Invention Synopsis Issues - Essay Example

These fuels are mostly used in transport. Many alternative fuel sources like electricity, LPG, CNG etc. have been discovered and developed but the problem doesn’t seem to go away. Something needs to be done about it.

During the mid and late 1970s, Elsbett of Germany began works on a new type of fuel for automobiles, Vegetable oil. The concept of SVO (Straight Vegetable Oil) was born. It is the concept that diesel engines can also run on vegetable oil (Addison, n.d.). This oil can be unused or recycled. Recycled vegetable oil must be clean, free of any water or particles. Vegetable oil serves as a substitute for diesel fuel which is the prime fuel source for heavy transport such as trucks and busses. These make up a large percentage of commercial and private transport. Converting these vehicles to run on an alternative source could save millions of dollars on oil purchases. Apart from commercial vehicles, a significant percentage of private vehicles are also diesel-powered. If converted to SVO, this could further improve the situation. Furthermore, there are conversion kits and services available for gas/petrol-powered cars. People, who do not own diesel-powered cars, would want to convert seeing the sharp drop in fuel prices. SVO fuel is cheaper than diesel and much cheaper than petrol. So, what’s the catch?

Until now, the vehicles that have used vegetable oil fuel have done it privately or individually. Companies do provide conversion services and filtering and recycling of used vegetable oil on a small scale, but nothing is being done on a scale comparable to other primary fuel sources. Maybe this is the reason why it’s not getting popular. My idea is to provide this service on a bigger scale. A company that has a contract with local restaurants and food outlets to purchase this used oil at low prices, filter and recycle it and provide it to the general public. With the growing fuel prices today, a proper outlet for a cheaper fuel source would be a welcoming service. In the past and currently, people have avoided this source because of the need to convert and filter their oil themselves. Thus, not many people have adopted this system. If proper service is provided to people, where the oil is recycled and is available at stations for a cheaper price than the fuel they’re currently using, then more and more people would turn to this alternative. Who knows, if this kicks off, we could probably have a chain of these stations throughout the country and, pretty soon, around the world.