Straw in your vehicle? Henry Ford would approve

Sunday, January 10, 2010

There's a little bit of Ontario wheat straw in every 2010 Ford Flex vehicle sold in North America this year. And that straw is cutting down on greenhouse gas emissions and petroleum usage, asserts Ross McKenzie, managing director of the Waterloo Centre for Automotive Research.

Car production using the wheat-straw-reinforced plastic storage bins started at Ford's Oakville Assembly Complex in November. There are two bins in each Flex and the volume of wheat straw required each year depends on how many bins are made, McKenzie says.

The plastic was created by Leonard Simon, a University of Waterloo engineering professor who is part of the Ontario BioCar Initiative, involving scientists from universities in Waterloo, Guelph, Toronto and Windsor. The Ontario Research Fund's research Excellence program funds the initiative, which is looking to develop biomaterials for the auto industry. Only two years into the project, its first goal, one car part, has already been achieved.

Using wheat straw plastic for the storage bins reduces petroleum usage by 20,000 pounds per year and CO² emissions by 30,000 pounds according to a press release from Ford.

The petroleum-saving wheat straw follows a convoluted path from its source in an Ontario field to a car part in Oakville. Straw is crushed, dehydrated and processed into pellets by a Mississauga company, Omtec Inc. The pellets are shipped to the plastic supplier, A. Schulman of Akron, Ohio, where they are mixed with 80 per cent petroleum-based plastic to make the bins. Then parts are shipped back to Ford's Oakville Ontario assembly plant.

Currently six farmers are supplying wheat straw to Omtec Inc. says Kerri Stoakley, communications manager with Ford of Canada. As demand grows, Omtec will be sourcing additional wheat straw. Interested farmers can call Omtec at 905-614-1504 or visit their web site at: www.omtecinc.ca/ .

Stoakley says that "potential demand is significant." The price is based on whether the straw is bought on the windrow or already baled. Large, rectangular bales are best for efficient shipping, she says. There's no shortage of straw in Ontario, which produces 30 million metric tonnes annually.

This isn't the first time Ford has used wheat in its cars. In the 1920s, company founder Henry Ford developed a product called Fordite – a mix of straw, rubber, sulphur, silica and other ingredients. It was used to make steering wheels for Ford's cars and trucks. BF