An abridged version of this article was published in Skyways September 2015.
“People
just don’t care”, says Paolo Cavalieri, co-owner of Allwin Biodiesel in White
River, his face washed with disillusion. Nestled in one of South Africa’s largest
conservation areas, Allwin Biodiesel is surrounded by game reserves and luxury
eco lodges yet Paolo and partner Brian Tilly struggle to find a market for the
biofuel they manufacture from used cooking oil.
Predictably,
in the battle between fossil and renewable fuel, price raises its hand. Allwin’s biofuel sells fractionally below the
pump price of regular diesel at the filling stations. But that’s considerably more expensive than
the wholesale price and despite the global furore over climate change, fossil
fuel and the development of renewable energy, local businesses are voting with
their wallets.
By
contrast, Port Elizabeth based Greentech Biofuels has found widespread support
from both local business and private individuals across the Eastern Cape for
their B100 biodiesel (100% biodiesel) and B50 biodiesel (50% biodiesel/50%
standard diesel) products which they began producing in January 2012. CEO Hayden Hill estimates that, using an
average of 10 kilometres per litre consumption, some 2.5 million kilometres
have been travelled on his biofuel to date.
Hill
believes that market acceptability and propensity to use biodiesel instead of
petrodiesel relies on other factors.
“It’s about finding the right mix between price and quality,” he says. In his opinion, this is not a challenge faced
by biodiesel manufacturers alone, it’s applicable to all businesses.
He adds,
though, that consumers living outside major city centres are positioned further
along the innovation adoption curve and resist changing to a new product. In outlying areas, price sensitivity increases
and the value placed on environmental benefits drops.
While
struggling to contain his disappointment, Cavalieri becomes more animated as he
enthuses over the benefits of manufacturing biodiesel from used cooking oil. He’s proud that 50 000 litres a month of
toxic used cooking oil isn’t poured down the drain or used as additive to
animal feed, which we ultimately consume, because his fleet of four biodiesel
powered trucks collect it for conversion.
He has small children and it’s important to him that a sulphur free fuel
with 75% less exhaust and 80% less CO2 emissions is available. Cavalieri chuckles as he refers to his
vehicles running on “100% Fish and Chips!”
Biodiesel
has a much higher flashpoint (120°C) than fossil fuel (70°C) and no engine
modifications are necessary to use it, although Cavalieri suggests that
vehicles manufactured pre-1995 check that their rubber hoses are made of Viton
E rubber before switching to biodiesel, as otherwise the hoses will
perish. He also recommends that
motorists changing over to biodiesel in high doses keep a fuel filter close by,
especially on long trips in the early stages.
Biodiesel has excellent cleaning properties and will clean out the fuel tank
and engine while it runs, resulting in a clogged fuel filter.
Allwin’s
biofuel is manufactured to SABS standard SANS833. Making it, says Cavalieri, is not rocket
science but takes time and patience, adding that it’s “a costly and stinky
business”. Happily, Allwin’s frustrating
struggle to gain traction in the market for its pure product could soon be over
when the new regulations regarding the Mandatory Blending of Biofuels with
Petrol and Diesel come into force on the 1st October 2015.
Cavalieri sees
the future of biodiesel lying in a mixture of 5% biodiesel /95% petrodiesel, and
that’s what the government thinks too, hence the mandatory blending of 5% biofuels
with all petrol and diesel (part of the Biofuels Industrial Strategy published
in 2007) - the final blended diesel product has to comply with SA National
Standard SANS 342 (automotive diesel fuel).
Roy de Gouveia, Managing Director of Biogreen in Cape Town, is bullish
about the future of biofuel, particularly as a blend – his company sells thousands
of litres of biodiesel every month and de Gouveia confidently forecasts that sales
will continue to grow with the new regulations. His aim now is to gather the assortment of
biofuel manufacturers, especially the “bakkie brigade” under one umbrella and to
work together, sharing the same channel and logistic mechanism, operating in a
similar fashion as the fossil fuel industry.
“There’s a rising tide,” de Govuveia comments “and people need to get
into the boat now before it’s too late.”
Referring to the Rose Foundation, which set up a few distributors
nationwide to collect and recycle used lubrication oil, he says that isn’t
possible with biodiesel and cooking oil – the amount of waste oil and the
diesel price fluctuate too widely.
“The cost
of manufacture and waste oil is too high,” says de Gouveia, “and part of the
problem is that the international price is so high, waste oil goes offshore.” It’s certainly true that the value of waste
oil in biofuels is recognised in the United States and the competitive market there
scarily cut-throat, resulting in the price of used cooking oil skyrocketing. Operating for 24 years in the New York / New
Jersey area, Grease Lightning is confronting the increasing problem of oil
pirates. Illegally coupling their hoses
to the waste tanks in restaurants and hotels, the rustlers blithely make off
with their bounty – greasy, smelly gold they turn into black market biodiesel
in backyard stills.
South
Africa may be a long way from that, however, but selling their used oil,
instead of slopping it down the drain, could be a useful income earner for
hospitals, schools, military bases, prisons, restaurants and hotels. And a positive environmental stride forward
for us all.
 |
| Mucky oil ready for the Cinderella treatment |
Turning chip oil into diesel - the Allwin Biodiesel
process
- Used
oil is collected and delivered to the plant where it is filtered twice to
remove fragments of fried food
- It
is then heated and a sample undergoes a Titration test, to determine the
quality of the oil, and the amount of chemical additive required to achieve a
reaction.
- Methanol
(alcohol base) and Potassium Hydrochloride (catalyst) are added to the oil
- - A
chemical reaction takes place to realise the three fatty acid molecules of the
oil molecule, forming biodiesel (which is light) and glycerol (which is heavy)
- - Overnight
settling allows separation of the two elements
- - Glycerol
is drained off the next day, and the process repeated and the biodiesel tested
- - The
biodiesel is then washed to remove any soap.
Initially milky, the water clarifies and once clear is left to settle overnight
- - Next
the water is drained off and heated to evaporate any water residue
- - After
undergoing one final test, the biodiesel is pumped into a storage tank through
a 10 micron water-absorbent filter
- - The
waste water is pumped onto the factory grounds for dust suppression
- - The
glycerol is sold to a company producing green bar soap
Why should you consider using
biodiesel?
- Users
can switch between biodiesel and regular diesel
 |
Biodiesel ready for pumping into Paolo's trucks
|
- Biodiesel
can be blended with petrodiesel
- It
has a higher Cetane rating (an indicator of the combustion speed of diesel
fuel) than regular fuel, improving the efficiency of compression ignition
- Extended
engine life
- Degrades
about four times faster after spillage than regular fuel
