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The world’s renewable energy producers are about to face a crisis in one of the basic building blocks that they need to be successful: a sufficient supply of waste oils.
Transport & Environment, a lobby group, says that by 2030, the global targets for sustainable aviation fuel production will require at least double the amount of used kitchen oil that can be collected from the U.S. combined with Europe and China. This does not include the waste oil required to make other fuels , especially renewable diesel.
The group stated that the use of cooking oils by western nations for biofuel production has led to a dependence on imports, particularly from China. The U.S., Europe and other countries would not be able to meet their demand for sustainable jet fuel if they only used cooking oil as a feedstock.
Waste oil is an important component of renewable fuels. However, it’s limited in quantity by practical realities. T&E has questioned for years whether some companies are faking their figures by collecting palm oil instead.
Imports of used cooking oil in the U.S. more than tripled from a year ago to 2023. In the last year, Europe used nearly 7 million tons (about eight times) of used cooking oil to produce biofuels. The majority of it comes mainly from food manufacturers and restaurants.
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