Bogus dead-cat-fuel story on CNN
Thursday morning I got an email with a hyperlink to a CNN story about a German scientist making biodiesel from dead cats. Turns out that the clever reporters from Reuters picked up the story from the German tabloid Bild (picture a merger of the Weekly World News and USA-Today) about the company Alpha-Kat, and how they supposedly turn cat-carcasses into fuel. CNN then posted the story.
The fact is that the Alpha-Kat guys actually work on a pressure-less, catalytic process for thermal depolymerization (TDP) to produce biodiesel from ANY kind of garbage. The US company Changing World Technologies operates a TCP plant that turns dead turkeys into biodiesel (using a different TCP process).
And the KAT in Alpha-Kat’s company name refers to the KATalyst they are using for their process – not the kitties … but don’t try to explain that to a Reuters reporter who is reading BILD!
However, you can certainly use dead cats for this process, as well as dead turkeys, rats, skunks, reporters, dogs, care bears, cane toads, teletubbies, TV-anchors, slugs, leeches, etc.
Anyway, I just saw that CNN/Reuters pulled the original story and re-posted a modified version in an attempt to get the facts straight. Now they actually bothered to talk to the guy … instead of just regurgitating the Bild story.
Another great example of quality journalism.