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Japanese transport firm makes diesel fuel using ramen broth

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I've been driving our SUV on waste vegetable oil (WVO) for over 15 years.

At the time we got the vehicle, converting a second hand diesel SUV was a far better option (environmentally) than getting an EV.

We use what is called a two-tank WVO system and collect the oil we use from local tempura restaurants.

12 ( +12 / -0 )

Waste vegetable oil is a market commodity and called Yellow Grease.

Aside from biofuel, its also used in soap, make-up, pet food, and synthetic rubbers.

Though restaurants may need to pay to dispose of it (at least the broth and lard), the well intentioned man here is may undercutting a business somewhere that does utilize it yet he doesn't know about.

But if not, then this would be a great new business that he and/or someone else should expand into!

8 ( +8 / -0 )

"Japanese transport firm makes diesel fuel using ramen broth"

Well, I now know what has been giving me all this energy for the past 40 years.

9 ( +9 / -0 )

This is nothing new. Been making it down here from used oil for at least a decade! If you drive behind one of the buses for a local municipality, it's smells like tenpura!

5 ( +7 / -2 )

I like my lard in my ramen soup. It is what gives it its flavor.

-5 ( +4 / -9 )

That's all we need, This will really stink the air.

-9 ( +1 / -10 )

I wonder which is cleaner?

Burning used oils or using an EV?

If you are using something already discarded and recycled as fuel, thats the ultimate.

The EV uses electricity which is 99% made dirty, butno emission comes out of the pipe.

2 ( +4 / -2 )

This is also why while ramen tastes great you need to make sure to limit your intake or it WILL clog your pipes if you will!!!

5 ( +5 / -0 )

I wonder which is cleaner?

Burning used oils or using an EV?

Whether its petroleum oil or vegetable oil or lard or even wood, burning it means carbon in the form of CO and CO2 (and other greenhouse gases) get released into the atmosphere. In that way, they are equally "bad" for the atmosphere.

But, some biofuels are considered "greener" since if they weren't burned, then in decomposition most of the carbon and greenhouses gases are eventually released anyway. So to cut down a tree and burn it as fuel is more or less the same as just letting it eventually die and rot, at least, in terms of atmospheric carbon release. Burning them just speeds up a natural process (though it is debatable whether this acceleration is indeed good), so it's more or less carbon neutral in the long run.

Burning oil drilled out from deep in the ground is releasing carbon that would not have otherwise been added to the atmosphere. So its carbon positive.

However, burning already processed waste oils, whether in the form of vegetable oil or lard, is different than burning a tree. These concentrated oils could be considered a carbon sink since in this form they would not necessarily rot through decomposition. So by burning them it would be releasing carbon into the atmosphere which would otherwise not have been added into the atmosphere (depending on how they are dealt with as waste).

So whether waste oil biofuel is "greener" than petroleum oil is debatable, but using an EV would be cleaner... as long as the electric sourced well. Burning more coal in a power plant in order to charge the EV battery would obviously be kinda pointless. Not to mention that those batteries need a lot of (mostly petroleum) fuel to produce.

4 ( +7 / -3 )

This sounds like biodiesel, i.e., actual diesel fuel made by relatively simple processing of waste oil. It is also possible to run more robust diesel engines on waste oil itself, usually in a setup where regular diesel is used to start and warm the engine up. Hydrocarbons are hydrocarbons and none of this is new. Diesel is very close to kerosene, the stuff they put in planes, so is a very energy-dense fuel regardless of whether people associate it with buses.

Compared to tempura, a ramen restaurant isn't going to produce a lot of waste oil, but its better than it going down the drain.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

The EV uses electricity which is 99% made dirty, butno emission comes out of the pipe.

its all depends on where you electricity is generated , an EV will be around 5 yrs before it less co2 than a ICE if it is charged from nuclear, solar, hydro, around 9yrs if its charged from coal fired power stations.

plenty of studies have shown this

1 ( +1 / -0 )

As long as they don't make ramen using diesel fuel...

2 ( +2 / -0 )

I want an egg with mine

0 ( +0 / -0 )

For bikes, it's Ramen Rider!

0 ( +0 / -0 )

@Albert. Only fuel for me for 37 years and soon 38.

yummy energy.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

If I was given ramen with lard, I'd use it as biofuel too. Gross.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

I wonder which is cleaner?

Burning used oils or using an EV?

Used oil is carbon neural. And EV would be close to zero CO2 if it was charged using home PV, wind or similar renewable sources.

The main issue would then be the carbon footprint involved in the manufacture and disposal of the vehicle. So getting a second hand vehicle would be a plus.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

The old diesels are particularly suited to vegetable oils

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Some ramen I have tasted was perilously close to being a refined fuel out of the syrofoam cup !

0 ( +0 / -0 )

The newsworthy technology is the E-fuel being developed by Porsche, which is made with CO2 from atmosphere and hydrogen, not this ramen fuel.

Can be used by traditional internal combustion engine vehicles and is net-zero.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

E-fuel being developed by Porsche, which is made with CO2 from atmosphere and hydrogen

It is not difficult to make methanol from CO2 and H2. But, it is very hard to obtain large quantities of hydrogen in the net-zero-carbon process.

Ramen fuel is completely irrelevant for our transport needs - both from the point of view of quantity and quality.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Can they do the opposite ? Or even make a wine from the fuel, and call it .... Vin Diesel

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Surprised it took this long. Always thought ramen had toooooo much oil in it, anyway. Unnecessary; takes away from the taste of the noodles themselves.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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