A former cement works in West Sussex, next to a disused quarry,
may seem an unlikely home for a new technology that could
revolutionise the way we fuel our vehicles. But this is where
Blooming Futures, one of the first companies to introduce a
genuinely sustainable and environmentally sound form of biofuel to
Britain, is based. The not-for-profit co-operative can convert
diesel engines to run perfectly on minimally processed pure plant
oil, and then supply the oil. If you run low far from home, you
top up on conventional diesel at the nearest filling station.
So far, there have been two biofuel buzz words, hailed by some
as little short of miraculous: bioethanol and biodiesel.
Bioethanol, produced from sugar cane, wheat or corn, uses
fermentation to make ethanol, which can be blended with petroleum
fuels or burnt in a pure form in some new cars. Biodiesel,
produced from vegetable oils such as palm, soy or rapeseed, is
made by breaking down vegetable oil and reforming it into a fuel
that powers cars that usually use conventional diesel. However,
critics, including George Monbiot, have pointed out that these
are, sadly, not as green as they're painted.
To make a significant impact on fossil fuel use would require
vast tracts of land to be turned over to growing the raw material
needed. Brazil produces around half the world's bioethanol, but it
has relatively large amounts of space and few inhabitants. A
number of the key crops for producing biodiesel won't grow in
northern climates, and the developing world needs its agricultural
land to grow food. Such crops would need much water, not to
mention vast doses of chemical fertiliser, pesticide and
fungicide. And shipping and processing biofuel crops requires
energy in itself.
Plenty of research into bioethanol and biodiesel is being
carried out by the big petrol companies, who are making much of
their desire to go green. But poachers-turned-gamekeepers, who
still have a vested interest in turning further vast profits, are
perhaps not as keen as they might be on bypassing fossil fuels
altogether.
So what is the alternative? Pure plant oil (PPO) uses locally
grown, cold-pressed rapeseed, which requires no chemicals or
solvent extraction. By-products are seedcake for animal food
(often soya-based, from intensively grown, internationally shipped
crops) or fuel for new-generation pellet-burning boilers. The oil
comes from winter rape, which is harvested at the end of the
cropping cycle when most other crops are finished for the season,
which makes it an attractive proposition for farmers. The energy
footprint of PPO fuel has been estimated at 25 times smaller than
that of biodiesel and 50 times smaller than that of bioethanol.
Blooming Futures has spent seven years researching the
technology. It has eight members and runs on a shoestring budget.
"We wanted to be independent, not industry-led," explains the
company's Mat Bulba. "We first looked into biodiesel but we
couldn't tie it in to a genuinely sustainable working model." It
has attracted the attention of Defra, which has provided support
and funding. The technology Blooming Futures uses has already put
tens of thousands of plant oil-fuelled cars on the road in
Germany, where the system was invented by Elsbett Technologie,
originally for developing multi-fuel vehicles in the Second World
War. Elsbett has since spent 20 years developing a method of
converting car engines to run on plant oil.
Since Blooming Futures began to offer a commercial service in
April this year, it has converted around 30 vehicles, including
the first of a fleet of bio-taxis. So, if you want your car
converted, what are the practicalities? First, it needs to be a
model that runs on diesel. Smaller vehicles, including most cars
and vans, keep their original fuel tank, with a modified injector
system. Larger vehicles need a small additional tank, which is
filled with diesel and acts as a starter for the main tank, which
takes the plant oil. The engine switches to PPO at the right
temperature. Around 70 per cent of diesel engines can be
converted, and Blooming Futures offers a secondary warranty on any
converted engine. "Some fuel pumps aren't as tolerant as others
and we work with models and engines that are already known to run
well on pure plant oil," Mat says. In a pinch, converted vehicles
will run equally well on conventional diesel or a mixture of
diesel and plant oil.
The average cost of converting a car is about £1,500; for
larger vehicles, about £3,000. Some places are still available on
a Defra-sponsored scheme that covers half the conversion costs for
work vehicles in the south-east; the aim is an initial bio-fleet
of 50 vehicles.
Blooming Futures can deliver PPO in 1,000-litre drums
nationwide; 200-litre drums are also available in the south-east,
with hand- or electric pumps to transfer it to your tank.It is
around 91p per litre, including VAT, road fuel duty and delivery.
Before tax it costs around 50p per litre (buy from a registered
seller and they will have filled in the necessary forms; it's also
possible to self-register as an individual). At the time of
writing, diesel and PPO were on a close par, price-wise; but
conventional fuel prices fluctuate and for large-scale hauliers, a
larger price gap can make a significant difference to total bills.
Nick Cooper, of Defra's Rural Development Service, who is
working with Natural England on a Defra-funded project on farming
without fossil fuels, had his Land Rover Discovery converted eight
months ago. "I have done about 12,000 miles since and it works
very well; there is no power loss and the engine runs more
quietly, because there is more lubrication in it."
Pure plant oil has a very good environmental profile, he notes.
"It is very local, very traceable, the equipment used to produce
it is very simple, it contains few additives and the technology
for converting vehicles to use it is well proven. In the longer
term, there may be biodiversity issues to do with the growing of
oilseed rape, which is difficult to grow organically, but
integrated crop management can minimise pesticide use and
commercial farmers can take it on board very easily."
Environment minister Ian Pearson adds: "Local initiatives such
as the Blooming Futures bio-fleet project show what people can do
at a local level. The group provides both a conversion and
refuelling service and sourcing British pure plant oil not only
reduces air miles, but also creates a sustainable and alternative
market. I am pleased that we have been able to support this
project through the Environmental Action Fund, which is supporting
a range of projects up and down the country that deliver
sustainable consumption and production."
Many may recall the 2002 story of the South Wales communities
who used cooking oil, bought at supermarkets and poured straight
into their cars, to avoid paying fuel tax. This is not a good
idea: the tax evasion is illegal and the oil may clog an
unconverted engine. However, the Government's plan to introduce a
Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO), scheduled for 2007 or
2008, stating that 5 per cent of road fuel must come from
sustainable sources, means that biofuel in some form will have to
become standard.
Blooming Futures is investigating the use of plant oil to power
generators that can produce electricity and heat. "This is a
genuine alternative to fossil fuel, well developed and working
effectively," says Mat Bulba. "Once [people] realise the
difference between PPO and other biofuels, what many people like
about pure plant oil is that there is something positive they can
do for the environment that also means they are no longer bound to
the fuel companies."
Blooming Futures 01273 462 197;
www.bloomingfutures.com
The natural alternatives to fossil fuels
Sugar Cane
Sugar cane grown in Brazil produces half the world's
bioethanol. Large tracts of land in countries such as India and
Thailand are being turned over to sugar cane. Cultivating sugar
cane depletes water tables in drier countries, and Brazilian
growers may turn to land covered by rainforest.
Wheat and corn
America's 100th corn ethanol production plant opened in May and
by 2007, bioethanol will account for about a fifth of America's
corn harvests. The USA is set to overtake Brazil as the world's
main producer. However, using corn for fuel has meant shortages,
which have pushed up global prices.
Cassava
China hopes to set up an extensive programme of cassava-based
bioethanol production.
Palm oil
Malaya and Indonesia, the largest producers, announced jointly
in July that they were devoting 40 per cent of their crop to
biodiesel. Virgin forest in Borneo is being cut down to make way
for palm trees. Goodbye, orang-utans.
Soya
Plantations of soya for biodiesel are displacing forests in
south American countries such as Argentina and production is set
to rise.
Rapeseed oil
Can be chemically processed to make biodiesel, as well as used
in its PPO form as described in the main copy. Rape can be grown
worldwide, and if large quantities have to be imported, this makes
it subject to the same kind of energy expenditure in transport as
more obviously exotic crops.
Switchgrass
A wild grass common in the eastern USA. It can produce twice as
much bioethanol acre-for-acre as corn and thrives on poor ground.
Jatropha
Jatropha beans are the main biodiesel cropin southern Africa
and are exported by some of the world's poorest nations, including
Malawi and Zambia. It is drought-resistant, requires little in the
way of pesticides or fertilisers, and can be harvested three times
a year.
A former cement works in West Sussex, next to a disused quarry,
may seem an unlikely home for a new technology that could
revolutionise the way we fuel our vehicles. But this is where
Blooming Futures, one of the first companies to introduce a
genuinely sustainable and environmentally sound form of biofuel to
Britain, is based. The not-for-profit co-operative can convert
diesel engines to run perfectly on minimally processed pure plant
oil, and then supply the oil. If you run low far from home, you
top up on conventional diesel at the nearest filling station.
So far, there have been two biofuel buzz words, hailed by some
as little short of miraculous: bioethanol and biodiesel.
Bioethanol, produced from sugar cane, wheat or corn, uses
fermentation to make ethanol, which can be blended with petroleum
fuels or burnt in a pure form in some new cars. Biodiesel,
produced from vegetable oils such as palm, soy or rapeseed, is
made by breaking down vegetable oil and reforming it into a fuel
that powers cars that usually use conventional diesel. However,
critics, including George Monbiot, have pointed out that these
are, sadly, not as green as they're painted.
To make a significant impact on fossil fuel use would require
vast tracts of land to be turned over to growing the raw material
needed. Brazil produces around half the world's bioethanol, but it
has relatively large amounts of space and few inhabitants. A
number of the key crops for producing biodiesel won't grow in
northern climates, and the developing world needs its agricultural
land to grow food. Such crops would need much water, not to
mention vast doses of chemical fertiliser, pesticide and
fungicide. And shipping and processing biofuel crops requires
energy in itself.
Plenty of research into bioethanol and biodiesel is being
carried out by the big petrol companies, who are making much of
their desire to go green. But poachers-turned-gamekeepers, who
still have a vested interest in turning further vast profits, are
perhaps not as keen as they might be on bypassing fossil fuels
altogether.
So what is the alternative? Pure plant oil (PPO) uses locally
grown, cold-pressed rapeseed, which requires no chemicals or
solvent extraction. By-products are seedcake for animal food
(often soya-based, from intensively grown, internationally shipped
crops) or fuel for new-generation pellet-burning boilers. The oil
comes from winter rape, which is harvested at the end of the
cropping cycle when most other crops are finished for the season,
which makes it an attractive proposition for farmers. The energy
footprint of PPO fuel has been estimated at 25 times smaller than
that of biodiesel and 50 times smaller than that of bioethanol.
Blooming Futures has spent seven years researching the
technology. It has eight members and runs on a shoestring budget.
"We wanted to be independent, not industry-led," explains the
company's Mat Bulba. "We first looked into biodiesel but we
couldn't tie it in to a genuinely sustainable working model." It
has attracted the attention of Defra, which has provided support
and funding. The technology Blooming Futures uses has already put
tens of thousands of plant oil-fuelled cars on the road in
Germany, where the system was invented by Elsbett Technologie,
originally for developing multi-fuel vehicles in the Second World
War. Elsbett has since spent 20 years developing a method of
converting car engines to run on plant oil.
Since Blooming Futures began to offer a commercial service in
April this year, it has converted around 30 vehicles, including
the first of a fleet of bio-taxis. So, if you want your car
converted, what are the practicalities? First, it needs to be a
model that runs on diesel. Smaller vehicles, including most cars
and vans, keep their original fuel tank, with a modified injector
system. Larger vehicles need a small additional tank, which is
filled with diesel and acts as a starter for the main tank, which
takes the plant oil. The engine switches to PPO at the right
temperature. Around 70 per cent of diesel engines can be
converted, and Blooming Futures offers a secondary warranty on any
converted engine. "Some fuel pumps aren't as tolerant as others
and we work with models and engines that are already known to run
well on pure plant oil," Mat says. In a pinch, converted vehicles
will run equally well on conventional diesel or a mixture of
diesel and plant oil.
The average cost of converting a car is about £1,500; for
larger vehicles, about £3,000. Some places are still available on
a Defra-sponsored scheme that covers half the conversion costs for
work vehicles in the south-east; the aim is an initial bio-fleet
of 50 vehicles.
Blooming Futures can deliver PPO in 1,000-litre drums
nationwide; 200-litre drums are also available in the south-east,
with hand- or electric pumps to transfer it to your tank.It is
around 91p per litre, including VAT, road fuel duty and delivery.
Before tax it costs around 50p per litre (buy from a registered
seller and they will have filled in the necessary forms; it's also
possible to self-register as an individual). At the time of
writing, diesel and PPO were on a close par, price-wise; but
conventional fuel prices fluctuate and for large-scale hauliers, a
larger price gap can make a significant difference to total bills.
Nick Cooper, of Defra's Rural Development Service, who is working
with Natural England on a Defra-funded project on farming without
fossil fuels, had his Land Rover Discovery converted eight months
ago. "I have done about 12,000 miles since and it works very well;
there is no power loss and the engine runs more quietly, because
there is more lubrication in it."
Pure plant oil has a very good
environmental profile, he notes. "It is very local, very
traceable, the equipment used to produce it is very simple, it
contains few additives and the technology for converting vehicles
to use it is well proven. In the longer term, there may be
biodiversity issues to do with the growing of oilseed rape, which
is difficult to grow organically, but integrated crop management
can minimise pesticide use and commercial farmers can take it on
board very easily."
Environment minister Ian Pearson adds: "Local initiatives such
as the Blooming Futures bio-fleet project show what people can do
at a local level. The group provides both a conversion and
refuelling service and sourcing British pure plant oil not only
reduces air miles, but also creates a sustainable and alternative
market. I am pleased that we have been able to support this
project through the Environmental Action Fund, which is supporting
a range of projects up and down the country that deliver
sustainable consumption and production."
Many may recall the 2002 story of the South Wales communities
who used cooking oil, bought at supermarkets and poured straight
into their cars, to avoid paying fuel tax. This is not a good
idea: the tax evasion is illegal and the oil may clog an
unconverted engine. However, the Government's plan to introduce a
Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO), scheduled for 2007 or
2008, stating that 5 per cent of road fuel must come from
sustainable sources, means that biofuel in some form will have to
become standard.
Blooming Futures is investigating the use of plant oil to power
generators that can produce electricity and heat. "This is a
genuine alternative to fossil fuel, well developed and working
effectively," says Mat Bulba. "Once [people] realise the
difference between PPO and other biofuels, what many people like
about pure plant oil is that there is something positive they can
do for the environment that also means they are no longer bound to
the fuel companies."
Blooming Futures 01273 462 197;
www.bloomingfutures.com
The natural alternatives to fossil fuels
Sugar Cane
Sugar cane grown in Brazil produces half the world's
bioethanol. Large tracts of land in countries such as India and
Thailand are being turned over to sugar cane. Cultivating sugar
cane depletes water tables in drier countries, and Brazilian
growers may turn to land covered by rainforest.
Wheat and corn
America's 100th corn ethanol production plant opened in May and
by 2007, bioethanol will account for about a fifth of America's
corn harvests. The USA is set to overtake Brazil as the world's
main producer. However, using corn for fuel has meant shortages,
which have pushed up global prices.
Cassava
China hopes to set up an extensive programme of cassava-based
bioethanol production.
Palm oil
Malaya and Indonesia, the largest producers, announced jointly
in July that they were devoting 40 per cent of their crop to
biodiesel. Virgin forest in Borneo is being cut down to make way
for palm trees. Goodbye, orang-utans.
Soya
Plantations of soya for biodiesel are displacing forests in
south American countries such as Argentina and production is set
to rise.
Rapeseed oil
Can be chemically processed to make biodiesel, as well as used
in its PPO form as described in the main copy. Rape can be grown
worldwide, and if large quantities have to be imported, this makes
it subject to the same kind of energy expenditure in transport as
more obviously exotic crops.
Switchgrass
A wild grass common in the eastern USA. It can produce twice as
much bioethanol acre-for-acre as corn and thrives on poor ground.
Jatropha
Jatropha beans are the main biodiesel cropin southern Africa
and are exported by some of the world's poorest nations, including
Malawi and Zambia. It is drought-resistant, requires little in the
way of pesticides or fertilisers, and can be harvested three times
a year.