KEY POINTS:
A team of New Zealanders in Darwin are scavenging for waste oil to mix with the water they plan to use as fuel for a 4WD trip through the heart of Australia.
The Bios Fuel Corp blend - branded H2W+ - comprising 40 per cent water and 60 per cent waste oil will be used to drive a battered old 1989 Landcruiser 3000km to Adelaide.
The team, led by Steve Ryan, has been blending its scavenged sump oil with waste water to fuel its conventional diesel engine.
The first 300km - with steep hills leading to Katherine - are predicted to be the biggest challenge, but the New Zealanders told the ABC they are confident they will finish the 20th anniversary "race", the Panasonic World Solar Challenge.
They are taking part in a separate "greenfleet" demonstration class for fuel-efficient vehicles, which has attracted 20 entries.
The solar challenge itself has attracted 18 solar cars, and another 21 solar cars are competing in an "adventure" class.
Mr Ryan, Cam Feast and the rest of the New Zealand team want to prove their blend of water and salvaged oil can out-perform biodiesel and ethanol because it does not require expensive exploration or recovery of resources from the environment.
"There's a lot of scepticism about what our claims are," Mr Feast said. "We're here to show it's actually for real."
Mr Ryan has not applied for a patent, arguing that doing so would force his company to reveal the details of its technology, which he says allows hydrogen in water to be released on demand.
Solar Challenge organiser Chris Selwood said that at every event he had people queueing up with their alternative vehicle, and he always treated them with curiosity, rather than prejudice.
"These Bios Fuel guys, however, are literally emulsifying waste, and I've got no idea what it's going to do to a diesel engine, but they have some interesting points to make," he told the Sydney Morning Herald.
"If it works, it works; if it doesn't, it doesn't. But we're happy to give them a go."
Bios Fuel began in 1996, when Mr Ryan started tinkering with an old motorbike engine in an Auckland garage, and in 2002 he left his job in finance to do full-time research.
Two years ago he appeared on the 60 Minutes television show with a 350cc motorbike he said was running on water.
He has said that although the water is blended with waste oil for lubrication and a bonding agent, the energy comes from the water.
Engineering critics have said the traditional problem with this concept is that the amount of energy needed to extract energy from water is greater than the energy produced. But the company spokesman, Mr Feast, said the Solar Challenge will demonstrate the potential of alternative fuel technology to operate in an extreme environment.
"It gives us the opportunity to show that recycling second- and third-generation waste is an option when emulsified with water," he said.
Other greenfleet cars will run on alternative fuels such as canola oil, hydrogen and ethanol derived from sugar cane.
Hisahiro Yamamoto, an award-winning Japanese hairstylist who has driven a solar car across Russia, will be driving an experimental vehicle powered by a Canadian hydrogen fuel cell.
- NZPA
