Expensive gutter oil to fuel Shanghai buses  

(ECNS) -- A project aimed at processing used cooking oil, or gutter oil, into biodiesel to power vehicles was jointly launched by the Shanghai Municipal Food Safety Committee, Tongji University, and the Technology Research Institute of Shanghai Huayi Group in Shanghai on Thursday.

Used cooking oil will be transformed to fuel 1,000 buses in Shanghai in 2014, and the buses will run on fuel composed of 10 percent biodiesel, local media reported.

Because of the high cost of transforming the oil, those who use it should receive subsidies, according to Zhang Xuewang, deputy manager of the Shanghai Zhong Qi Environment Technology Inc.

For bus companies, the cost of using the mixture of biodiesel and diesel will be higher than using petroleum diesel alone. The higher cost may slow the popularization of the greener energy, according to Luo Yongjian, vice general manager of Jiading Bus Co in Shanghai.

"We are working with the supervision department in Shanghai to establish a new operational mold that can benefit both the disposal business and users of the biodiesel," Zhang said.

About 70 metric tons of waste cooking oil is produced by Shanghai's restaurants every day.