"Na no hana" Project

I have written a little about rapeseed culture in Japan which goes back centuries, as well as recent developments around Lake Biwa which attempt to reuse cooking oils as fuel.

The following is the entire lifecycle of the "Na no hana" (rapeseed) project in Higashiomi City in Shiga Prefecture.

The project started with unused land in Higashiomi City--rapeseed was planted on about 14 hectares of land. Over the past ten years, overall area has grown by 5 times. The farmer in the yellow Jacket explains that he plants rapeseed in a three-year rotation with rice.

The rapeseed is crushed and the premium oil which results is used for cooking. Rapeseed is only crushed once. The Aito Ecoplaza Nanohana Hall あいとうエコプラザ菜の花館 sells about 1600 litres of this oil per year.

The meal ends up back on the field as fertilizer, and it is mixed in with animal wastes and scraps before it is applied.

There are recycle stations at registered gas stations which collect all household oils, not just rapeseed oil. The recycling is all done by local citizens, including many farmers who have light trucks suited for the job.

One of the things they do is create organic soap from the recycled oil, which has been done since 1981.

The oil then gets refined into biodiesel. 180 litres of BDF will come from 200 litres of recycled oil. Buses, agricultural implements, and diesel generators all use the oil which gives off less sulfuric acid than diesel fuel.