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| New research show how hemp farmers in Africa can fuel their own vehicles. |
SCIENTISTS
collaborating in bio-diesel research at universities in Pakistan, India and
Italy have published a new method to convert hemp oil into bio-diesel using
magnetic metal oxide particles.
In
a paper titled “Experimental analysis of di-functional magnetic oxide catalyst
and its performance in the hemp plant biodiesel production”, published in
Applied Energy, these scientists described using nanometre-sized,
magnetic metal oxide particles to catalyse the conversion of hemp oil into
biodiesel fuel.
They
report a maximum biodiesel yield of 92,16% under optimal operating
conditions.
The
scientist shared data from the Biofuel and Biodiversity Laboratory in the
Department of Plant Sciences, at the Quaid-i-Azam University in Pakistan, the
ENEA/ICTP Research Centre Trisaia in Italy and the School of Chemical
Engineering at the Universiti Sains Malaysia.
While
it will take a few more years to scale up their experiments, their research
could solve the current choice biofuel growers have to make — whether to use
land to grow food for humans or fuel for vehicles.
This
faster way to turn hemp oil into bio-diesel means the local hemp plantation
throughout Africa may yet become harvests that provide fuel for older diesel
engines across the continent. An earlier study in 2010, a study published in
Phys.org by Richard Parnas, a professor of chemical, materials, and biomolecular
engineering at the University of Connecticut, showed virgin hemp seed oil can be
turned into very good biodiesel using a standardised process called
transesterification.
Parras
said hemp farmers could produce enough fuel to power their whole farm with the
oil of hemp seeds.
