Jojoba Oil Seen as Alternative to Diesel Fuel

Reuters ^ | Wednesday, March 5, 2003

[Willie Green]

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use.

LONDON (Reuters) - Egyptian scientists believe an oil commonly used in cosmetic products could be a viable alternative to diesel fuel to power cars and trucks.

Researchers at Helwan University in Cairo and the United Arab Emirates University in Al-Ain have tested jojoba oil in engines and say that not only does it work as well as diesel, but the engines spew out fewer pollutants.

"Engineers think the oil has potential as a motor fuel because it releases a lot of energy when it burns and is chemically stable at the high temperatures and pressures in a working engine," New Scientist magazine said on Wednesday.

Until now the oil derived from the nut of the jojoba, a desert shrub, has been used in facial and hair products and as a base for make-up.

Mohamed Selim, who headed the research team, thinks it has potential as an alternative fuel because it contains less carbon than diesel, so there are lower emissions of carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and soot.

But he added that producing sufficient amounts of jojoba oil to use as an alternative fuel could be a problem.

"The use of jojoba as a fuel needs huge quantities of seeds, which needs large investment, probably by the government or private sector," he said.

New Scientist said farmers in Egypt are already planting jojoba shrubs with the idea of providing the oil for fuel.

[Willie Green]

But can it compete with soy beans and aloe verde?

[balrog666]

Everything comes full circle ... IIRC, this was last proposed in the late 70's.

[Cyber Liberty]

Yeah, I wonder how many jojoba farms are out there, blowin' in the wind?

[discostu]

Wow are these guys ever behind the times. Jojoba is good for a lot of stuff, amung other things it can sub for just about every liquid we extract from whales, and yes you can make a kerosene substitute out of it too (and from there probably diesel). Docients at the Desert Museum have only been telling people about this for 20+ years. Problem: can't harvest jojoba at least not in America. Not sure what the excuse for the laws are but they're there and everybody thinks they're stupid.

[Yakima]

Could you post these laws?

[discostu]

I can look, I just know about them because they come at the end of the docient rant. Basically it's "here's all the cool things you can do with jojoba beans.... except it's illegal". I'll see what I can dig up, but I actually need to earn some of my pay so don't hold your breath.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

'twould be tough to back out American soybeans now going into a lot of midwest diesel fuel. Freight from Egypt would be a heart stopper.

[Who dat?]

Egyptian scientists believe an oil commonly used in cosmetic products could be a viable alternative to diesel fuel to power cars and trucks.

I'm not sure. I remember ordering something from one of those websites that sell herbs and stuff and I remember their jojoba oil being pretty spendy. IIRC, like $40/gal, though you could get smaller quantities around $3/fluid oz. Hopefully that's just the "good" stuff and the stuff they make fuel out of is a lot cheaper.

[TC Rider]

Everything comes full circle ... IIRC, this was last proposed in the late 70's.

We lived in CO in the late 70s and I remember how these beans were the answer to all of our energy problems, along with shale oil. There were a bunch of penny stocks everyone was buying, all probably worthless now.

[Libertarianize the GOP]

http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/bump-list

[JmyBryan]

That shale is still there - in massive amounts. It will be harvested if high oil prices maintain. Of course, other alternatives will become feasible at the higher price as well.

[Bodacious]

Last time I looked there were Jojoba farms in Arizona and Souther Cal.........What law am I missing?

[discostu]

Been researching this I think something has changed. Jojoba farming seems to be growing, but the only place it's getting consumer outlets is in cosmetics. I've seen some mentions of import restrictions for some countries but nothing along the lines of what I've heard before. Oddly enough I don't see anybody using it as the substitute for whale oil which is its biggest potential, still not sure what's going on there. Could be a water use issue, we've got a lot of plants with restrictions on them because the use "too much" water.

[discostu]

OK found a little something, apparently you can make a form of speed with it http://www.t-mag.com/nation_articles/body_231use.html that would put certain restrictions on it though not necessarily make it outright illegal.

[ASOC]

You might find interesting the report on "Use of anaerobic bacteria for the treatment of wastewater from in-situ retorting of oil shale: A study in long term polution controls from a short term energy source"

Neat report, in essense using 'RIDEX' in catchment basins to eliminate oily water from shale oil reclamation. Low cost as well. Other sites include details on it's use for mixed oily and radioactive waste water.

Have fun

[JmyBryan]

I did some searches in Google - nothing there. Perhaps you have a link?