Bhubaneswar: To spread awareness about the ill-effects of reusing cooking oil, oil marketing companies Wednesday launched a campaign emphasising the need to redirect used cooking oil for production of biodiesel.
Marking the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, the mass awareness campaign on RUCO (Repurpose Used Cooking Oil) was undertaken by oil marketing companies, under the aegis of Union petroleum and natural gas ministry in the state.
State level coordinator-oil industry, Odisha cum chief general manager, Indian Oil, Subhajit Ghosh flagging off LPG delivery vehicles for spreading mass awareness on RUCO in Bhubaneswar to mark the initiative towards better health and cleaner environment.
Bharat Petroleum (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum (HPCL) official flagged off LPG delivery vans at Puri and Cuttack as part of a country-wide campaign.
LPG delivery vehicles were pressed to spread awareness amongst consumers, households, and food business operators (FBOs) to create a movement for a healthier India highlighting the health hazards of reusing cooking oil, Ghosh said.
The practice of reheating cooking oil or using the same cooking oil for frying is common. Cooking oil is often repeatedly used by topping it up with fresh oil.
“At present, approximately 850 crore litres of High Speed Diesel (HSD) is consumed on a monthly basis in India. The National Policy on Biofuels – 2018 envisages a target of 5 per cent blending of Biodiesel in HSD by 2030,” he said.
In order to achieve the blending target, 500 crore litres of biodiesel is required in a year. In India, approximately, 22.7 MMTPA (2,700 crore litres) of Cooking Oil is used out of which 1.2 MMTPA (140 crore litres) of used cooking oil (UCO) can be collected from bulk consumers such as hotels, restaurants and canteens for conversion, which will give approximately 110 crore litres of biodiesel in one year, he said.
“Presently there is no established collection chain for UCO. Thus, there is a huge opportunity in production of biodiesel from UCO,” Ghosh said.
Generally, big food businesses involved in the manufacturing of fried foods dispose of their used cooking oil for industrial purposes (soap manufacture, etc) but sometimes it finds way to small food vendors at cheap prices.
At household level or by road-side vendors, the UCO is discarded in an environmentally hazardous manner blocking the sewerage and drainage systems. Therefore, in order to safeguard public health, FSSAI has notified the limit of Total Polar compounds (TPC) to be not more than 25 per cent beyond which the oil is unsafe for human consumption.
Higher level of TPC in cooking oil leads to health issues like hypertension, atherosclerosis, Alzheimer’s and liver diseases. One of the studies also noticed high levels of glucose, creatinine and cholesterol with declined levels of protein and albumin in reused cooking oil.
As used cooking oil is considered a reasonable feedstock for biodiesel production, it is planned to redirect used cooking oil from food business operators for this.
Converting UCO to biodiesel provides health benefits, cleaner environment, reduce import dependency and infrastructural Investment in rural areas, he added.
(PTI)
