Biodiesel May Replace Conventional Diesel By 10%.. A Study at UoB Calls for the Use of Biodiesel and the Development of Its Production

Sakhir – University of Bahrain
29 January 2022
A scientific study at the University of Bahrain (UoB) concluded that biodiesel may replace by 10% conventional (fossil) diesel in the Kingdom by the year 2025, as it is expected for government policies to be enhanced with the support of using biodiesel and the development of its production in the Kingdom, and the expected market size of the product reaches 110 thousand liters per day.
On Tuesday (25 June 2020), Mona Ramadan Sahwan, a student in the master’s program in the Department of Management and Marketing at the College of Business Administration, presented a study under the title “A Feasibility Study for a Biodiesel Factory in Bahrain” with the aim of measuring the financial feasibility of the project.
The study was supervised by the Dean of the College of Business Administration, Prof. Dr. Hatem Mahmood Al-Masri, and the student discussed her thesis via MS Teams with the Dean of Graduate Studies and Scientific Research at UoB, Dr. Mohammed Reda Qadir as an internal examiner, and the President of Al-Khwarizmi International College in the United Arab Emirates, Prof. Dr. Nabil Al-Qadhi, as an external examiner.
To support biodiesel, the study suggested adopting legislation that financially supports the use of renewable energies in general, and on the other hand, prevents the disposal or export of used frying oils in a way that is not environmentally friendly.
As the study found that the general trend in all countries of the world calls for supporting the use of renewable and environmentally friendly energies, in order to reduce the level of gaseous emissions that cause climate change, especially carbon emissions, and thus finding an alternative to the current crude fossil fuels derived from crude oil is of high importance.
In this context, the Kingdom of Bahrain seeks to reduce the amount of waste by increasing its recycling and making better use of it, which contributes to reducing the carbon footprint in general, enhancing sustainability, and reducing the impact on climate change.
One alternative to crude fossil fuels is biodiesel, also referred to as fatty acid methyl ester (FAME), which is produced by processing vegetable oils such as palm and sunflower oil, or by treating leftover cooking oil.
It is worth noting that a biodiesel production plant has been established in the Kingdom of Bahrain, specifically in the Hidd Industrial Area, with a production capacity of 350 tons per month, using used frying oils as raw materials. Biofuel Company Limited is the first plant of its kind in Bahrain.

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