All that's needed to start your car is in the kitchen<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Post
\nJakarta<\/p>\n
Amid the government's conservation drive, Trisakti University
\nstudents and alumni have discovered a way to utilize used cooking
\noil as an alternative to fossil fuel.<\/p>\n
The university's School of Engineering students and alumni
\nhave created a converter kit -- called McJelantah, which stands
\nfor Mechanical Diverter\/Converter of Jelantah (used cooking oil)
\nas Diesel Fuel Replacement -- which converts used cooking oil
\ninto a fuel to power diesel engines.<\/p>\n
The converter changes the degree of viscosity of used cooking
\noil to make it suitable for powering diesel engines.<\/p>\n
Project manager Bhudjonggo Prabowo Kartoleksono said the group
\nof students and alumni aimed to give the poor access to an
\naffordable and renewable alternative fuel.<\/p>\n
"Alternative fuels such as bio-mass and compressed natural gas
\n(CNG) are expensive. With the converter, all you need to do is go
\nto the kitchen when you want to start your car. All households
\nhere use cooking oil," he said, adding that even if people had to
\nbuy used oil, the price was only between Rp 1,000 (10 U.S. cents)
\nand Rp 3,000 per liter.<\/p>\n
"It depends on the quality or how many times the oil has been
\nused," he added.<\/p>\n
Prabowo said the idea of designing a converter came after his
\ngroup realized that Rudolph Diesel used peanut oil when he
\ninvented the engine, later called the diesel engine after his
\nname, in 1898.<\/p>\n
Another lecturer at Trisakti's School of Engineering, Jurizal
\nJulian Luthan, who is also an advisor of the project, said the
\nconverter was not only efficient but also environmentally
\nfriendly.<\/p>\n
"We have done a series of tests since starting the project in
\nMarch. The results show that used cooking oil produces less
\nemissions," he said.<\/p>\n
Tests were conducted on an Isuzu Panther, provided by
\nauthorized Isuzu dealer PT Pantja Motor, and showed that the
\nemission contained zero carbon dioxide and sulfur.<\/p>\n
However, Luthan acknowledged that there was a slight reduction
\nin the car's performance, particularly a maximum speed, which was
\ndown by 3.5 percent, and a 5 percent to 7 percent reduction in
\nmaximum torque.<\/p>\n
"The Panther's top speed is 149 kilometers per hour (kph) but
\nwhen it was powered by used cooking oil, it could only run at 115
\nkph at the fastest," he said.<\/p>\n
Prabowo argued, however, that the reduced power should be seen
\nas a trade off for the reduced level of pollution and fossil fuel
\nconsumption.<\/p>\n
Both Prabowo and Luthan said the converter would be available
\non the market only after they did an endurance test next month.<\/p>\n
"We will test the car's endurance on a 10,000 kilometer trip
\nand see the affect it has on the engine," Luthan said, adding
\nthat PT Pantja Motor seemed interested in installing converters
\nin its vehicles.<\/p>\n
Prabowo estimated that the converter's market price would be
\nRp 4 million once it was mass produced.<\/p>\n
"It seems expensive, but imagine if 5 percent of the three
\nmillion diesel vehicles in Indonesia used secondhand cooking oil
\nas fuel, how many kiloliters of diesel fuel we would save," he
\nsaid. (006)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/all-thats-needed-to-start-your-car-is-in-the-kitchen-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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