The Haryana plant will be operational from January. It will have the capacity to produce 100-tonne of bio-diesel per day.
New Delhi: A Delhi-based firm is setting up a plant which will convert used cooking oil (UCO) into bio-diesel, which will help the country save foreign exchange and reduce pollution as it is eco-friendly. The plant, coming up at Bawal in Haryana, with the capacity of producing 100-tonne of bio-diesel per day, will be operational from January.
BioD Energy India will use UCO, a waste, along with animal fat and crude palm oil, which contain free fatty acids, to make bio-diesel. This will be the biggest plant in North India which uses the latest technology to produce bio-diesel, which is a zero polluting fuel. Bio-diesel is used extensively by transport operators, rural pump sets and diesel generators as it is cheaper than diesel and also eco-friendly.
Speaking to The Sunday Guardian, the company’s CEO, Shiva Vig said the production of bio-diesel will not only reduce dependence on imported crude oil, but also fight pollution, managing illegal discharge of UCO into the drainage system, which contaminates water and clogs the drainage system. At the same time, he said, it will also check adulteration of edible oil to a great extent.
The company, which uses Chinese technology to produce bio-diesel, is setting up another plant of similar capacity in Dubai for exporting bio-diesel from there to Europe, where the fuel is in high demand. FSSAI has authorised the company to collect UCO from Delhi-NCR, Haryana and Punjab.
Earlier, there was a price ceiling on the sale of bio-diesel. Also, there was restriction on selling bio-diesel to state-run oil manufacturing companies. However, the Narendra Modi government abolished the ceiling and made the market free, thereby allowing the companies to sell the product directly to consumers.
“At present, used cooking oil of hotels and restaurants are purchased locally and sold to street vendors, who use the same oil for cooking edible items like samosa, pakoda, etc, which is hazardous to health. However, for us, UCO is the best raw material to make bio-diesel. Therefore, it will reduce health-related issues too. Thus, a waste product will be converted into renewable energy, which will also reduce burden on the import of bio-diesel,” said Vig.
Use of cooking oil is extremely harmful to health. Medical studies have shown that consumption of used cooking oil leads to life-threatening diseases like cancer, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and heart, cholesterol related diseases, among many others. Bio-diesel is already being manufactured in India as a byproduct while refining crude palm oil for edible purposes, mainly in the southern states. But it is for the first time that UCO is being converted into bio-diesel in India.
The new bio-fuel policy, announced by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, aims to achieve 0.5% blending of bio-diesel in diesel by 2020 and 5% by 2030. It also aims to produce 2 million tonne of bio-diesel from UCO by 2020. The world production of bio-diesel is 2.8 crore tonne.
Potential for UCO collection in Delhi and NCR is huge. As per a CARE report, the average consumption of oil in India is 14.4 kg per person per annum. The consumption in Delhi alone is 676,800 tonne per year. Even a 10% collection will result in a sizeable production of bio-diesel. India consumes 82 million tonne of edible oil annually.
Both import and export of bio-diesel is banned in India, which imports 80% of crude oil. A 5% blending of bio-diesel will save a foreign exchange of nearly $10 billion annually. Vig said the government should incentivise the bio-fuel industry by taking it seriously as is being done in case of ethanol. Moreover, its export should also be allowed, he opined.