UAE to host region's first biodiesel plant

Dubai: The first UAE-based biodiesel plant in the GCC region will produce 3 million gallons annually of environmentally-friendlier diesel to power vehicles, drastically reducing greenhouse gas emission due to its less toxic content, by next year.

Biodiesel is made from a variety of organic sources such as vegetable oils, inedible oils and other biomass and can be blended with petrodiesel by up to 20 per cent for use in vehicles without any alteration to the engine.

Constant supply

Emirates Biodiesel LLC (EmBio) will establish the first constant supply of commercial grade biodiesel in the UAE and the GCC countries. The plant will be located in Al Ain Industrial City.

Karim Aly, founder and executive director of EmBio describes the company as a national initiative established to support the GCC's increasing energy demand and mounting pressure on the environment.

Embio will use only inedible oils as the raw material, also called feedstock, as opposed to diverting edible crops to satisfy energy demands, said Aly. "Our aim is to highlight the true environmental as well as economic benefits of biodiesel," he said.

The EmBio facility is planned to be operational by end of 2009. It will be designed to process multi-feedstock oils for the production of biodiesel.

"We will be focusing largely on waste vegetable oil as feedstock; discarded oils which are derived from crops harvested for human consumption as the primary purpose. Once utilised, the waste oils are then channelled to EmBio."

"At this stage, we have not yet initiated any proprietary projects for cultivation of feedstock crops. However, if and when we do, we will strategically select inedible crops which are capable of being grown on arid land - therefore not cannibalising on any fertile agricultural soil that may otherwise be used for harvesting food crops," said Aly.

Buoyant

"As global demand is set to remain buoyant on the back of sustained demand from emerging economies as well as the growing consensus to diversify global energy pools, EmBio will also explore supplying other markets in the future," said Aly.

Many vehicle companies with models that can use biodiesel include Audi, BMW, Chevrolet, DaimlerChrysler, Ford, General Motors, Isuzu, Land Rover, Mazda, Mercedes, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Peugeot, Saab, Toyota, Volkswagen and Volvo.