ZOMG Poop!

by Shaker Juliemania

Who couldn't resist reading this headline: Lab makes renewable diesel fuel from E. coli poop?

I must admit I immediately thought of my stepsons who laughed at any reference to poop or farting.

Renewable fuel from poop...well, bacteria poop, but poop nonetheless. It's fascinating! So how does it work?

A special type of genetically altered bacteria are fed plant material: basically, any type of sugar. They digest it and excrete the equivalent of diesel fuel.

The bacteria used are a harmless form of E. coli. And the feedstock, or food for the microbes, can be any type of agricultural product, from sugar cane to waste such as wheat straw and wood chips. Choosing plants with no food value sidesteps one of the biggest criticisms of another synthetic fuel, corn ethanol, because critics say that corn should be used as food, not fuel.

It takes a lot of microbe poop to fill a gas tank, however. Biofuel experts say that processes like those used at LS9 are scientifically viable but that there's still a long way to go before they can address global energy needs.

Besides the reuse of poop, what I thought was very cool about this article is that the LS9 guys did this is their garage. Yep! Just like the Apple boys. Let's hope they are just as successful.

"We started in my garage two years ago, and we're producing barrels today, so things are moving pretty quickly," said biochemist Stephen del Cardayre, LS9 vice president of research and development.

With so much shit in the world, it is refreshing *cough* uh...good to know, that some shit can be recycled and used for a greater purpose.

Here's hoping that more poop can be recycled in the future.