Could a coconut car be coming to a dealership near you? If Walter Bradley’s business plan works out, it very well might.
Bradley, an engineering professor at Baylor U., discussed his efforts to develop products made from coconuts — a cheaper and more environmentally conscious alternative to conventional fibers used in car interiors — in a lecture on Friday at Dartmouth College.
In his speech, “Creating Technology to Convert Renewable Resources into Value-Added Products: The Case of the Coconut,” Bradley explained that creative engineering solutions can be a “win-win-win,” benefiting corporations, impoverished communities and the environment.
Coconuts are an “abundant, renewable resource, owned primarily by poor people in developing countries,” Bradley said. Although Bradley said he started out as a “total ignoramus when it comes to coconuts,” he was able to work with other scientists to take advantage of the coconut and create a program that made them profitable, he said.
Bradley sought to take advantage of oft-discarded portions of the coconut, particularly the husk, which composes one third of the fruit’s biomass, he said. Discarded husks become enormous piles of waste that are difficult to dispose of, as the husks do not readily burn, he said. In some countries, such as Vietnam, discarded coconut shells clog rivers, causing further environmental damage.
Traditionally, about 85 percent of the coconut husk goes unused, he said. In the worst-case scenario, when husks are burned, more pollution is added to the environment.
Bradley hopes to find an application for the burn-resistant, moisture-resistant, odor-free and hypoallergenic properties of coconut fibers that makes a profit and helps poor farmers, he said.
Together with Hobbs Bonded Fibers of Waco, Texas — which already has contracts with several automakers — Bradley said he has found a way to manufacture trunk liners, among other automotive components, by combining coconut fibers with polypropylene.
Bradley is also looking into other applications of coconut parts, including potting soil, diaper filler and fire-proof green building materials, he said.
Bradley said he was inspired to begin looking for a way to help poor communities as a way to apply his experience working with graphite epoxy, a material used on fighter jets and spacecraft.
“What could I use [my experience] for to help people in developing countries?” Bradley said. “At the time I really didn’t have any idea, because I knew developing countries really did not need graphite epoxy.”
Fifty billion coconuts per year are grown in a band 20 degrees north and south of the equator around the world, where the majority of inhabitants, except those of Singapore, are poor subsistence farmers, according to Bradley. Bradley explained that most coconut farmers have an average annual income of about 500 dollars and about five or six children.
“Most coconut farmers have two to four acres,” Bradley said. “Every time they have a family with two or three sons, the acres get smaller and smaller and smaller.”
Ultimately, the cycle of poverty continues, as parents cannot afford to pay for the auxiliary costs of school — books and uniforms — even when the education itself is free, he said.
Bradley received funding for his efforts from the National Science Foundation. Prior to teaching at Baylor, Bradley was the department head of Texas A&M University’s mechanical engineering department.