Fuel made from pasties to run cars

11 May 2011

A Lincolnshire-based green fuel firm has announced plans to use Cornish pasties to make biodiesel.

Greenergy is to extract oil from pastries, pies, crisps and other food waste which can be blended with diesel and be sold at petrol stations across the UK.

The company responsible for producing 10 billion litres of biodiesel and diesel annually is investing £50 million in its production facility Immingham, Lincolnshire, to process used cooking oils which can make up to 30% of some processed foods.

Andrew Owens, Greenergy's chief executive, said: "We've always tried to find ways of reducing the environmental impact of our fuel and as oil prices continue to rise, it's obviously important to develop alternative sources of fuel.

"The quantities of biodiesel that we're currently producing from solid food waste are small, but we're expecting to scale up so that this soon becomes a significant proportion of our biodiesel.

"It's great to be taking these products, which would otherwise have gone to landfill or compost, and turning them into a new source of fuel."

Greenergy is working along with Brocklesby Ltd, which developed a method of extracting oil from food waste and turning it into biodiesel by purifying the oil further.

Food solids that remain are dried and either composted or used to create energy through anaerobic digestion.

However, the firm has plans to use the waste to make solid biomass pellets or briquettes, or more fuel for cars in the form of bioethanol.

Copyright © Press Association 2011