congress spanks naughty sites
Swan song for Microsoft allies?
News.com Extra: Bugle goes Googling for source code flaws
Video: Site revives classic arcade tunes
After two years, these companies are expected to find their own investors, 
said Rina Pridor, who runs Israel's incubator program. The government does 
not retain an equity stake in these incubator companies, but the start-ups, 
if they survive, are expected to pay back the grant with interest.

Some Israeli venture capitalists grumble about the incubator program, 
claiming that it supports companies that can't or shouldn't get funded, but 
Pridor has numbers on her side. Companies that emerged from their two-year 
stints in 2005 have since received a collective $75 million in venture 
capital backing.

"We come in when private money won't touch them," she said.

BioPetrol is currently trying to raise $1 million to build a prototype 
facility, Mor said.



Copyright ©1995-2006 CNET Networks, Inc. All rights reserved.