Aimed at promoting biofuel and healthy food, the Biodiesel Association of India (BDAI) plans to launch used cooking oil aggregation system in India under repurpose used cooking oil (RUCO).

BDAI President Sandeep Chaturvedi said since used cooking oil will cause a major health hazard, it must be converted into a clean fuel to reap its socio-economic benefits. The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India has set a target of converting about 2.2 million tonnes of used cooking oil into biodiesel by 2022, which will save fuel worth about Rs 12,000 crore.

At the launch of RUCO app in Ahmedabad, Pawan Agarwal, CEO, FSSAI, said, "This initiative will address three aspects of public health, economy and environment safety." The app was launched by BDAI in association with FSSAI and Gujarat State Food and Drug Control Administration. Once successful, the system will be scaled up nationally.

The app will manage the collection and supply of used cooking oil from food vendors/restaurants and food processing units. This will be supplied to biodiesel plants to convert it into auto fuel. Initially, Gujarat will have 27 aggregators to collect the used cooking oil from food processing units and other vendors and supply it to biodiesel manufacturers.

BDAI plans to spread its reach with more aggregators over a period of next one year. According to a BDAI presentation, when edible oil is heated, its total polarised compound (TPC)-value increases and when it reaches 25 or beyond, it becomes unfit for human consumption.

BDAI also plans to set up 350 centres for used cooking oil storage/stablisation and training of 87,000 personnel by January 2019. "We aim to collect 1 crore litre used cooking oil from Gujarat through 2 lakh registered food vendors in the State," said Chaturvedi.

Currently, there are two major biodiesel makers based in Gujarat located at Anand and Surat. “Their cumulative capacity is 73,000 tonne per annum," he said.

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