Fuel from deep frier - Biodizel company starts assembly-line production of ecological fuel of waste edible oil

Belgrade-based Biodizel Co. is one of the first companies in Serbia to start the production of bio-disel of waste edible oil, and its unit in Lestane has finished the trial period of production.

– We will soon do the laboratory analysis of bio-diesel, after which the conditions will be met and all the necessary permits will be collected for the assembly-line production - Perisa Nicovic, CEO and a co-owner of the company for production of the ecological derivative, told eKapija.

Nicovic adds that the annual capacity of the unit in Lestane is 1,000 tons and that it includes a storage space and a bio-diesel production system.

The commencement of the assembly-line production will also depend on the adoption of the regulations of the Ministry of Energy on mandatory consumption, the support of the city authorities, and the cooperation with restaurants that would be supplying waste oil to the company.

- Each restaurant that prepares over 20 meals a day must separate waste edible oil and hand it over to operators. Although it is stipulated by a legal regulation, many catering facilities do not obey the adopted rules so that oil often ends in the Sava or the Danube. We have got the permit from the Ministry of Environment Protection and the City Secretariat for Environment Protection to collect and transport that waste edible oil, that is, we have the licenses for the entire waste treatment cycle. That is why the support of the city inspection is necessary to control the facilities. So far, we have been cooperating with several restaurants on the territory of the municipality of Grocka where we were collecting oil for the trial production - Nicovic explains.

Listing the primary characteristics of bio-diesel fuel, Nicovic points out that it is an ecological fuel that does not cause the greenhouse effect, it is CO2 neutral and less inflammable then other types of fuel, it has better characteristics for lubricating the engine, and it is also an excellent solvent because, when used for the first time, it eliminates all the corrosion in fuel feed pumps. It can be mixed with diesel-fuel in all proportions without any modifications of the engine.

- The life of bio-diesel without additional additives is six months, and what may cause a problem is the fact that this fuel becomes solid at low temperatures. That is why additives are necessary. A by-product of the bio-diesel production is glycerin. We have placed an order for the unit that will make it possible for us to obtain glycerin that is 93% pure, which can be later used in the chemical industry. Saturated fatty acids are the other by-product that can be used in boiler rooms, as well as in the new treatment process for the production of bio-diesel. No waste water or other environment polluters are created during the production.

Nicovic adds that there is no laboratory in our country that could do the complete analysis of bio-diesel.

- We will be doing the analysis in Oil Refinery Pancevo and Sojaprotein in Becej.

Our interlocutor says that people at Biodizel expect their biggest buyers to be transportation companies and farmers. Only the production of bio-diesel of waste edible oil is currently profitable in Serbia because the price of fuel of crude oil would be too high.

- Victoria Group has the unit for production of bio-diesel of vegetable oil, of which capacity is 100,000 tons. However, the price of raw vegetable oil in our country is 750 euros per ton, which means that one liter of bio-diesel would cost about 120 dinars. Of course that nobody would pay that price, especially because it is not mandatory like in the European Union. By the way, Serbs consume 16 liters of edible oil per capita, which is about 10,000 tons of waste edible oil per year. Unfortunately, these quantities are still left unused.

European practice

The exploitation of renewable energy sources in the European Union has been in the focus of attention for a long time now. European Directive 2003/30/ЕЗ stipulates that the share of bio-fuel in the transportation industry in 2010 be 5.75%, and that quota was met only by Germany and Denmark.

The new regulation, which was adopted in 2009, stipulates that that percentage should reach 10% prior to 2020. The Ministry of Energy of Serbia has made a short-term action plan for biomass for the period 2010-2012. According to that plan, the share of bio-fuel in overall consumption of diesel-fuel in 2010 should amount to 0.76%, that is, about 60,000 tons prior to 2012 when that percentage should reach 2.28%. Although the quotas are set, the action plan has not been adopted yet.

In the Republic of Serbia, the raw materials that can be used in the production of bio-diesel are oil plants - sunflower, soybean and oilseed rape, as well as waste edible oils. Total surface area planted with oil plants is estimated at 668,800 ha, 350,000 ha of which could be used for growing oil plants for the production of bio-diesel.

T.S.