X
Business

Biodiesel with a special Australian flavour

GoingGreen is an international gathering of privately-owned GreenTech companies today in Davis, California. Wandering around huge trays of fresh fruit and vegies, and a few recyclable glasses of California wine, I found one of the Aussie guys here.
Written by Harry Fuller, Contributor

GoingGreen is an international gathering of privately-owned GreenTech companies today in Davis, California. Wandering around huge trays of fresh fruit and vegies, and a few recyclable glasses of California wine, I found one of the Aussie guys here. Paul Johnston is representing Terra Fuel.

They're doing something unique in the world of diesel he says. Johnston explains they have a system for injecting ethanol into diesel engines, with minimal injstallation work. TerraFuel can retrofit any diesel on the road, or out in the quarry, individual machines from SUV to Tractor-trailer. Says Johnston: he ethanol makes the engine burn cooler and 10% more efficiently with lowered fuel costs. It reduces the greenhouse gas emissions. Like Brazil, Australia gets it ethanol from sugar cane. In the U.S., of course, most of the ethanol now comes from corn.

The first big project for Terra Fuel has been with the regional public agencies in Brisbane where they are now headquartered. Highway maintenance vehicles, school buses, cars, heavy equipment--in Brisbane they run on Terra Fuel's 20% mix of ethanol with regular diesel. Johnston says their technology will fit nicely with the new generations of diesel engines and the cleaner diesel fuel which I blogged recently.

Editorial standards