Untapped natural resource

December 30, 2008 1:53 PM

Blubber Biofuel
posted by johannahdeschanel (26 comments total)

So would that be... anthrodiesel?
posted by delmoi at 1:55 PM on December 30, 2008 [1 favorite]

biofuel start-ups such as Nova Biosource are mixing beef tallow and pig lard with more palatable sources such as soybean oil.

Apparently we don't share the same palate.
posted by StickyCarpet at 2:01 PM on December 30, 2008

For a time, Beverly Hills doctor Craig Alan Bittner turned the fat he removed from patients into biodiesel that fueled his Ford SUV and his girlfriend's Lincoln Navigator.

I am Jack's life imitating art.
posted by GuyZero at 2:02 PM on December 30, 2008 [5 favorites]

This gives me the creeps. Does he make lampshades from the excess skin?
posted by pracowity at 2:15 PM on December 30, 2008

Fred MacMurray discovered the benefits of blubber years ago when he put some of the stuff on his old jalopy and it started to fly, unless I am completely misremembering history.
posted by Astro Zombie at 2:17 PM on December 30, 2008 [5 favorites]

I wanted to make the Fight club joke.
posted by cjorgensen at 2:18 PM on December 30, 2008

Although it's unclear when Bittner started and stopped making fat fuel or how he made it, his activities came to light after recent lawsuits filed by patients that allege he allowed his assistant and his girlfriend to perform surgeries without a medical license.

So I mean, from the story, all we know is that the guy at one point had a website where he claimed he did this. Did they in any way look into whether or not he actually did this?
posted by anazgnos at 2:20 PM on December 30, 2008

I have a vehicle that converts blubber into miles.

It's called legs.

(I should drive them more often... the excess fuel is kind of weighing me down).
posted by qvantamon at 2:24 PM on December 30, 2008

I've thought before that rich people would be more useful if we just ate them, but turning them into biofuels doesn't seem to be such a bad idea, either.
posted by dunkadunc at 2:29 PM on December 30, 2008

Biofuels is ... people ... it's ... PEOPLE!
posted by Astro Zombie at 2:40 PM on December 30, 2008 [2 favorites]

Cook bacon, use bacon fat to drive to store, buy bacon, cook bacon, use bacon fat to drive to store, buy bacon, cook bacon, use bacon fat to drive to store, buy bacon, cook bacon...

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a fourth law of thermodynamics.
posted by otolith at 2:43 PM on December 30, 2008 [2 favorites]

Hmm, but how do I get the bacon in the first place? Never mind for now. Back to the kitch....er....lab. Yeah, the lab. That's what I meant.
posted by otolith at 2:51 PM on December 30, 2008

Brilliant Astro Zombie. Brilliant.

Also, I was wondering...how is this particularly good for the environment? Lincoln Navigators release a lot of CO2 whether they're using oil or biodiesel. Isn't it just extending our oil supply and lengthening period before civilization collapses and we all wear leather and ride motorcycles in the desert and beat each other up over teaspoons of petrol?
posted by Salvor Hardin at 2:56 PM on December 30, 2008

Vivoleum?
posted by dickymilk at 3:17 PM on December 30, 2008

Tyson Foods and ConocoPhillips form alliance to produce and market diesel fuel made from pork, poultry and beef fat.
posted by terranova at 3:22 PM on December 30, 2008

Waist not, want not.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 3:27 PM on December 30, 2008 [1 favorite]

Under the newly announced energy initiative, the nation expects to lower obesity and also lower foreign oil dependence in one fell swoop.
posted by caddis at 3:39 PM on December 30, 2008

MY OTHER CAR IS A HURF DURF BUTTER BEATER
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 3:47 PM on December 30, 2008 [1 favorite]

I think in the rush to snark about the Fight Club/Soylent Green angle, you're all missing the funniest part: this Craig Bittner guy is getting in trouble for turning people fat into diesel because the state of California has already thought of this idea and has made it illegal.
posted by dammitjim at 4:31 PM on December 30, 2008

the state of California has already thought of this idea and has made it illegal.

They probably saw it in Kentucky Fried Movie back in the 70's.
posted by Greg_Ace at 5:46 PM on December 30, 2008

Also featured in the recent Kids in the Hall tour (one of the sketches with Mark and Bruce as two salesman-huckster types).
posted by stevil at 5:54 PM on December 30, 2008

I've thought before that rich people would be more useful if we just ate them, but turning them into biofuels doesn't seem to be such a bad idea, either.

What problems does that solve? Turning the poor (and in particular the homeless) into biofuel makes a lot more sense.
posted by Mr. President Dr. Steve Elvis America at 6:30 PM on December 30, 2008

Nah. The homeless are too thin, not enough combustible blubber.

You have to go to the guys that aren't poor enough to go hungry, but are poor enough to eat fast food every day.
posted by qvantamon at 8:41 PM on December 30, 2008

It used to be "eat the rich, the poor are tough and stringy." Now, I think qvantamon has it right.
posted by Hactar at 10:07 PM on December 30, 2008

Same guy: Beverly Hills Liposculpture:

My journey has been an amazing one. I began my medical career volunteering in a rural clinic outside Bogata, Columbia that did not have enough equipment and was cursed with only sporadic electricity.After 10 years in practice, I have treated over 40,000 patients, including almost 7000 liposculpture patients. I am proud to be able to tell you that the record of my liposculpture practice has been impeccable; not one single serious complication or infection. Liposculpture is truly my passion and I have been extremely fortunate, however after 10 years of private practice, I am going back to South America to volunteer with a small clinic that is very similar to where my medical career began decades ago, where I can help those most in need.

If you go to his testimonials page, you'll see lots of happy-looking patients posing with what I guess is big containers of their own fat, but if you google his name you'll find some unenthusiastic reviews of his work where words like "lumpy" and "mutilated" come up.

Why is he suddenly taking off for South America? My guess is it's got a lot to do with the raid on his clinic (video) for supposedly allowing unqualified assistants to do the work on his patients. The "Lipo-Diesel" stuff is mentioned at about 2:45.
posted by pracowity at 6:31 AM on December 31, 2008

Wired calls BS. For one, there's no such thing as a diesel Navigator. But that's only one of many fishy things about this story.
posted by O9scar at 10:39 AM on January 1