11 Sep Home-Grown Diesel Fuel

 

In buying a vehicle for Sierra Leone, Randy Fennig (above) looked for something that ran on diesel fuel. He finally found a 1982 Toyota Land Cruiser in great shape. All part of a plan.

“One long-term development project I’d like to work on is encouraging farmers to grow jatropha, a tropical oil seed related to the castor plant. There are huge jatropha projects in India and Africa.” 

Jatropha seeds contains up to to 40% oil which, when crushed and processed, can be used in a standard diesel engine. 

“You can run the oil straight and make high quality diesel. A diesel vehicle means I would have access to cheap fuel, rather than pay $7 a gallon, which is what fuel costs right now in Sierra Leone. If you’re spending so much money on fuel, it can limit what kind of ministry you can do.”