In what was seen as a first for a retail and leisure destination in the UK, Liverpool ONE has announced a groundbreaking Biofuel Initiative.

The initiative involves Liverpool ONE collecting waste cooking oils from several of its many restaurants and recycling it into clean biodiesel that will run Liverpool ONE’s fleet of estate vehicles.

Biofuels have many benefits to the environment; the main one being that the process involves the recycling of waste oils that would otherwise end up in landfill. The fact that these waste oils are usually removed from restaurants by road means that by recycling them on site the carbon footprint of individual businesses is lowered considerably. By using biodiesel in the fleet rather than ordinary diesel Liverpool ONE will save an estimated 54 tonnes of CO2¬ in the first year of activity alone.

The process is simple and will take place in a purpose-built biofuel room underneath Liverpool ONE where waste oils will be converted into clean biofuel in less than 24 hours.

Used cooking oil is fed into the Fuelpod via a series of filtered pumps and is heated over night to 65˚c. The warm oil is then mixed with methanol and potassium hydroxide (the potassium uses the methanol as a carrier and binds the fats within the oil) the products of which are biodiesel and glycerine laden oil, which can be safely used to accelerate compost.

One hundred  litres of used cooking oil yields 100 litres of biodiesel and Liverpool ONE hopes to produce 200L of biodiesel a week.

The Biofuels Initiative is part of Liverpool ONE’s ongoing commitment to lower the carbon footprint of the city. It forms another strand of a recycling programme that involves paper, card and plastics.

www.liverpool-one.com

BIONIC is a major new project that will address the issues of biofuel supply and use in transport specifically from the perspective of Local Authorities. They will also promote developments in the regional production and use of transport biofuels.

Here’s their latest news from Merseyside:

Public awareness surveys carried out in Liverpool

Merseytravel have undertaken public awareness surveys to establish the level of knowledge and interest in biofuels in Liverpool. The surveys were conducted over two days in the centre of Liverpool.

The surveys indicate that people recognise the environmental benefit of using sustainably produced biofuels but are unsure of where they can buy them, and which ones are suitable for their vehicles. We will use the results to plan key messages for 2010 to help people to get more information about biofuels in our area.

Biofuels and business

Merseytravel have attended several business related events in recent months and have presented to key groups such as the Liverpool Chamber of Commerce, the Merseyside Transport Partnership’s Transport Health and Environment Forum and the Lancashire Climate Change Partnership. These groups provide access to key decision makers in the region helping to raise the profile of BIONIC with policy makers.

ECOtravel Bureau website enhanced

Merseytravel have enhanced the successful ECOtravel Bureau website (http://www.ecotravel.org.uk/) to include information on sustainable biofuels and the BIONIC project. The Bureau provides free and impartial information and advice to both the public and business communities on Merseyside with regards to reduced emissions vehicles and fuels. The popularity of the Bureau website has increased every year since its launch in 2004 and is expected to receive in excess of 170,000 hits in 2009. The website is a legacy of CATCH, a part EC funded project which ended in 2005 which demonstrates Merseytravel’s long standing commitment to promoting less environmentally damaging transport options.

BIONIC in the media

Merseytravel are working with local media to promote the work of the project. The local paper, the Liverpool Echo has launched an environmental website and supplement which will include information about BIONIC. The Liverpool Echo is the biggest selling newspaper on Merseyside and has the second largest circulation of any evening newspaper outside London making them an ideal conduit.

For more info, please contact: andrew.leadbetter@merseytravel.gov.uk