Dutch Student Modifies his Motorcycle to Run on Swamp Gas

A Dutch student, Gijs Schalkx skillfully modifies his motorcycle to run on swamp gas! An inventor and art student, Schalkx has named his vehicle Sloot Motor (sloot means ‘ditch’ in Dutch), which runs on methane procured from roadside bogs and ponds.

Image: Uitsloot

This resourceful Sloot Motor features a modified Honda GX160 motorcycle engine, with a hole into the airbox that supplies the methane into it. There is a balloon filled with methane attached to the hole, acting as a fuel tank.

The art student said that he got the idea for this vehicle while reading about fishermen who apparently used methane collected on a fishing trip to fry some eggs. He adapted the concept, which also included creating a tool for harvesting the methane, which he named a Plompstation.

While the methane harvested from swamps is an ingenious fuel source, it comes with many shortcomings. Schalkx manually harvests the methane himself from roadside swamps and ponds, a work that takes nearly eight hours and the methane only lasts 12 miles at a top speed of 27 mph.

Image: Uitsloot

Although, Schalkx hopes that this will make people realize their relationship and reliability on technologies. He said,

If this world we live in is the cause for global breakdown, over-extraction of resources and inequality all over the world, why do we keep holding on to this idea of progress by growth?… Driving an electric car does not mean that you are exempt from the oil circuit on which our society runs. Throwing more money at a problem won’t solve it, we are the problem and we have to change.

While there are many ordeals to realize this concept on a commercial scale, this small effort from a student says a lot about the young generation. In a fast-changing world, where fighting climate change and carbon emissions have become an absolute necessity, even a tiny attempt can make a difference.

Via: Oddity Central