State-run oil marketing companies (OMCs) IndianOil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum have launched a programme to procure biodiesel made from used cooking oil in 100 cities across the country.

The programme was launched on August 10 by Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, under which the three OMCs would invite expressions of interest from private entities for setting up plants to produce biodiesel from used cooking oil.

Initially, the biodiesel would be procured by the OMCs at an assured rate of Rs 51 per litre, which would be increased to Rs 52.7 in the second year and Rs 54.5 per litre in the third.

Pradhan also launched a Repurpose Used Cooking Oil (RUCO) sticker and an app for the collection of used cooking oil (UCO) to ensure that it does not come back into the ecosystem.

The sticker would be affixed by hotels and restaurants in their premises to show that they supply UCO for producing biodiesel.

Addressing an event to mark World Biofuel Day, Pradhan said, “Biodiesel is available in many forms other than used cooking oil. It is waste to wealth. We will celebrate World Biofuel Day as alternative energy day.”

“Like Amul, where milk is collected from households and then converted into a commercial product, there will be a RUCO movement. The biggest issue (with biofuels like compressed biogas) was offtake guarantee. More than 300 firms have got a letter of intent for compressed biogas. Its implementation is a challenge. But we are targeting 5,000 such units by 2024,” he said.

“Under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Scheme, we would achieve the target of providing 8 crore LPG connections by September. Already, there is a 20 per cent reduction in chest congestion disease reported in India due to the clean fuel movement,” he said.

Regarding ethanol blending, he said, “We would also make ethanol from surplus food stock. At present, we produce ethanol from sugarcane molasses. Non-subsidised biomass would be converted into energy.”

“Four-five years ago, we had decided to increase ethanol blending with petrol. It has increased from 1.5 per cent to 7-8 per cent. It will soon be 10 per cent. Our ultimate goal is to achieve 20 per cent ethanol blending with petrol,” he said.

At present, 850 crore litres of diesel is consumed every month in India. The government aims to blend 5 per cent of biodiesel in diesel by 2030. Thus, 500 crore litres of biodiesel is required in a year.

In India, 2,700 crore litres of cooking oil is used, out of which 140 crore UCO can be collected from bulk consumers such as hotels and restaurants for conversion, which will give around 110 crore litres of biodiesel every year.

Right now, there is no established chain of collection for UCO, which presents a huge opportunity.

Meanwhile, Health Minister Harsh Vardhan lauded the efforts of the oil ministry for converting UCO into biodiesel.

He said the repeated use of UCO can cause diseases like hypertension, atherosclerosis, Alzheimer’s and liver ailments, among others.