Algae-fuelled wooden motorbike: the most sustainable motorcycle

But in this article we are going to talk about a motorbike that is not electric, yet could be the most sustainable motorbike ever made.

The idea was created by two Dutchmen, Ritsert Mans, a designer who used wood to make the bike’s structure and Peter Mooji, a scientist who used algae oil as fuel.

Scientist Peter Mooji had been studying algae as a possible alternative fuel to petroleum for some time, and after careful studies he proved that algae oil works as a substitute for fossil fuel.

Ritsert Mans made the structure of the bike using materials such as wood, rubber and hemp, except for the obvious which are the engine and transmission. Once the structure was completed, they tested its operation on the beach.

The engine is a 500 cc single-cylinder, which gets its “microalgae oil” from a 0.4-liter reservoir. “Just like olives, microalgae produce oil,” explains Mooij. And just like olives, we can extract this oil from algae. This oil can be used in a simple diesel engine without any pre-treatment.

“Algae oil has great advantages. The algae photosynthesize and by this process convert CO2 from the atmosphere into oil. If this oil is burned in the Rits bike CO2 is emitted, but the amount of CO2 emitted is exactly the same as the amount of CO2 that the algae took from the atmosphere.”

If you want to be part of this greener trend, you might be interested to know that we can also be more sustainable in motorcycle clothing, not only in jackets and gloves but also in racing suits. Only 90 liters of water are used in the manufacture of our NearX suit, compared to 51,000 liters for a leather suit.

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