NEW DELHI: In an effort to reduce the dependence on imported fossil fuels, the Union Government on Saturday launched an initiative to procure biodiesel from used cooking oil across 100 cities.
Launched by Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan, the programme will see India’s three state-run oil marketing firms — Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum — inviting expressions of interest from private entities for setting up plants to produce biodiesel from used cooking oil.
India currently consumes around 850 crore litres of diesel every month, with the government planning to blend in 5 per cent of biodiesel in diesel by 2030.
This would see demand for about 500 crore litres of biodiesel per year, according to officials, who added that around 140 crore of used cooking oil (UCO) can be collected from bulk consumers like hotels, restaurants and canteens for conversion, which will give around 110 crore litres of biodiesel every year.
The biodiesel will initially be procured by OMCs at an assured rate of Rs 51 per litre, which would be increased to Rs 52.7 in the second year and Rs 54.5 per litre in the third year. “Like Amul, where milk is collected from households and then converted into a commercial product, we will have the RUCO movement,” he said.