Ras Al Khaimah to recycle cooking oil into biofuel

ras al khaimah — Ras Al Khaimah, which generates an estimated 244,000 litres of used cooking oil per month, is exploring the feasibility of facilitating recycling cooking oil into biofuel.

The move follows a five-year agreement inked by the Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority, waste management agency, wastewater agency, and the RAK Municipality.

The initial focus will be the hospitality sector, according to Haitham Mattar, CEO of the RAK Tourism Development Authority.

“The MoU is a positive step to ensure public health and safety is protected and regulatory measures are complied with across the emirate.” The authority will standardise and regulate the quality of cooking oil for hotels, restaurants, cafes and commercial kitchens in RAK, he added.

The government entities will be responsible for protecting the environment by preventing used cooking oil from reaching landfills, thereby reducing associated greenhouse gases. The agreement also includes developing, recommending and implementing appropriate regulatory measures to ensure the proper collection, treatment and reuse techniques

Litres of used cooking oil is generated per month in RAK

for used cooking oil.

He added: “The government committee members are working with Neutral Fuels, the leading company in used cooking oil (UCO) recycling in the UAE, to determine volumes of cooking oil available and how to best manage this commodity.”

The RAK Waste Management Agency will work with Neutral Fuels to set up a used oil recycling plant to transform the collected used cooking oil into biofuel, he added. “The resulting biofuel will replace the diesel used by the waste collection vehicles of the RAK waste management agency.”

The committee members will also closely monitor the hotels and hospitality establishments to ensure the necessary equipment is available to measure the quality of their cooking oil, he underlined.

“Inspections will be launched on a regular basis, while entities who fail to comply with the new regulations will receive warnings and fines.” ahmedshaaban@khaleejtimes.com