Dubai Municipality recently signed a ground-breaking agreement with Neutral Fuels, a pioneer in converting cooking oil into usable biodiesel, to replace diesel used by its vehicles with clean biodiesel.

With the agreement, Dubai will become the first city in the world to formally adopt biodiesel made 100 per cent locally from waste cooking oil for use in its municipal vehicles, said a statement.

Biodiesel is a clean sustainable biofuel produced by reacting used cooking oils with methanol in the presence of a sodium methylate catalyst, it informed.

Neutral Fuels has been producing biodiesel in the UAE since 2010, when it became the first biodiesel manufacturer ever to be licensed in Dubai.

HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, is driving initiatives to promote fuel efficiency and create a truly sustainable city within the next three decades, under his UAE Vision 2021 and Dubai Integrated Energy Strategy 2030.

These include the rational use of energy and fuel, encouraging conversion of waste to energy and sustainable transport infrastructure.

Karl W Feilder, CEO and chairman of Neutral Fuels, said: “This is a fantastic day for the UAE, for Dubai and for biodiesel. In adopting biodiesel – which doesn’t even require any engine modifications on diesel vehicles – the municipality is creating a sustainability benchmark which the rest of the world should note.”

“We are proud to be part of the UAE’s bold vision for a sustainable future, and applaud the municipality for making such a strategic move,” he added.

A number of VIPs, Dubai municipality staff and a host of media gathered at the municipality headquarters in Al Rigga, Dubai, to celebrate the agreement, but also to witness another world first: a life-sized demonstration of how a bio refinery works.

“Neutral Fuels is keen for everyone to see for themselves exactly how Dubai’s used vegetable cooking oil is chemically converted into pure, clean biodiesel – so we recreated our Dubai production facility in the Municipality car park,” said Feilder.

“It’s Car Free Day, so the car park was going to be empty, and we thought it would be a great way to explain to a lot of people the complexity of making high quality biodiesel in clear, easy steps,” said the clean fuel pioneer.

Biodiesel – which doesn't cost any more than traditional diesel – is the quickest and simplest method available for vehicle owners to decrease the earth’s reliance on fossil fuels and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Biodiesel made from used vegetable cooking oil reduces the CO2 ‐ carbon dioxide – the 'greenhouse gas' which is causing the temperature of the planet to rise and melting the ice caps.

Neutral Fuels informed that switching to clean biodiesel means less CO2 being emitted into the atmosphere which means less global warming.

The other proven environmental benefits of biodiesel:
•    Reduces lifecycle carbon footprint by up to 80 per cent compared to diesel.
•    Halves the poisonous carbon monoxide emissions from exhaust pipes.
•    Reduces smog and halves carbon particle emissions.
•    Brings better air quality to Dubai.
•    Even reduces wear and tear on engines as it has superior lubricity compared to low sulphur fossil diesel.

“Processing millions of litres of used cooking oil into biodiesel per annum, Neutral Fuels symbolises the difference between fossil fuel and biofuel. Fossil fuel comes from ancient sources deep in the earth. Getting it out, processing it and using it is a destructive process. By contrast, there is nothing destructive about biofuel. It is fresh, modern, clean and sustainable – just like Dubai,” Feilder concluded. – TradeArabia News Service