tags: coconut oil, gasoline substitute, alternative fuel, Bougainville, South Pacific Islands
Have you heard about the clever people who live on the island of Bougainville, near Papua New Guinea? They are developing mini-refineries that produce a coconut oil to replace diesel fuel for their cars.
Unfortunately, because they depend upon imported fuel, shortages and high energy costs often cause many businesses to completely stop in this part of Papua New Guinea. But increasingly, the locals are turning to a cheaper and far more sustainable alternative to diesel: coconut oil. The coconut oil is being produced by a growing number of backyard refineries.
"The coconut tree is a beautiful tree. Doesn't it sound good if you really run your car on something which falls off a tree and that's the good thing about it," said Matthias Horn, a German migrant and an engineer who operates one such refinery. "You run your car and it smells nice and it's environmentally friendly and that's the main thing."
Horn said his work had attracted interest from Iran.
Coconut power is not new in Bougainville. The island endured years of civil unrest in the 1990s that killed thousands of people. During that time, dwindling supplies of diesel forced islanders to look for fuel alternatives and the coconut was chosen.
Cited story.
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The only downside (which isn't mentioned in the article) is that coconut oil can't be used in cooler climates - it tends to congeal.
yes, that's unfortunate, isn't it? although, it could be useful in the USA during the summers.
Dear Grrlscientist,
We are engineers from the Philippines and we are hard at work on extracting ethanol from corn as well as biodiesel from jatropa. We are also keen on extracting diesel from the humble coconut tree. We would like to know if you have an email address of Matthias Horn of Papua, New Guinea? The expert who is working on cocodiesel. We really need his help to survive the soaring prices of oil. Thank You.