The Challenge of Making Diesel Fuel from Waste Cooking Oil - With the Historical Background of July 1995

The Challenge of Making Diesel Fuel from Waste Cooking Oil - With the Historical Background of July 1995

In the early 1990s, Japanese society was rapidly becoming concerned about global warming and air pollution, and the search for alternative energy sources was underway. The impact of these efforts was felt by Japanese small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and individuals. The impact of these efforts spread to Japan's small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and individual businesses, and the idea of "generating new energy from waste products close to home" attracted attention. In particular, the reuse of waste cooking oil, which was generated in large quantities by households and the food service industry in urban areas, became a major theme.

It was in this context that Someya Shoten of Sumida-ku, Tokyo, emerged. The company had been collecting waste cooking oil and recycling it as a raw material for paints and animal feed since the postwar period. At the end of 1992, when president Takeo Someya saw a newspaper article about a public bus in Missouri, USA, running on soybean oil mixed fuel, he got the idea of "making fuel from waste oil" and started experiments. His narrative tells of a challenge that began with a simple question from a consumer rather than a researcher, giving readers a strong sense of realism.

After six months of beaker experiments, in 1993 he developed V.D.F. (Vegetable Diesel Fuel), the world's first alternative fuel to diesel fuel made from 100% waste cooking oil. This fuel can be refueled in existing diesel vehicles without modification, and exhaust gas tests have confirmed that it does not produce SOx and reduces black smoke. Moreover, the price is 80 yen per liter, almost the same as diesel fuel. The performance and cost of the fuel had reached a level sufficient for commercialization, and further cost reductions were expected to be possible once a mass production system was in place.

The energy situation at the time also played a role in this challenge. The strong yen made it possible to import oils and fats from overseas at low prices, and the demand for waste oil for conventional feedstuffs was shrinking. Furthermore, the standardization and commercial use of biodiesel fuel was already underway in Europe and the United States, and people in Japan were becoming aware of the need for new energy sources to meet "stricter automobile emission regulations.

Someya's attempt was a good example of how a small local company created a unique technological innovation that echoed global trends. The episode, told like a monologue by a researcher, symbolizes the venture-like spirit of the 1990s, when "an idea moves society. It also led to the subsequent movement to popularize biodiesel in Japan and the development of a waste cooking oil collection system.