Govt to Use ‘Leftover Cooking Oil’ to Make Biodiesel
In order to promote the use of sustainable and renewable forms of energy, the Indian government will work with three petroleum companies to collect used cooking oil and produce Biodiesel.
India is the third largest consumer of crude oil in the world. India is heavily dependant on imported crude oil, petrol, diesel etc and imports about 85% of its total consumption. PM Narendra Modi’s goal is to reduce India's dependence on non-renewable energy like crude oil, petrol, diesel, etc. In order to achieve this goal, the government has come up with a new plan.
On World Biofuel Day (10th August) at Vigyan Bhavan in New Delhi, Petroleum & Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan announced that Indian Oil Corporation, Bharat Petroleum Corporation, and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation, would collect and convert used cooking oil into biodiesel. A biofuel is a fuel that is produced through biomass is a natural waste like animal waste, human waste, leftover vegetables, etc. are converted into fuel that can be used to drive cars, power lights, fans etc.
The three oil companies, would collect cooking oil in bulk from restaurants, hotels, and canteens across 100 cities in the country. This is a very good concept as usually most of the cooking oil is usually thrown away. India is one of the top consumers of edible oil in the world. The country uses about 27 billion liters of cooking oil every year. Out of this even if we collect 1.4 billion liters of used cooking oil, we can make produce 1.1 billion liters of biodiesel. This biodiesel is eco-friendly and can be used to power cars, aircrafts and other vehicles as well. Biodiesel causes less pollution compared to Petrol and Diesel. This plan will make India cleaner, Greener and healthier.
