We often talk of the near-limitless potential of creating fuel from such unlikely sources as say an old tire or perhaps a mountain of wood chips. Each time I research these topics; I’m reminded of the old saying that yesterday’s science fiction oft becoming tomorrow’s science.
As one might expect, however, there are some pretty complex chemical reactions involved in turning garbage into oil and in this case the process is commonly referred to as transesterification (aren’t you glad you didn’t have to spell that one in school) and it refers to the combining of either an alcohol, acid, or base to make the material in question more like traditional petro-based fuel (meaning stable, liquidized, flowing, and flammable).
There are several classifications of the various processes all meant to achieve the same result but let us, for a moment, focus on one such process. Pyrolysis: the main method that would be used in turning trash into gas.
Any long-chain hydrocarbon material could be used (which is quite a long list). The material would then be pressurized and superheated in an oxygen-less environment. From there atmospheric pressure would be used to evaporate the water from this soup. Filter out the solids and reheat the remaining liquid and you, my friend, have light crude.
We aren’t foolish enough to suggest that this process could be implemented to replace the world’s dependency on the stuff we drill from the ground overnight but so long as the science works (and it does) there is always the hope.
I expect the reduction of garbage to various energies will be done using multiple technologies, fermentation, bacterial and pyrolitic. It will be like the packing house and the pig, they will use it all but the squeal.
I have said for years that we will mine our garbage dumps someday.