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Finch International of Dublin has filed two patents (GB 2 339 842 and WO
00/05492) on a plan to power engines with waste oil and fat. Diesel engines work
without a spark plug, detonating fuel by compression. After tests with a
two-cylinder, four-stroke diesel engine, Finch found that low-grade animal and
vegetable oil can be ignited in the same way, if mixed with oxygen-enriched air.
The main challenge is providing the oxygen. Finch says it takes around 5 per
cent more oxygen than normal to burn tallow, waste engine oil or old cooking
fat.