Scientists find bugs (bacteria) that eat waste and excrete petrol

[Oniya]

Found this while looking for information on synthetic lubricants.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article4133668.ece

[Moondazed]

If only they could find bugs that eat the pollution that burning oil spews into the environment ;)  That's pretty cool, though.  I have to say that the idea of genetic engineering gives me pause, and not in a good way, but it's nonetheless interesting.

[Oniya]

I found the bit about the excreted oil being 'carbon negative' to be particularly noteworthy.  It's not exactly the same as the stuff we pull out of the ground.

[Storiwyr]

If only they could find bugs that eat the pollution that burning oil spews into the environment ;)  That's pretty cool, though.  I have to say that the idea of genetic engineering gives me pause, and not in a good way, but it's nonetheless interesting.

There's actually been a good deal of success with using bacteria to clean up pollution. Bioremediation is pretty cool.:

http://water.usgs.gov/wid/html/bioremed.html

[Moondazed]

It's probably similar to the oil that is created by the process discussed in this article, which is called thermo-depolymerization (TDP).  I wonder if they're using the term carbon neutral in reference to the fact that it doesn't take carbon to produce the bugs?  I didn't read the entire article word-for-word :)

[Inkidu]

I heard they'd been working on this theory for a while, If I remember properly it was 2002, at least. It's nice though that they've found it. I hope it becomes viable.

[Oniya]

The company claims that this “Oil 2.0” will not only be renewable but also carbon negative – meaning that the carbon it emits will be less than that sucked from the atmosphere by the raw materials from which it is made.

This was the line in the article that caught my attention.  Unless I miss my guess (so not a bio-chem person), this makes it less polluting?

[Moondazed]

That's one of those misleading terms, because it will emit carbon just like other oil does, they call it carbon-neutral because the production of the oil doesn't generate carbon (growing the bugs).  At least I think so :P

[Oniya]

That's why I guessed less polluting, rather than non-polluting.  I mean, if you're generating carbon during production/refinement, as well as when you burn it, that's worse than if you're only generating it during the burning phase.  As I said, chemistry isn't my strong point.