petroleum

Australian scientists say they've made a "eureka moment" breakthrough in gas separation and storage that could radically reduce energy use in the petrochemical industry, while making hydrogen much easier and safer to store and transport in a powder.

The US Department of the Interior has announced the discovery of the largest continuous oil and gas field ever found, estimated to contain 46.3 billion barrels of oil, 281 trillion ft³ of natural gas, and 20 billion barrels of natural gas liquids.

Researchers have developed a process that uses pig manure as a low-cost replacement for petroleum in the production of road asphalt. In searching for bio alternatives, the group discovered that swine waste is especially rich in oils very similar to petroleum suited for asphalt production.

The European Space Agency (ESA) is shipping crude oil into space. This may seem like the worst market in the Universe to expand into, but there's method behind this petroleum madness.

Researchers have been able to take the cellulose in sawdust and convert it into hydrocarbon chains. These can be used as an additive in gasoline or as building blocks to create plastics, rubber, nylon, insulation foams and other materials normally made from ethylene, propylene and benzene.

CSIRO Australia and its industry partner, Ziltek, have released their self-contained, hand-held hydrocarbon contamination testing device to the US market. Billed as a world first, the RemScam is capable of testing many hundred samples a day, providing data on the spot, within seconds.