Dubai-based Lootah Biofuels is turning used cooking oil into biofuel and helping boost sustainable transportation in one of the major oil-producing countries across the globe. The company recently reported that it produced over 770 tonnes of biofuel last year.
The global race for low-carbon fuel has been steadily gathering pace in recent years. Fuels made from vegetable oil and waste cooking oil are expected to play a substantial role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the booming transportation sector.
“I feel like biodiesel from waste cooking oil is a really useful tool for us right now to start reducing our carbon emissions,” highlighted Paul Hellier, a professor of sustainable energy engineering at the University of College London.
UAE’s notable focus on clean energy and sustainability
The UAE plant collects 500,000 litres of used cooking oil every month and converts it into biodiesel and other essential products. Its efforts strongly support the Gulf state’s objective to reach net zero emissions by the middle of the century.
The Emirates is prominent globally for its considerable focus on clean energy and sustainability initiatives. It hosted the COP28 climate conference in November, during which participants acknowledged the need to transition away from fossil fuels.
During the Summit, participants also agreed to operationalise the landmark Loss and Damage Fund on the event’s first day itself to compensate vulnerable countries for the concerning and worsening consequences of climate change.
“Saving the environment is not an option right now”
“The mix of the biofuel is very easy … It’s actually an oil, we mix it with methanol and potassium hydroxide or sodium hydroxide, either. So, this is actually the mix based on how much it has to be based on the free fatty acid percentage of the oil that we can put the mixture.”
CEO Yousif Bin Saeed Al Lootah added: “Saving the environment is not an option right now. Biofuel is one of the things, but we are seeking many other sustainable methods in order to save the environment, not only in transportation but in many other things.”
Nonetheless, Lootah Biofuels is not the first company to turn cooking oil into something useful for the transportation sector. Drivers in remote Australian outback are using cooking fat to charge their electric vehicles, among other prominent examples globally.
