Regular, unleaded, or hog?

• Position: Energy - Brief Article

You've heard of Big Oil, but how about pig oil? Though the process is far from perfected, an agricultural engineer at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has reported success in turning hog manure into oil. "Scientifically, yes, we did convert manure to oil," says Professor Yuanhui Zhang. He subjects the waste to heat and pressure in a process called thermochemical conversion. Long hydrocarbon chains break down into shorter ones, and along with some methane, carbon dioxide, and water...