Inside a UAE plant, cooking oil turns into biofuel

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STORY: This UAE plant is turning used cooking oil into biofuel.

Dubai-based Lootah Biofuels hopes its biodiesel will help boost sustainable transportation in one of the world's major oil-producing countries.

"We are seeking for a sustainable transportation in the UAE for now and we are seeking for a mandatory blend similar to what we are having in the whole world."

As the global race for the low-carbon fuel gathers pace, fuels made from vegetable oil and waste cooking oil are expected to play a central role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the transportation sector.

Lootah Biofuel says it collects 500,000 liters of used cooking oil every month and converts it into biodiesel and other products.

The company says it produced over 770 tons of biofuel in 2023.

CEO Yousif Bin Saeed Al Lootah explains how it works:

"The mix of the biofuel is very easy. It's not a nuclear science. 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 the how much it has to be based on the free fatty acid percentage of the oil that we can put the mixture."

The UAE seeks to reach net zero emissions by 2050.

But in 2023 an independent research group said the country was far off track to meet its climate targets

if it went ahead with plans to expand oil and gas production and use.

That same year, the UAE government updated its targets, including raising the share of clean energy in the UAE's total energy mix to 30% by 2030.

"Saving the environment is not an option right now. Biofuel is one of the things, but we are seeking for many other sustainable methods in order to save the environment, not only in transportation but in many other things."

Lootah Biofuels is not the first company to turn cooking oil to power vehicles.

In remote Australian outback, drivers are using cooking fat to charge their electric vehicles.

And in this Californian plant, a plan was in place to turn used cooking oil, soybean oil, and beef fat into renewable diesel.

Paul Hellier is a professor of sustainable energy engineering at University of College London.

"I feel like a biodiesel from waste cooking oil is a really useful tool for us right now to start reducing our carbon emissions. I think where there are these transport sectors, where electric vehicles are going to take longer to be put into use, so like the heavy goods vehicles and aviation, I think we have an opportunity to develop a broader range of renewable fuels and mix those together. "

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