New biodiesel gets warm reception

More than 400 vehicles have utilized over 30,000 liters of biodiesel made from gutter oil in the first week after it was made available at two of the city’s gas stations on Oct 30, according to Shanghai ViceMayor Xu Kunlin.

Shanghai is the first city in China where vehicles used biodiesel made from recycled kitchen waste oil.

Xu added that authorities are now looking to make this biodiesel available at more gas stations around the city and will be promoting its use among truck drives. To further encourage the use of this alternative fuel, the municipal government is also working on a subsidy plan for biodiesel producers.

The current price for this biodiesel is 5.72 yuan ($0.86) per liter, 0.3 yuan cheaper than regular diesel. This new fuel has a B5 grading, which means that recycled waste oil makes up only 5 percent of its content.

The city started testing the biodiesel four years ago, and 104 city buses and 32 sanitation trucks have participated in a feasibility research with a test mileage of 15 million kilometers.

Lou Diming, a professor at Tongji University’s School of Automotive Studies, said that the engines in the vehicles running on this fuel are operating smoothly, and that using biodiesel can reduce pollutant emissions by 10 percent.

According to Xu, the city produces around 120 metric tons of gutter oil every day and a wider application of biodiesel will help curb the illegal use of such recycled oil in the food industry.

The city will also be running pilot tests involving the use of this biodiesel in ships.