Mexican inventor works on creating eco-friendly refinery

Gerardo Nungaray Benítez, better known as el Güero Bombas, is an inventor from Zacateas who's won awards worldwide for inventing a catalyst that produces diesel and gasoline using recycled plastics, who is now working towards receiving the permits needed to set up a micro-refinery in his state that produces gas and diesel using trash from local landfills.

The inventor set up a booth in the Zacatecas state capital in order to collect the signatures needed for the state government to approve his startup project, which he says would require an initial 18-million-peso (around 840,000 dollars) investment to produce 9,000 liters (around 2,380 gallons) of gasoline per day.

According to el Güero Bombas, he collected over 8,000 physical signatures at his booth over a course of two days and another 10,000 digital signatures on the popular Change.org platform.

Nungaray says he was surprised with how well people have reacted to his project, and that more and more written signatures keep pouring in from across his state and the country, especially in light of the recent and widely reported spike in fuel prices in Mexico. Many people have even attempted to donate money, but he says that's not a feasible option since under current Mexican law, the state-owned company Pemex has exclusive rights over all oil production in Mexico.

This is why Gerardo says it's important for this project to move forward with the government's full support, and that the future micro-refinery be publicly owned, especially since it has three main benefits: economic, social and environmental.

Gerardo, who' currently 46 years old, says his interest as a chemist and inventor started when he was only 11 years old, at which time he managed to create his own microbrewery and even invented his own electric shower.