How tequila and weed could make Ford cars sustainable - danielsmundint

Tequila, weed, cash, and a Ford car could be the elements for a hell of a itinerant travel, but they'Re actually part of the automaker's efforts to be more property. At a Ford-sponsored jury discussion August 16 in San Francisco, elder technical leader Debbie Mielewski showed how the company was working with known tequila maker José Cuervo to use less plastic in its car parts.

Just to be clear, there is no actual tequila in Ford cars, nor is there any weed. What there might be is agave-fiber-infused plastic, thanks to the tons of it odd all over from José Cuervo's tequila production. The company was using some of it for compost, as well as newspaper and topical anaestheti crafts, only much of it was leaving to waste. Because its operations happened to live near Ford's automotive plants in Mexico, Mielewski and her squad had a perfect opportunity to essay the fiber as a reinforcing incarnate for plastic.

Ford can't remove all 400 pounds of petroleum-based plastic in a typical car, Mielewski said, but incorporating agave fiber or another reinforcing material helps reduce it—and finds a new purpose for something that would otherwise be discarded.

ford sustainability agave fiber2 tequila margarita — The dried American aloe fiber from José Cuervo tequila production could help reinforce a more sustainable bioplastic.

At the event, Ford handed out keychains successful from the American aloe-based experimental bioplastic. IT's a unimportant, John Brown-colored material, with shreds of agave fiber clearly screening. Someday, Ford hopes to expend it for qualification internal parts like storage bins operating room wiring harnesses.

ford sustainability agave fiber tequila margarita plastic part — The experimental bioplastic with American aloe fiber could exist molded into storage bins and other inside car parts.

Gerald Ford's in reality been working on sustainable materials for 15 years, Mielewski explained. The inquiry gained urgency when oil prices shot risen, making petroleum-based materials more expensive to produce. Mielewski and her team were already conducting experiments on soya-based foam, based on soybean anoint that section Michigan farmers couldn't sell. Now Glycine ma foam is in the upholstery of wholly Ford cars.

ford sustainability shredded money — Shredded money is one of the many hard-to-repurpose languish materials that Ford's hoping to ric into sustainable plastic.

The cash is retired U.S. currency, which is made of a high-quality, cotton-supported paper. Finely shredded, it's another material Gerald Ford's examination with plastic.

Weed could be next. Mielewski said her team looked into using hangman's halter character some years ago, simply at the prison term, no one could grow it legally in the United States. Well, take out 1 radical, Mielewski qualified: "We had talked to Indian reservations that aforesaid they could grow up it for us, because they're monarch nations." Those talks fell through.

Now that some states are allowing marijuana production, Mielewski has adenoidal hopes. Meanwhile, her team will be busy with the agave fiber and shredded cash, on with Elmer Leopold Rice hulls, coconut vulcanized fiber, sugarcane, and to a greater extent.