The use of waste as an energy source is not new. This includes the use of used cooking oil, which has been included in Hazardous and Toxic Waste (B3). Even used cooking oil as raw material for biodiesel has been used in several countries. Examples are Japan, the United States, Mexico, Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, and several countries in the European Union that have implemented the use of used biodiesel for transportation fuels. The main users of used biodiesel in Europe include the UK, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain.
Quoting a report from the UK bioenergy consultancy, NNFCC, its use as a raw material for biodiesel has increased significantly in the European Union. Between 2011 and 2016, usage increased by 360%, from 0.68 million tonnes to 2.44 million tonnes in just 5 years. Specifically, the use of used cooking oil as a raw material for biodiesel in the European Union is included in the second generation group that comes from unused waste, while the first generation raw materials still use plant raw materials such as corn, soybeans, and sugar cane. In the UK, biodiesel itself is a class of transportation fuel, namely Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil (HVO) and Fatty Acid Methyl Esters (FAME). Today, FAME biodiesel is an important component of total renewable fuel in the UK as a substitute for the use of fossil diesel. As of April 2018, nearly half of the 1,600 million liters of renewable fuel supplied in the UK was biodiesel. The dominant raw material used to produce biodiesel for consumption in England comes from used cooking oil.
Meanwhile, imports of waste cooking for biodiesel to the European Union mostly come from China, Indonesia and Malaysia. In 2018 alone, these three countries exported more than 500,000 tonnes of used waste to the European Union, with about 15 percent of it going to the UK. This dependence is predicted to continue, with imports of used cooking imports from China increasing by 5.6 percent in Q1 2019 when compared to Q1 the previous year. Meanwhile, citing the 2019 US Department of Agriculture (USDA) report, in Japan, biodiesel is produced from used cooking oil for local public transportation needs such as public buses and garbage trucks. Even in 2015, the Japanese government expanded the biodiesel production project from used cooking oil in the Philippines. The project, which is located in Davao City, aims to collect used cooking oil from households and businesses for use in biodiesel production.
In the context of Indonesia, exports of used cooking oil were recorded to have reached their highest point in July this year with 22 thousand tons. Meanwhile, the previous month reached 20 thousand tons. More than 133 thousand tonnes were exported during the first seven months of this year. This figure is up from 85 thousand tons during the same period in 2019. The details of the export destinations are the Netherlands with 55 thousand tons, Malaysia 31 thousand tons, Singapore 21 thousand tons, and South Korea 11 thousand tons with the main use for biodiesel production. Unfortunately, this opportunity has not been fully captured for the domestic environmentally friendly fuel program. The use of jelantah is still less popular than the use of palm oil as a raw material for biodiesel. So far, jelantah is still seen as a promising export commodity compared to a raw material for sustainable energy.
