[ExI] Trash to Fuel

[Keith Henson]

On Mon, Nov 17, 2025 at 9:07 AM Adrian Tymes via extropy-chat
<extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:
>
> Nice!  Would you like help getting it written up and submitted to fund
> a feasibility study, either for DARPA or the DOE?

Yes.  This project needs all the help it can get.

 (Which will
> probably be needed before funding for a pilot plant could be
> obtained.)

Getting Federal money for anything that involves renewable energy is
going to be difficult till we get a new administration.  But trying
does not hurt.

> If I might suggest an alternative to LAX,

Open to any option.  I have considered the UK, for example, because
there are times when they have lots of power from wind in excess of
what they can use.

> I happen to live not far
> from a major PV manufacturing plant (Boviet Solar) in Greenville, NC,
> and an industrial megasite being set up just north of Greenville that
> could readily host this facility - and which is not that far from
> Norfolk (a bit over 100 miles), with all its naval construction and
> basing (possibly consuming the entire ~6M bbl/year in your estimate),
> so a pipeline from the megasite to Norfolk (perhaps along - maybe even
> buried in the median of - the 13 & 11 route, which is almost a
> straight line) would be within the maximum budget you list (though
> might be a significant portion, but given the existing right of way,
> $3-5M per mile seems more likely than $8M on that route).  Greenville
> is the most populated city in its area by a significant margin and
> growing rapidly, so it's already the local accumulator of trash from
> the region, including tires (which a regional interest in auto racing
> keeps generating; NC gets around 100,000 tons/year of scrap tires, and
> is already diverting some of it into "tire-derived fuels").  A
> limited-scale pilot plant might rely on trucks instead of a pipeline -
> not as profitable, but understood as an expense to prove out
> operations - with the pipeline funded as part of scale-up.  (One might
> also consider a site closer to Norfolk, but this option gives
> already-allocated room to grow.)

Depending on the product mix, access to a fuel pipeline would be helpful.

Keith
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