How was a diesel engine demonstrated using peanut oil at the 1900 Paris World’s Fair?

At the 1900 Paris World’s Fair, the first public demonstration of a diesel engine running on vegetable oil took place. The French government commissioned the Otto company to build an engine specifically designed to operate on peanut oil, as they were interested in utilizing vegetable oils as a domestic fuel source for their African colonies.1

While Rudolf Diesel later became a prominent advocate for the use of vegetable oils—envisioning a future where farmers could produce their own fuel—the widespread adoption of this technology did not occur at that time. Following Diesel's death in 1913, the availability of inexpensive petroleum led to the modification of engine designs to optimize performance using petroleum-based diesel fuel, which subsequently became the industry standard for power and reliability.1