Royal Activities and International Cooperation
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From time to time, often due to economic concerns over, say, oilshortages or a fall in the price of sugar cane, the Royal ChitraladaProjects team will respond by expanding the scope of its studies anddemonstration sites.The 1970s saw the introduction of an experimental rice mill, awindmill at the nil fish pond, and a rice-husk grinding plant.Concerned about future oil shortages and the prospect of the fallingprice of sugar cane, His Majesty initiated a self-financed study in1985 to establish the cost of producing alcohol from sugar cane as analternative energy source. The Royal Chitralada Projects team usedalcohol obtained from agricultural products, or waste, to producegasohol and diesohol by blending alcohol with gasoline or diesel oilrespectively. Subsequently, the high cost of producing diesohol for diesel engines inspired the team to research the production of biodiesel from vegetable oil or animal oil leftovers fromcommercial use.Throughout the 1980s work continued with experimental,alternative fuel production schemes, fruit juice and dried fruitproduction, a drinking water plant, cheese plant and a plant for mushroom culture. In the 1990s a honey production plant wasestablished along with a cannery for fruit juice, a sa paper factory,and a solar energy house and cold water production plant using heat