PLANNED WASTE-TO-OIL PLANT SOUNDS PROMISING

A $15 million demonstration plant that will convert waste from poultry processing operations into oil that can be refined into gasoline will be built at Carthage, Mo., and developers believe the process may someday reduce the nation's dependence on foreign oil.

In 1996, a New York businessman and a scientist joined on a quest to create oil from the waste, and they are convinced they have succeeded.

A pilot plant in Philadelphia already has proven the legitimacy of the technology, processing 7 tons of organic material a day. The Carthage plant, scheduled to begin production in the spring, will process 200 tons a day.

The technology is akin to speeding up nature's geothermal process. Organic wastes are mixed with water, then placed under pressure and heated, not unlike the organic material that cooks in the Earth's crust for thousands of years until it becomes oil. The process produces crude or even higher quality oil, and the only byproduct is water.

Developers say that if all agricultural waste in the nation was processed, as many as 12 billion barrels of oil per year could be produced. The United States uses, on average, 19.4 million barrels a day.

The Environmental Protection Agency is so convinced of the potential that it has put $4.98 million toward the plant.

If the technology could be applied on a massive scale, the nation not only could reduce its dependency on foreign oil but could find a way of disposing of most of its agricultural wastes as well.