Was the diesel engine developed to run primarily on hemp oil?

Question

If hemp oil is a viable fuel for the diesel engine then the processes for the production of this oil is known and proven. hemp was grown in the midwest U S A during world war two for its use in making rope, paper and other products. The process does not have any harmfull effects on the enviornment to my limited knowlege and is biodegradeable. The workers who produce products from hemp would in most cases be happy people. Seriously, this could be a viable start in the quest for affordable fuels. Does anyone have knowlege of the viability of this oil for diesels?

Answer 1

I think that the first oil used to fuel the first diesel engine was peanut oil.

Answer 2

The concept of the diesel engine was first put forth in a patent on the engine by Rudoph Diesel.  The original prototype was designed to use coal dust as the fuel, however he was keen on the notion of using vegetable oils as fuels also.  I had heard of the peanut oil option, but not hemp oil.

Answer 3

a diesel engine could care less what it's burning, when the motor was first designed it ran on peanut oil, so the answer is yes, hemp is a viable...and lets not forget RENEWABLE source of fuel, amongst all the other things one can get from the plant...if only the goverment would decrimanalize hemp from it's classification as a controlled substance...the plant has very little THC in it unlike it's close cousin marijuana...and we would need to twist the arm of the oil companies to, they really don't like this kind of technology....they bought up all the patents along time ago so they could keep us hooked on dinosaur bones...

Answer 4

Other posters here have it right.  It was peanut oil that it ran on at the worlds fair.  

I'm sure it would run on hemp oil no problem.  The diesel engine can handle a wide range of fuels.

Don't you think all the accumulated exhaust in congested cities could make things a bit "trippy" though?  :)

Answer 5

the diesel engine was originally designed by rudolf diesel and was first run on peanut oil however at the time in the 1900s petroleum was plentiful and cheaper to run.

one thing Mr Diesel wanted to do was give it to farmers so that they could grow 2 crops, 1 for harvest the other to run the machinery to do the harvesting

many of the founding fathers of the usa were hemp farmers

william randolf hearst has a fair bit to do with the banning of hemp he did some mass properganda with his newspaper and basically made it illegal immediatly

the modern diesel engine can run on basically any type of oil homemade or comercially grown

Answer 6

you got it,

that and peanut oil were europe's most abundant source of oil at the time