The development of biodiesel here is being held up by a slow responce from officialdom, writes Brian Byrne
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been accused of holding up the biodiesel industry by being slow in processing applications from interested companies.
One Dublin-based firm operating a pilot plant, which converts waste cooking oil from restaurants into fuel oil, claims to have been waiting for almost two years for a revision of its licence from the EPA to operate the plant. They only got the go-ahead last week.
There is also no decision as yet on taxing biodiesel. At the moment it is more expensive to produce than petroleum diesel, and for it to be viable, some leeway needs to be allowed in this regard, according to those in the industry.
Padraig Thornton Waste Disposal Ltd, which operate an experimental plant on the Killeen Road, Dublin, claims its biodiesel has a number of better environmental characteristics than standard diesel fuel. The company has been using the product in its vehicles operating in the depot itself.
According to Conor Walsh, environmental director of Thorntons, the biodiesel "has better lubricating and emissions performance than petroleum-derived diesel".
"It is also carbon-neutral, because if you use crude oil you push the carbon locked in it for aeons back out into the atmosphere," he says. "If you use vegetable oils, they have already taken carbon out of the air as they grew in recent time and you're simply putting back out the same amount."
Equally important is that burning a vegetable-derived oil does not produce sulphur emissions, as does most petroleum product, and nitrogen oxides (NOx) are also lower because of better combustion characteristics.
Thorntons claims the delay in getting its approval from the EPA is common throughout the waste industry. "The EPA are holding up the industry with the slowness in how they operate. It is a real problem when we have something ready to run with and we can't get the licence approval."
Conor Walsh emphasises that it's not necessarily the fault of the agency, and argues that the systems for processing applications need changing, which may require new legislation. "In fact, the EPA are in one sense the industry's only friend, as we're usually arguing with local authorities in a situation where the agency is the honest broker."
A spokesperson for the EPA said that statutory procedures meant that a minimum of six months would pass before any decision could be made. This is because there are requirements for advertising, for processing objections, and then bringing the application before the board with any recommendation.
"In addition, there may well be delays involving the applicant, where we require further information, or clarifications," she added. "And in some cases, the applicant may change the proposal in the course of the process, which can mean effectively starting the procedure from scratch. This in fact, occurred with this particular application."
The irony is that, as Ireland has a total dependency on imported fuel, the potential for replacing even a part of that import requirement should be getting fast-tracked. Positive environmental considerations should also underpin this, as Ireland is already far off its emissions targets under the Kyoto Agreement.
Biodiesel can be made from fresh plant oils such as those from soybean, rape seed, peanut, palm and canola. It is also recycled from used frying oil, cooking oil, fats from animals, chicken and leather, and greases. Carmakers with biodiesel programmes include VW Group, BMW, and Mercedes.