Rolling with frying oil: soon a practice?

What if the fuel in diesel cars is replaced by used cooking oil? An idea that can make you laugh, but already applied in some vehicles, in France and abroad.

Filling his car’s engine fuel with cooking oil? This is the very serious measure that was adopted in first reading on Friday 22 July as part of the purchasing power bill that is currently in the Senate. This proposal is based on Julien Bayou, leader of the Europa Ecologie les Verts (EELV) party. Specifically, the amendment proposes to allow French women and men to use used oils as an alternative to fuel for certain types of cars (old diesel models).

In other words, reuse, filter and decant used sunflower or canola oil to eventually convert it into fuel. But at the moment, the use of these used oils for this purpose remains prohibited for individuals.

The challenge of the amendment proposed by EELV lies precisely in authorizing private individuals to use this method. “While diesel at the pump is more than 2 euros per litre, this solution makes it possible to immediately relieve the wallets of French men and women, limit pollution from diesel engines and reduce the country’s energy dependence.”, argues Julien Bayou. According to the text of the amendment, ten liters of spent cooking fat could yield eight liters of fuel.

And if it has spilled a lot of ink in recent weeks, the proposal of Deputy EELV is nothing far-fetched. It is also the subject of similar initiatives developed in recent years. In May 2021, the company Air France saw its first plane take off equipped with “sustainable jet fuel”, consisting of 20% cooking oil. Since January 1, 2022, airlines are obliged to use at least 1% of this biofuel.

A few years earlier, the French group Avril, based in Aube, announced the creation of a fuel composed 100% of rapeseed oil, intended to power trucks and buses. Smaller structures also recover used oils provided for this purpose. On the Ile d’Oléron, the Roule ma frite association annually collects almost 20,000 used cooking oils (most of them from the catering industry). She even managed to get a customs permit to drive a few modes of transport, most notably a truck and the small tourist train from Saint-Trojan-les-Bains, in Charente-Maritime.

This practice has also been developed much further in Europe. Particularly in Belgium, where about 20% of the biodiesel in Europe is made from deep-frying oils. Private use has also been permitted for a long time.

(ETX Daily Up)

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