More cooking oil needed

Sharlien Tjambari

A Swakopmund company utilises spent cooking oil to manufacture bio-fuel. The business’s production capacity grew to such a level now that the owners are appealing to the coast’s public to contact them in order to collect used cooking oil for their “thirsty” bio-fuel plant.

Reusing cooking oil is a common practice, however, it can pose serious health hazards with cancer-causing properties to both humans and animals. Be Energy Efficient (BEE) Biofuel Manufacturing, an oil manufacturing company in Swakopmund offers safe disposal of used cooking oil (UCO).
Speaking to Namib Times this week, Bruce Salt, the Managing Director of BEE Biofuel Manufacturing explained the business is 100% Namibian-owned.
The business manufactures biofuel locally to wholly replace or blend with conventional petroleum-based fuels. It reduces carbon emissions, is cost effective and in line with the Namibian Government’s Vision 2030 environmental goals.
Salt further explained they need more support from the coastal communities, especially Swakopmund where the biofuel plant is situated.
“We need more used cooking oil from businesses around the coast, but not everyone is willing to provide us with this oil”, he added.
BEE Biofuel Manufacturing is now in a full production phase, all thanks to the supermarket chains across the country and a few of the restaurants in Swakopmund and Walvis Bay who keep up the supply of spent oil.
The business receives close to 3 tons of used cooking oil from Walvis Bay alone.
Salt further explained during the last 12-months they collected around 165 000 litres of used cooking oil from various sources. “We actually use our own manufactured biofuel in our vehicle that collects the used cooking oil”, boasted Salt.
Commenting on the question whether the bio-diesel which they produce is in demand, Salt had no hesitation.”Yes, it can be used in boilers, burners and diesel vehicles.It is a direct replacement for diesel. The blend-ratio of biodiesel with diesel will depend on the particular engine fabricate. The blend could be from B5 (5% Biodiesel, 95% diesel) up to B100 (100% biodiesel).”
In addition, the bio-diesel they produce can be used in the manufacturing industry, hospitality industry, dry cleaning and motor industry.
BEE also produces an eco-friendly consumer product called Biodegradable Degreaser. The Biodegradable Degreaser is a super effective liquid cleaning agent for hotels, restaurants workshops and factories. It is a strong degreaser and cleaner which makes cleaning faster and easier. The degreaser is a 100% biodegradable and can be used to clean drains and fat traps with sensitive septic tanks, according to Salt.
“At BEE Biofuel we produce a second generation biodiesel which includes non-edible vegetable oils, waste cooking oils as well as animal fats. These are considered as promising substitute for traditional edible food crops as they neither compete with food crops nor lead to land-clearing”, said Salt furhter.