by
Paul
BenhaimAfter hemp seed or fibre is harvested, the rest of the plants
is used as an energy crop that powers equipment in Polish
factories. Methanol used today is mainly made from natural gas, a
fossil fuel. Despite there being pollution and energy expenditure in
producing methanol, its use in refilling fuel cells makes it a greener
and more commercial option than for cars run on such fuel.
When Rudolf Diesel first demonstrated his new invention
in 1900 he fuelled his prototype with a nut oil. Modern diesel
engines have been developed to run specifically on fossil fuels
and the coking of the injector tips and degradation of the
lubricating oil will prevent long-term use. There are two solutions
to this:
Modify the engine. The Elsbett engine, as developed in
Germany, is an example of an engine designed to run on a range
of fuels. However the economic implications have prevented the
engine from being mass produced. This will hopefully change.
Modify the (hemp) oil. A relatively simple chemical process
of transesterification produces an oil with almost identical
properties to those of fossil based diesel. The by-products of this
processing are oil-seed cake, a high protein animal feed and
glycerol. Bio-fuel has virtually identical power output and fuel
economy to fossil fuels, less smoke and virtually no sulphur
dioxide emissions as well as of fuel leaks or spillages are far less
severe than with diesel, as 98% is broken down within 21 days.
Yet there is little coverage on the benefits of bio-fuels.
There are currently too many interests in the petro-chemical
industry to warrant investment in engines such as the Elsbett.
However, it has not stopped Dylan Maxwell of New Earth from
running his vehicle on vegetable oil for nearly a decade! It is
possible to recycle old ‘waste’ oil from the local fish and chip shop
for the transesterification process. Apart from Dylan, there are
fleets of businesses running on bio-fuel on over 50 French cities
with Austria, Germany and Italy using similar quantities. New
Canadian technology had reduced the processing time of the oil