Thanks to biocoal, an upgraded locomotive sets new standards for railway transportation

May 30, 2012 11:22 GMT  ·  By

Researchers from the University of Minnesota, who also happen to be members of the Coalition for Sustainable Railway, have recently succeeded in making a 1937 locomotive run on biofuel.

Their goal was to prove that both high efficiency and impressive speed are within reach, even if one opts for an environmentally-friendly type of fuel instead of your mainstream electricity or the like.

Given the fact that Minnesota is blessed with quite considerable areas of sustainable forests, their choice of fuel is torrefied biocoal, which is basically wood whose biomass properties are modified so as to allow for more efficient combustion and gasification processes.

Reports indicate that, although presently more expensive than regular coal, biocoal is in fact cheaper than the diesel fuel which most automotive industries use, especially if one takes into consideration its thermal efficiency.

Apparently, Minnesota’s Institute on the Environment (IonE) and Sustainable Rail International – a non-profit organization – both offered their support to this endeavor.

Rod Larkins, IonE's director of the Initiative for Renewable Energy and the Environment, argues that “once perfected, creating the world’s first carbon-neutral locomotive will be just the beginning for this technology which, we hope, will later be used for combined heat and power energy in the developing world as well as reducing the United States’ dependence on fossil fuels.”

Cleantechnica.com explains that simply switching to this innovative power source wouldn't have been enough for the locomotive to be regarded as a state-of-the-art and environmentally- friendly means of transportation.

Therefore, scientists involved in carrying out this project also took time and made sure that this modern “iron horse” also featured an improved Steam circuit, a modernized boiler and a low-maintenance running gear.

All in all, the locomotive is designed to offer the highest levels of efficiency for the lowest amounts of costs, while at the same time keeping gas emissions down to a minimum. Therefore, it is quite likely that at some point in the future smoke trails left by trains will only be found in the pictures from children's books.