14 DAY TRIAL // Two ingenious Israeli researchers are struggling to green up transportation through a new method of obtaining less polluting fuel made from all types of oil, including the kind used worldwide by fast food stands.
At times when the natural resources are scarce and expensive, Dr. Sobhi Basheer and Dr. Ahmed Tafesh are trying to come up with a different cost-effective green fuel, based on recycled oil, NoCamels informs.
Their strategy is to decrease production costs, improve transportation while also helping the food industry offset its major carbon footprint. According to a recent report, there are almost 25,000 fast food chains in America, where buyers invest $140 billion (€108 billion) in their products.
This means a lot of cooking oil is used and discarded with no further benefits. The two scientists plan to change the system, relying on their innovative TransBiodiesel technology to obtain a reliable biofuel to power diesel engines.
In order to optimize the production process and make it both affordable and clean, the team has invented a risk-free biological enzyme that can transform any type of oil into a suitable fuel.
Apart from the fact that the TransBiodiesel technology does not generate hazardous waste, it is also cheaper than standard methods of production and energy-efficient, since it does not require oil heating.
“In both cases the process results in large amounts of alkaline toxic waste and complexity in downstream processing. Low grade oils cannot be used, oil needs to be heated and catalysts cannot be reused. In addition Sodium Methoxide is an explosive material, which requires special care and is relatively expensive,” reveals one of the scientists involved in this project.
Apparently, their strategy has already been implemented in a plant located in Israel, where the technique is currently displaying satisfactory results.
Following the same path, Dr. Sobhi Basheer and Dr. Ahmed Tafesh plan to apply the same method on a larger scale and America seems to be a tempting target, mostly due to its ever-growing market of fast food restaurants, a great supplier of recycled cooking oil.
The main goal is to make oil-based biodiesel competitive and its price definitely counts as a decisive factor. The Israeli researchers state that 40,000 tons of greener fuel would cost approximately $2 million (€1.54million).