Three years ago the Edible Oil Group of Companies decided to use its 50 years of experience in the vegetable oil refinery process to develop an exciting, environmentally friendly product which has seen increasing demand in Europe and the US, namely Biodiesel.
We carried out pilot runs, laboratory tests, field tests on our fleet and boilers in house. Convinced that we were more than capable of producing an EU-approved standard product, we started full scale production in January 2003.
What exactly is biodiesel? Although I am not scientifically minded please allow me to give a brief technical overview:
Biodiesel is the name of a clean burning alternative fuel, produced from domestic, renewable resources. Biodiesel contains no petroleum, but it can be blended at any level with petroleum diesel to create a biodiesel blend.
It can be used in compression-ignition (diesel) engines, boilers or furnaces with little or no modifications. Biodiesel is simple to use, biodegradable, nontoxic, and essentially free of sulfur and aromatics.
Biodiesel is produced from any fat or oil, such as soybean oil, through a refinery process called transesterification. This process is a reaction of the oil with an alcohol to remove the glycerin, which is a by-product of biodiesel production and is used in the soap industry.
The use of biodiesel in a conventional diesel engine results in substantial reduction of unburned hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide and particulate matter compared to emissions from diesel fuel.
In addition, the exhaust emissions of sulfur oxides and sulfates (major components of acid rain) from biodiesel are essentially eliminated compared to diesel.
Pure biodiesel can be operated in any diesel engine manufactured after 1994 with no modification to the engine or the fuel system giving the same performance and furthermore resulting in better fuel economy. When blended with regular diesel it can be used on any engine no matter the age.
It is also ideal for use in boilers were its lubricity helps protect fuel pumps and injectors. In fact as little as three per cent of biodiesel blended with fossil diesel will increase lubricity by at least 10 per cent.
Biodiesel is fully supported by the EU, which has even issued a directive stating that by 2005 two per cent of all diesel consumption must be generated from a bio fuel. This percentage is set to increase on a yearly basis. The product has an EU standard specification requirement which our company is obliged to follow.
As if all that were not enough, it's also slightly cheaper than regular diesel.
Anyway, why am I speaking about biodiesel at an MHRA conference, you might be wondering:
The reason is that one of the feedstocks for our biodiesel are the used cooking oils and fats used in the catering industry. As you may be aware, the Edible Oil Group of Companies, offers a free collection service from all outlets to collect these oils and furthermore offers a rebate amounting to approximately 12 per cent to those companies who purchase their fresh oil from us.
This is in stark contrast to the rest of Europe who have to pay to have their used oils collected. Malta consumes approximately 7,000 tons of oils and fats of which almost 4,000 tons are consumed by your sector - the hotel and catering sector.
According to EU norms, we should be able to collect 40 per cent of this. What is happening unfortunately is that most of this is being literally poured down the drains, ending up in our seas or dumped into our already suffering environment with only a small amount being collected.
Believe it or not, our company is actually importing used cooking oils - in other words, other people's waste to meet local demand for our biodiesel.
I therefore take this opportunity to appeal to all the members of the MHRA to co-operate at no extra cost to yourselves in our used cooking oil collection service. After all, surely if there is one area of the economy who will reap the benefits of a less polluted Malta - it's surely got to be your sector.
Nicholas Parnis England, managing director of the Edible Oil Refining Co Ltd, made this presentation at the recent MHRA extraordinary general meeting