Used Cooking Oil in Tokyo Seen as Massive, Untapped Oil Field for Biodiesel

U's Corp., a Tokyo-based refinery that turns used cooking oil into biodiesel, launched its Tokyo Oil Field Project 2017 in October 2007, seeing the huge quantity of waste cooking oil in Tokyo as an untapped oil field. Formed in 1997, the company's goal for 2017 is to collect all the used cooking oil in Tokyo currently thrown out and aid in the creation of a resource-recycling society.

Under the project, households who send their used cooking oil to the company are given U's community money called "Eco Money for the Tokyo Oil Field." Those who provide ten lots of used cooking oil can earn 1,670 yuden (equivalent to 1,670 yen or 14.80 U.S. dollars), which can be exchanged for ownership of a one-tsubo (3.3-square-meter) plot in forests the company owns. Eco Money, as a cash voucher, can also be exchanged for U's Corp. Vegetable Diesel Fuel (VDF®) or other items. Besides being recycled into VDF®, the used oil collected can also be used effectively in animal feed, fertilizer, and other uses.

Japanese households dispose of around 200,000 tons of used cooking oil a year, most of which is not collected for recycling, although 100 percent of it can be and represents a large, untapped resource.

VDF® is an alternative to diesel oil. About 95 liters of VDF can be produced from 100 liters of used cooking oil. Compared to regular diesel, when used in vehicles, it produces half the volume of black smoke, which is believed to cause respiratory disorders. The use of VDF® is also not considered to increase the overall amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere, because it comes from a plant source that already absorbed CO2.



Posted: 2008/03/26 09:06:03 PM