What is PPO / Bio-Diesel?
What is Pure Plant Oil
The pure plant oil we use is produced from locally grown rape seed. Rape seed oil has a very high calorie content making it an ideal fuel as it produces more power than ordinary diesel. It also produces up to 42% less carbon emissions making it one of the cleaner fuels of the market. This is sustainable fuel which means the supply will not run which is more than can be said for fossil fuels. It is also a carbon neutral which means any carbon emitted into the atmosphere through burning PPO will be reabsorbed when the next crop of rape seed crop is grown thus negating its effect on the environment.
The fact it is produced locally is another key feature of this fuel. It has become a profitable crop for local farmers to grow and so contributes to the local economy. The only by product from this process is nutritionally rich rapeseed cake which can be used as animal feed. Compared to fossil fuels it is very easy to refine and to turn it automotive fuel. It does not have to be transported half way around the world. Again this all helps reduce its impact on our environment.
The high viscosity of plant oils generally lead to problems when used in unconverted diesel vehicles. The fuel is too thick to pass through the injectors with any ease. To over come these problems vehicles need to be converted to cope with the fuel. The injectors need to be re-engineered and pre-ignition fuel heating systems need to be installed. This can be cost prohibitive but we feel that fact that PPO has the lowest ecological footprint of any fuel on the market today, the cost was worth it.
What is Bio-Diesel
There is an alternative way of running a diesel vehicle on plant oil without converting the engine. This is to thin down the oil so it passes through the injectors without causing any problems. This thinned fuel is called Bio-diesel and has similarly low emissions. Methanol (an alcohol derived from fossil fuel) is added to the oil at the refining stage. The energy required to produce Bio-diesel is up to 20 times greater than that used to produce pure plant oil. Also it is not so profitable to produce on a small scale so the raw oil has to be transported to larger refining facilities in a centralized location and then transported back to the point of sale. All these extra miles and energy input increase the ecological footprint of the fuel. It still has an infinitely smaller impact on our environment than fossil fuels.
Bio-diesel can also be produced from used cooking oil. This however takes even more refining to ensure that the fuel is of high enough standard for use. High water content, acidity levels and contamination are of major concern. Failure to address these issues at the refining stage may lead to engine damage. Bio-diesel made from used cooking is generally produced using a process of solvent extraction, a process which uses a large amount of energy.
A cautionary note to us all
In order to avoid a major transport crisis in the near future we have to radically change our way of thinking and look in to alternatives. We simply can't carry on as we are, we will run out of fossil fuels and we will irreversibly damage the environment as we do so. We cannot produce enough PPO in this country to fuel everybody's car there simply isn't enough land and to clear more land isn't the answer. In some parts of the world deforestation is occurring as many of us are aware. Some of this is land clearance is unfortunately due to expansion of Soya and palm farming industries. It is not clear how much of this crop is being used to produce bio fuels but it does serve as a warning to use to keep sustainability in mind. Sacrificing large amounts of rainforest to produce sustainable fuel is not the way forward. We need to think about our energy requirements in an intelligent way.
We can how ever go a long way to converting this countries transport infrastructure. In doing so we would be helping to reduce this countries carbon deficit.