Vegetable Motor Oil By Peaks and Prairies
by John Laumer, Philadelphia on 04.16.06
Peaks and Prairies of Malta Montana USA has received a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) grant to test its canola or “rapeseed” oil-based engine lubricant, “Eco-Oil”. The DOE grant money will support independent laboratory testing of Eco-Oil’s effect on engine power, emissions, and so on. The testing results will be used to apply for certification by the American Petroleum Institute, such that Eco-Oil use could prospectively satisfy engine maker warranty requirements. Hmmm...petroleum industry trade group considers certifying a plant oil product that could one day compete against petroleum-based oils. Interesting.
Biodegradability is reported to be in the 90 to 93 percent range for Eco-Oil, and price anticipated to be less than traditional motor oil according to the company. Eco-Oil is made with two processes patented by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and licensed by Peaks and Prairies through the National Center for Utilization of Agriculture Research.
Peaks & Prairies is, owned by Montana farmers and ranchers.
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There's been some really interesting stuff on canola based lubricant. A fair amount of the emissions from engine are from burning motor oil, even on newer engines. If your fuel and lube is bio-based the emissions are reduced draastically. This stuff is supposed to perform as well as fancy synthetic oil, but at a fraction of the cost too.
Hmmm, I'm not suprised the standards board would consider it. Ifn they're honest, there's no reason not to support this product, and if they are steered by the Petroleum Industry, this could be a way to test this product without having to invest anything into it.
It sounds great. I wonder about the reprocessability of it and perhaps the option to convert it to biodiesel when the it is time for a change of oil.
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Old lube is always full of metals and breakdown products, which would vary by fuels used. No reason it could not be filtered or centrifuged and then used as a fuel if additives do not have a problematic property. This was "discovered" on the taxpayers dime, so even though commercial use requires a license, there is no reason we could not obtain an answer to what the additives might be.
Just for clarification, "Canola" oil is a trade name ("Canadian" + "oil.") There is no Canola plant.
So, where can I get 3 quarts of vegetable-based 10W-40 for the next time I change the oil in my motorcycle?
P.S. I got about 60mpg while zooming down the Interstate today!
==== author's response follows ====
Follow the link in the post: P&P is already offering some for sale. Note: TreeHuggger is not endorsing the product.
The oils mentioned on the page aren't anything remotely like 10W-40. They're all specialty oils that don't really apply to what I do with any of my vehicles.
The chain oil might be useful - but that depends on how much of it ends up as flyoff.
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Unless my memory fails, it seems as if the web site was changed after the post was written. Perhaps too many requests were recieved and they want to wait for the testing before too many sales occur???
Any other old 2-stroke motorcycle fans here? We used to use straight castor-bean oil as a lube. In some respects it worked better than dino oil, others not so much. With modern science behind it, improving it and bringing it up to date shouldn't be that far of a stretch.