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Roadkill refinery
Driving off the fat of the land.
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/Perhaps build in a roadkill refinery?/ Worldgineer, Apr 29 2005

I hoped [World] would expand on this, but I can wait no longer. The roadkill refinery would be an onboard attachment to a fairly omnivorous biodiesel car, designed to extract combustible lipids from animal sources encountered during ones travels.

I envision a grinding chamber where ground animals are blended with a lipid solvent - heck, gasoline would do fine. The ground bits are then pressed down and the lipid layer taken off the top. Then remains are deposited back on the road, to complete the circle of life. The fats extracted from the animals would augment the octane of fuel already in the tank. Other feedstocks for the roadkill refinery might be fast food dumpsters or even greasy plants like avocadoes or coconuts.


bungston, May 03 2005

Another fuel related idea Bacardi_20mothball_...ncy_20fuel_20kit_2e
A throwaway comment in here was my inspiration. [bungston, May 03 2005]

Cat Biodiesel http://www.ananova....ory/sm_1534821.html
[Worldgineer, Sep 14 2005]

[link]






       Whatever.

reensure, May 03 2005
  

       I'd hate to be a mechanic for one of these.......and the exhaust could be frightful as well.   

       "Honey, take the state highway. There's more squirrels over there".

normzone, May 03 2005
  

       Can we add a bug-scoop?

Basepair, May 04 2005
  

       Powered by Marlon Brando

Mr Burns, May 04 2005
  

       The process required to properly extract fat from animal tissue takes about 14 hours in a steam cooker at 160 degC.   

       Additionally, I don't know whether this device will be economical. Take beef, which runs to about 25% fat.   

       The fat content of a 300kg cow is about 75kg, or 70litres, which is a good-sized tank of biodiesel. Assume there are 10,000 cars a day along the path of your commute and you each fill up once every week to ten days. That means there will need to be 7,000 - 10,000 roadkilled cows along your route, every week. That's a bloody lot of dead cows.   

       Personally, I'd put my money into insurance litigation financing and panel repair shops.

UnaBubba, May 05 2005
  

       Aw, I missed this idea. Nice one [bung]. I actually found your idea while looking for an application of the linked technology.

Worldgineer, Sep 14 2005
  

       You could also throw in any unwanted/dead pets.

MikeOxbig, Jan 01 2006
  

       //Can we add a bug-scoop?//   

       A Bussard Dodge Ramjet?

Aq_Bi, Jan 15 2006
  

       Just a thought, what would power this device? Would you get any benefit if it takes as much power to run it as it puts out?

21 Quest, Jan 15 2006
  

       You would get the benefit of knowing you helped make the world a better place.

bungston, Jan 16 2006
  
      
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