Context

• The Indian Institute of Petroleum has successfully finished a pilot test to convert used cooking oil into bio-aviation turbine fuel (Bio-ATF), which can be blended with conventional ATF and used as aircraft fuel.
• The test assumes importance as the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has launched the Repurpose Cooking Oil (RUCO) initiative to collect and convert used cooking oil into bio-fuel.

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• The Institute collected used cooking oil from caterers and hotels in Dehradun for the pilot, which has now set the platform for commercial use of the technology.
• The chemical composition of the used cooking oil is identical to other plant-based oils that have been converted to Bio-ATF.

Repurpose Used Cooking Oil

• The FSSAI launched RUCO – Repurpose Used Cooking Oil on Biofuel Day 2018. RUCO is an ecosystem that will enable the collection and conversion of used cooking oil to biodiesel
• India is one of the largest consumers of vegetable oil and so has the potential to recover almost 220 crore litre of Used Cooking Oil (UCO) for the production of biodiesel by the year 2022.
• FSSAI has launched a micro-site to monitor the progress of the collection and conversion of UCO to biodiesel. Sixty-Four companies have been identified thus far at 101 locations across the country to enable collection of UCO.
• McDonald’s is already converting its used cooking oil to biodiesel from 100 outlets in Mumbai and Pune as of today.
• Bangalore based ECO Green Fuels is also currently converting approximately 1200 tonnes of UCO to biodiesel annually.
• The regulator is implementing an Education, Enforcement and Ecosystem (EEE) strategy to divert UCO from the food value chain and curb current illegal practices.