Porcine petroleum

Porcine petroleum (also known as pig manure crude or pig crude) is a synthetic crude oil chemically engineered (converted) from pig manure (hog waste).
Research of porcine petroleum production started in 1996 at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign by the research team led by professors Yuanhui Zhang and Lance Schideman. They developed a method for converting raw pig manure into a form of crude oil through thermal depolymerization (thermochemical conversion). This process uses a thermochemical conversion reactor to apply heat and pressure for breaking down carbohydrate materials. As a result, crude oil, methane and carbon dioxide are produced.
With further research, large-scale chemical processing in a refinery-style environment could help the United States process millions of gallons of "pig crude" per day, making the nation much less dependent on foreign sources of oil. However, this technology is still in its infancy and could produce only of oil per of manure. It is developed by Snapshot Energy, a start-up firm.

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