Business
Fill It Up With Coconut Oil?
Marshalls Firm Substitutes Coconut Oil For Diesel
Most Pacific Islanders live on islands whose most noticeable product is
coconuts, but there has been only sporadic interest in or energy spent on
developing coconut fuel as a viable alternative. In the Marshall Islands
the situation has changed dramatically since late last year. Following experiments
over the last three years with Tobolar Copra Processing Plant vehicles using
coconut oil as a substitute for diesel fuel, Pacific International Inc.-the
country's largest construction firm-is fueling its fleet of heavy equipment
and its ocean-going vessels with cheaper and cleaner coconut oil.
"The questions, 'can you use coconut oil as a substitute for diesel' and 'what will it do to the engine?' were not easily answered," says PII owner Jerry Kramer about efforts to begin using coconut oil fuel in the 1990s.University of Hawaii studies indicated that use of coconut oil in diesel engines would deteriorate rubber hoses, clog filters, reduce the power of the engine and lead to excessive carbon build up, Kramer adds. The main drawback to using coconut oil is that the oil absorbs and holds moisture, and at temperatures below 78 degrees Fahrenheit, it hardens. But in the Marshall Islands it never gets below 78 degrees, so the only question that needed answering was about moisture and residue left in engines. - ADVERTISEMENT -
Kramer, whose company manages the copra processing plant for the government, simply started operating a vehicle on coconut fuel and after three years, "we opened up the engine and it was perfect," he says. "There was no carbon build up, the fuel lines were clear and the tank was clean."
For the past year, PII has been fueling all its diesel vehicles and ships with coconut oil. "Two of our loaders use coconut oil," he said. "There's no problems, no black smoke. It burns clean and smells sweet." PII's two tugboats and the Deborah K cargo vessel are all running on coconut oil fuel. Now a number of other local vehicles are doing the coconut oil routine. The copra processing plant sells coconut oil at about $2 a gallon-a far cry from the $3.70 a gallon diesel customers were paying in early October. The simplicity of the way unrefined coconut oil works in diesel engines immediately suggested to Kramer the opportunity for its use on remote outer islands in the Marshalls. He sees two good options: one is a five-kilowatt home unit diesel generator; another is for a larger 30 KW generator that powers a unit that produces coconut oil while providing additional electricity for community use. He's developing this as a pilot plant for outer islands to produce coconut oil to fuel home-sized generators. A five KW generator run from coconut oil can support appliances such as a rice cooker, washing machine and TV-compared to most of the donated solar units going into outer islands that are big enough to power only one or two light bulbs.
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