Potential of biodiesel from waste cooking oil in Mexico

The aim of this study is to evaluate the potential use of biodiesel produced from waste cooking oil (WCO) in Mexico and its CO2 emission reduction potential for the Mexican transport sector and associated costs. The results show, based on 2010 data, that the potential of biodiesel from WCO is between 7.8 PJ and 17.7 PJ that represent between 1.5% and 3.3% of petro-diesel consumption for the road transport sector and can reduce between 0.51 and 1.02 Mt of CO2, (1.0%–2.7% of CO2-associated emissions), depending on the recovery ratio of WCO from vegetable oil consumption for cooking and considering CO2 emissions for biodiesel production and methanol emissions during production and combustion in the blend. Primary energy used to produce 1 MJ of WCO-biodiesel is 0.8727 MJ, while literature reports 1.2007 MJ to produce 1 MJ of petro-diesel. Biodiesel costs are similar to petro-diesel costs if WCO is free. The paper offers suggestions for policies that promote increased recollection of WCO for biodiesel production and reduced illegal marketing of WCO, which is the main barrier to increase biodiesel production from WCO. The data used for the analysis is based on a case study of a WCO biodiesel plant that operates in Mexico City. •Biodiesel's potential from WCO is between 1.5% and 3.3% of transportation diesel use.•CO2 emissions' reduction represents 1.0%–2.7% of transport petro-diesel emissions.•Biodiesel costs are similar to petro-diesel costs if WCO is free.•Main barrier to the mass production of biodiesel from WCO is the illegal WCO market.