Collecting used oil 'proving' difficult

Consumers, mainly the catering industry, got a rap on the knuckles by the Edible Oil Group of Companies for not taking advantage of a rebate offer for the return of used oil.

EORC managing director Nicholas Parnis England said the group had made an appeal to hotels and catering establishments to participate in its free used oil collection service, for the used oil to be processed into biodiesel.

"Companies participating in this scheme will also benefit from a rebate of about 12 per cent for the purchase of fresh oil from EORC," Mr Parnis England told a presentation at the extraordinary general meeting of the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association, held recently.

Mr Parnis England said: "This is a win-win situation for all parties concerned, since while companies returning their oil to EORC will benefit from this rebate, EORC will receive the necessary feedstock for the production of biodiesel.

"Furthermore, the environment is a winner too, since used oils will no longer be emptied into our drainage system. To date, EORC has had to import other people's used cooking oil to meet the local demand for biodiesel. Malta consumes about 7,000 tons of oils and fats, of which 4,000 tons are used by the hotels and catering establishments. According to EU norms 40 per cent is usually retrievable, however locally this is still not the case."

Research on the production of biodiesel at EORC commenced three years ago, when the company decided to utilise its 50 years of experience in the vegetable oil refinery process to develop biodiesel, an exciting, environmental-friendly product which has seen an increasing demand in Europe and the US.

This was followed by pilot runs, laboratory tests and field tests on the company's vehicle fleet and in-house boilers. Satisfied that the company is capable of producing an EU-approved standard project, full production started in January 2003.

Biodiesel is the name of a clean-burning alternative fuel, produced from domestic, renewable sources. It contains no petroleum but can be blended at any level with petroleum diesel. It can be used in compression-ignition (diesel) engines, boilers or furnaces with little or no modifications. Biodiesel is produced from any fat or oil such as soybean oil, through a refinery process called transesterification. It is simple to use, biodegradable, non-toxic and essentially free of sulphur and aromatics, the company says.