Scramble's on in London to snag biodiesel

LONDON — Drivers of London's iconic black cabs may soon find themselves competing with accountants to obtain an unusual commodity: chip fat, the oil used to make French fries.

Cabbies, who collectively spend almost $634,000 a day on diesel, are starting to switch to biodiesel, a fuel derived from vegetable oil, to cut costs. Accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers is also looking at using biodiesel to power its new London office, due to open next year.

The accounting firm is seeking local sources for nearly 12,000 gallons of biodiesel to meet one quarter of its monthly office fuel needs, said Jon Barnes, head of building and facilities services.

"I'm trying to locally source used chip fat from restaurants," he said. "It's a pretty pointless exercise of using biofuel if it's been all round the world on a ship."

Fossil-fuel limit

The European Union will limit all new buildings' use of fossil fuels to "nearly zero" by 2020. Having a renewable source for some of the office's energy needs could help the accounting company sell its services to clients wanting to do the same.

"They're giving advice to clients on sustainability, so this is huge because they can practice what they preach," said Steve Runicles, a director at BDP, a design company responsible for planning how PricewaterhouseCoopers' new building will save energy, including choice of generators and solar panels on the office's roof.

Uptown Oil, which started out delivering ice, has been refining biodiesel from waste oil supplied by 750 restaurants, pubs and companies across London since 2007. It sells the fuel at $1.53 per liter, while the average price of diesel in Britain is $1.75 per liter, according to the Automobile Association.

"If I had to choose, hand on heart, why people buy it, it's the cost," said Jason Askey-Wood, a director of Uptown.

Oils collected

Uptown collects waste rapeseed, soya, and sunflower oil from companies including Young & Co.'s Brewery and Corney & Barrow Wine Bars that is filtered and distilled, with the oil siphoned off and added to methanol, a process that produces biodiesel and glycerol. The biodiesel is filtered again and heated to remove excess methanol.

The benefits for the 500 or so cabdrivers who buy their fuel from Uptown are also environmental, with reduced smoke fumes, Askey-Wood said.

"One cabdriver said he was sick of seeing all the grime come out of the back of his cab," he said. "The biodiesel produces far less."

Barnes said he is in talks with Uptown to see if the company can provide enough recycled fuel to meet the accountant's needs. Other sources for the fuel could be Thames Water or Anglian Water, which skim off waste oil as part of the treatment process, he said.

"If it's made properly and it's cleaned properly, then it's good," Vanessa Guyll, a technical specialist at the AA, said.

London has about 22,000 black cabs, according to Bob Oddy, general secretary of the Licensed Taxi Drivers Association.

Each cabbie drives 90 to 100 miles per day while working, and a cab will drive about 22 miles per gallon of diesel, he said. These cabdrivers spend about 438,240 pounds per day on fuel.