The potential of waste cooking oil and oily food waste as alternative biodiesel feedstock in Padang municipality

Abstract

Indonesia is highly dependent on fossil fuels to support its development. In order to reduce fossil fuel dependency, Indonesian Government sets up policies to promote biodiesel, i.e. a petro-diesel substitute deriving from plant oils. However, current biodiesel production only relies on the use of crude palm oil (CPO). This study has, therefore, been done to know other potential biodiesel feedstock in Padang Municipality, namely, waste cooking oil (WCO) and oily food waste (OFW). The surveyed WCO and OFW generators comprised of households and commercial activities. Direct sampling for waste quantification was carried out based on the Indonesian standard for municipal waste sampling (SNI No. 19-3964-1994), while questionnaire survey was done to know the existing practices in waste handling and people willingness to participate in collecting the wastes. Moreover, WCO and OFW samples were laboratory analysed for its acid value, water content and fatty acid profile. Some good practices were also learned from Kitakyushu City in Japan that has used WCO in biodiesel production. This study shows that WCO and OFW are highly potential for biodiesel feedstock in Padang Municipality, due to the waste availability, their properties to be converted to biodiesel, and willingness of people to collect the waste.