Dubai-based company first to convert dairy waste into biofuel
by Cleantech Canada Staff
Neutral Fuels, already a provider of vegetable oil biofuel, hopes to take advantage of the United Arab Emirates' robust dairy industry
DUBAI—After two years of research, Neutral Fuels, a Dubai-based biofuel developer, has become the first company to successfully use butter, cream and ghee waste as a feedstock for creating commercial biofuel.
The new fuel is of the same quality as vegetable oil-derived biofuel, and it is European standards compliant.
The United Arab Emirates is the second largest dairy producer in the Arab Persian Gulf, with annual fresh milk production totalling 167,000 tonnes.
If that milk’s waste is processed into biofuel, it could result in 1,670,000 litres of fuel, which could reduce the county’s carbon footprint by 4460 tonnes. Add to this the waste from making butter, cream and ghee, and the volume of biofuel from the dairy industry could more than double.
“Every dairy operation produces a small percentage of waste, plus it always has to dispose of outdated produce. Turning that into biofuel is the most useful thing to do with it,” said Karl W Feilder, chairman and CEO of Neutral Fuels.
Meanwhile in Canada, biofuel innovation is alive and well.
In May 2016, WestJet committed to invest in biofuel for its planes, in partnership with Alberta’s Clean Energy Technology Centre.
Another Alberta-based biofuel initiative launched in June 2014, with the establishment of a 38 million litres-per-year biofuel production facility in Edmonton. The facility was one of the first of its kind when it went into operation.
Across the country in Quebec, a containerboard mill was converted into a biofuel plant in July, 2013, a facility that can produce 7.2 megawatts of electricity.
