DUBAI // Dubai Police could soon be running their bus fleet on fuel partly produced from used cooking oil.
The chief of police, Lt Gen Dhahi Khalfan Tamim, this week inspected a bus that is testing the biodiesel known as B5.
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Police said it was the first step in what could grow into a large-scale programme.
The fuel is a mixture of the cooking oil derivative and ordinary diesel fuel, in a ratio of about one unit of biodiesel for 19 of standard diesel.
This 5 per cent mixture is mandatory in some regions, including Europe and can reduce greenhouse emissions by 2.5 per cent.
The B5 mix is a practical option because vehicles can burn it without modification. To use fuel with a higher biodiesel content would require major changes to existing engines.
The technology was developed by the Dubai-based SS Lootah Group, which produces 1,000 litres of biodiesel a day at its facility in Al Quoz. The plant opened in November and processes about six 250-litre drums of used cooking oil every day.
The SS Lootah Group has shared the their biodiesel technology with the Dubai Police.
Eventually, the emirate's police may manufacture biodiesel in-house, from waste oil collected at their facilities.
