Coconut Crude - Vanuatu
- February 2004 -
Introduction
Coconuts have been widely harvested in tropical
coastal areas. The principal product is copra, the
dried flesh of the nut, from which oil is extracted
for use in food products such as margarine as well
as in cosmetics and soap. In recent years the demand
for copra has been falling, and with it the price,
leading to declining incomes in regions heavily
dependent on copra production. However, on the
islands of Vanuatu in the Pacific Ocean an
entrepreneur, Tony Deamer, has succeeded in using
coconut oil in fuel for motor vehicles. Potentially
this enterprise could help to revitalise the market
for copra and have wide-ranging environmental
benefits as well.
Island
Economy
Vanuatu is a relatively poor country with an
average per capita income of US$1,200 per
year and with 80 per cent of the population
living in rural areas. It is located in the
South Pacific ocean, 650 miles west of Fiji
and 1500 miles north-east of Australia. Its
83 islands stretch north to south from the
Torres Islands near Santa Cruz in the
Solomon Islands to the Matthew and Hunter
Islands east of New Caledonia. Vanuatu is
divided into three island groups: the Torres
and Banks Group, the Central Group, and the
Tafea islands. The capital is Port Vila on
the island of Efate. |
 In
common with many small and medium sized island
economies Vanuatu is a net importer of goods,
importing about three times the amount it exports.
Diesel fuel accounts for about US$9 million, or
about 10 per cent of the total value of imports. If
a sizeable proportion of imported diesel could be
substituted by an indigenously produced fuel, it
would make a significant difference to the balance
of payments deficit.
Copra is the main export commodity of Vanuatu, so
the economy is heavily dependent on its price. Lack
of opportunity and underemployment are serious
problems in the country, and realising the full
potential of coconut-based products could offer many
opportunities for developing rural-based livelihoods
and providing increased and more secure incomes.
A
Versatile Commodity
Coconut is a very useful resource, not only
for producing oil. The coconut fibre from
the nut, known as coir, can be processed
into mats, rope, fabrics, brushes and a
biodegradable packaging material as an
alternative to expanded polystyrene, as well
as an environmentally friendly alternative
to peat for potting and bedding plants. The
coconut shell is good for making charcoal
for fuel, and activated charcoal for
purifying water and other liquids and gases.
The residue from the pressing of the oil
makes a good animal feed. The oil itself can
be used for cooking. It can also be used as
fuel for lamps. |
There is a growing
interest in the health benefits of virgin coconut
oil that has not been hydrogenated, a process which
extends the shelf-life of oil products but has
associated health risks.
Commercial Oil Production
Vegetable oil from soya and rapeseed (canola) has
similar uses to coconut oil. In many countries the
growing of soya has expanded and harvests of the
crop have generally been good, so the market and
price for copra have declined. On some estates on
the islands of Efate and the Tafea group the coconut
crop is no longer harvested, as this is not
economic. Even where copra is produced, demand is
mainly for high quality grades. It is very difficult
to sell the poorer quality copra and make a profit.
This mostly comes from smaller producers who use sun
or smoke to dry the coconut. Drying coconut flesh
slowly in the open air also risks bacterial
infection.
Vanuatu exports coconut oil as well as raw copra. A
single large mill, C.O.P.V. Santo, produces this.
Producing oil for fuel could feasibly be done by a
number of smaller mills at different locations. This
would help to improve rural incomes and economies
and could mitigate the migration from rural areas to
towns where there are few employment opportunities.
Environmental advantages for using biofuels such as
coconut oil compared with diesel include:
- Raw material
resources are renewable and not finite;
- Trees grown for
producing the fuel also re-absorb some of carbon
dioxide released in burning the fuel;
- The fuel is
cleaner-burning, releasing fewer particulates
and noxious gases than diesel.
Coconut Oil as Vehicle Fuel
The use of oil obtained from the nuts of the coconut
palm (Cocos nucifera) for fuel has been championed
for several years by Tony Deamer, a garage owner and
vehicle supplier based in Port Vila, the capital
city of Vanuatu. The success of this enterprise will
assist economic development in Vanuatu and encourage
rural development where many livelihoods are heavily
dependent on the coconut crop and processing. The
government in Vanuatu and the national and
international media are showing interest in the
project.
After extensive experimentation Mr Deamer is
successfully running five of his own fleet of hire
vehicles on coconut oil. In late 2002 about 200
minibuses were also running on a coconut / diesel
oil mixture, but a change in government excise duty
has resulted in a price increase on fuel mixtures,
and has reduced this number somewhat, though many
minibus owners are still continuing to use this
fuel. Mr Deamer together with another local coconut
oil producer has been negotiating with the
government for a reduction of duty on coconut
oil-based mixtures.
The use of coconut oil in engines is not new. It was
used, for example, in the Philippines during the
Second World War when diesel was in short supply.
Since then the wide availability of diesel
throughout the world and difficulties in running
engines on coconut oil in cooler weather had
virtually ended its use in this way. In recent years
there has been a revival of interest in a number of
countries, e.g. Thailand, India, the Philippines and
some Pacific island states. This was due to the
growing demand for diesel because numbers of
vehicles and equipment were increasing, leading to
higher prices and in some countries shortages. There
were also concerns about growing import deficits and
environmental pollution caused by increasing diesel
use.
Technical difficulties
The main drawback with using coconut fuel oil in
engines is that it starts to solidify at a
temperature below 22°C, and by 14°C it is close to
solid and does not flow at all. In tropical
countries temperatures fall below 22°C on a
significant number of nights throughout the year,
and sometimes during the day in the cooler season.
If the engine is started while the temperature is
below 22 C, the fuel filter is likely to become
blocked.
Remedies
One remedy is to fit a heat exchanger in the fuel
line, which warms up the fuel sufficiently within a
minute of starting the engine. Another option is to
mix the coconut oil with another fuel, and Mr Deamer
has tested various proportions of coconut oil with
diesel or kerosene.
Coconut oil can be maintained as a liquid to lower
temperatures if water (generally about 4 per cent of
the oil), and free fatty acids (ffas - are
unattached long chain molecules of carboxylic acids
produced by the breakdown of fats in the oil; 2 to 3
per cent), are removed. Mr Deamer uses a proprietary
filtration process involving gravity and no chemical
additives for this. Then it has been possible to run
vehicles using 100 per cent coconut oil treated in
this way without a heat exchanger. The fuel made by
this process is sold under the name of Island Fuel,
though the minibus drivers still prefer to blend
this fuel with 20 or 40 per cent diesel, especially
in cooler weather.
The relative simplicity of the filtration process is
the key to its innovative nature. There are other
processes available to produce a coconut oil
suitable for fuel, but they are relatively complex,
likely to need imported know-how, equipment and
chemicals, and more suitable for large- rather than
small-scale operation. Probably the best known of
these is transesterification, the main product of
which is a methyl or ethyl ester with a low
solidifying temperature, and this fuel is usually
known as biodiesel. The process involves dehydration
of the oil followed by reaction with sodium
hydroxide (caustic soda) and methanol or ethanol.
The New and Renewable Energy (or NRE) method
involves fermenting a mixture of grated coconut and
coconut water with yeasts to produce alcohols, then
a further fermentation under heat and pressure with
bacteria that release methane to produce
hydrocarbons.
Performance
The performance of the coconut oil in running
vehicles has been extensively monitored. With the
oil obtained from the factory the minibus operators
are generally using a coconut oil / diesel blend.
However, Mr Deamer considers that with the Island
Fuels oil, produced by the proprietary filtration
process, a coconut oil / kerosene blend works better
as the engine can be started and run in temperatures
as low as 16°C. During warmer months a 90 / 10
coconut oil / kerosene mix can be used, but in the
cooler part of the year the mixture used is 85 / 15.
Coconut oil burns more slowly than diesel, which
results in a more even pressure applied to the
pistons during their movement in the cylinders of
the engine. This in turn leads to less engine wear,
a quieter engine and better fuel economy. Also, as
the coconut oil burns slower and has better
lubricating qualities than diesel, the engine gets
less hot and there is less wear, which helps to
prolong engine life. Under-revving of the engine is
also less of a problem, so it is not always
necessary to change down the gears when slowing down
or climbing hills, which makes for easier driving
and less wear on the gearbox. Trials carried out
over one year, using unprocessed coconut oil and
diesel mixture, have confirmed decreased wear on the
engine and components compared with using diesel on
its own.
Extracting the Oil
It is suggested that one of the better grades of
copra be used for producing oil for fuel. This is
generally copra that has been dried in a hot air
drier, rather than sun or smoke dried.
A promising development for oil extraction has been
a low-pressure method devised by Dr Dan Etherington
of the Australian National University.
Conventionally, high-pressure screw presses are
needed to extract the oil from copra, and these need
to be driven by an engine as humans or animals do
not have enough power to move them. Dr Etherington
found that oil can be extracted from copra at a
significantly lower pressure than normal when it has
been dried to a particular moisture content, and
simpler manually operated presses can be used. It
can be quite difficult to dry the copra to the right
level, so it is better dry it out as far as possible
in the sun or a hot air drier, then add the
necessary amount of water. The water would be mixed
in with the oil product and would need to be removed
before it could be used for fuel.
This process is being disseminated under the
designation of Direct Micro Expelling (DME) and
small mills have been set up by local people on
various island states, for example Kiribati, Fiji,
Tonga, Samoa and Tuvalu, but not Vanuatu as yet.
Because the process can be carried out on a small
scale this makes it accessible to coconut growers
who can produce oil as a value-added product and are
therefore less dependent on agents for the big oil
producers who usually offer low prices for copra.
Future Prospects
There is growing interest in biofuels such as
coconut oil for their environmental benefits and to
ease shortages and balance of payments deficits as
the demand for diesel on island states continues to
grow. Tony Deamer has demonstrated the technical,
economic and environmental feasibility of using
coconut oil on its own, or mixed with a proportion
of kerosene or diesel for driving motor vehicles.
C.O.P.V. Santo are using coconut oil for powering
generators in their own mill and it could be used in
other machinery and equipment such as tractors and
pumps, which are worked often and for long periods.
Supportive policies at international and national
level as well as regionally focused research could
extend the impact that Mr Deamer has already
achieved in Vanuatu throughout tropical island
states.
Acknowledgement
ITDG would like to thank Tony Deamer for the help
and advice in putting together this case study.
Further
Information
Hands On
Series 3: Donuts for Diesel, UK
The Philippine Coconut Authority is a leading
research and resource centre on coconut cultivation
and the use of coconut-based products.
PCA Bldg. Elliptical Road, Diliman,
Quezon City, Philippines
Tel: +632-928-4501/927-8116
Fax: +632-921-6173
pca_ofad@mozcom.com
http://pca.da.gov.ph/
Relevant pages to this paper include details of a
pilot project to use coconut methyl ester, a
derivative of coconut oil, in small quantities in
fuel for motor vehicles
http://pca.da.gov.ph/cme.html
And an article about a company promoting the use of
coconut methyl ester with diesel
http://pca.da.gov.ph/news13.html
Further information about Direct Micro Expelling can
be found on the website set up to market the process
- http://www.kokonutpacific.com.au/
An article in One Country, the online newsletter of
the Bahá'í International Community, Vol. 15, Issue
1, April - June 2003, gives further background and
details on the utilisation of coconut oil as fuel
for motor vehicles in Vanuatu
Details of the laboratory study on the
transesterification process on Nigerian coconut and
other plant-based oils
http://bst.portlandpress.com/bst/028/0979/0280979.pdf
http://bst.portlandpress.com/bst/028/0979/bst0280979.htm
Senbel Fine Chemicals Company Inc., are a company
specialising in products derived from coconut oil
including biodiesel and their website includes some
informative notes on biodiesel
20/F Richville Corporate Tower 1107 Alabang-Zapote
Road
Madrigal Business Park Alabang, Muntinlupa City
Philippines
Tel: +632 850-6877; 809-6101; 809-6102
Fax: +632 809-6116
E-mail: Senbel@vasia.com
http://www.senbel.com.ph/
Veggiepower - A website for biodiesel enthusiasts
with hints on how to make, filter and blend
biodiesel from new or used cooking oil and other
oils derived from plants. Details how to obtain the
book From the Fryer to the Fuel Tank - The Complete
Guide to Using Vegetable Oil as a Fuel, by Joshua
Tickell, also included
http://www.veggiepower.org.uk/
More information for the do-it-yourself biodiesel
producer can be found at the following address:
http://journeytoforever.org/edu.html#biofuel
Veggie Van - a site with comprehensive information
on biodiesel including a contacts database, focused
mainly on the United States. There is also a feature
on Joshua Tickell, and his book From the Fryer to
the Fuel Tank - The Complete Guide to Using
Vegetable Oil as a Fuel, can be bought or downloaded
for a charge from the site
http://www.veggievan.org/
Note - there are numerous other websites and pages
about biodiesel, generally concerning production
from vegetable oil using the transesterification
process.
There is a detailed Japanese technical study on
engine performance and exhaust emissions with
coconut oil – 'The Effect of Coconut Oil and Diesel
Fuel Blends on Diesel Engine Performance and Exhaust
Emissions', Herchel Thaddeus C. Machacon, Yutaka
Matsumoto, Chihiro Ohkawara, Seiichi Shiga, Takao
Karasawa & Hisao Nakamura in JSAE Review 22 (2001),
pp.349-355, Elsevier
TVE/ITDG gratefully acknowledge support for the
HANDS ON programmes from the UK's Department for
International Development (DFID), the European
Commission (EC), the UN Foundation and UNDP/The
Equator Initiative in collaboration with the
Government of Canada, IDRC, IUCN, BrasilConnects and
the Nature Conservancy. |
