Bento-flavored biodiesel
Plenus Co., Ltd., which operates Japan’s nationwide take-out bento chain Hokka Hokka Tei (a.k.a. Hokka Hokka Bento, or Hokka-ben) and Yayoiken restaurants, has unveiled plans to begin recycling the used cooking oil from its 2,400 branches into fuel for its delivery vehicles. According to the plan slated for launch in January 2007, the company will establish 6 refining facilities in 3 years with the capability of producing 3.3 million liters (870,000 gallons) of fuel from 3.7 million liters (975,000 gallons) of used cooking oil — enough to fuel its entire fleet of delivery vehicles, Plenus claims.
Discarded cooking oil makes for a viable alternative to diesel once it is mixed with methanol and refined into biodiesel. After the refining process, the fuel will be supplied to the company’s 300 diesel delivery trucks through a network of independent filling stations.
Plenus will establish the initial refinery base in Fukuoka in January 2007 with 130 million yen (US$1.1 million) in capital. Subsequent refineries will be established in Saitama, Yamanashi and Miyagi prefectures, and in Hokkaido and Osaka. The company hopes to establish an efficient fuel supply system and cut overall fuel costs.
[Source: Nikkei Net]
Interesting. But one wonders about all the extra trucks that will be needed to transport the cooking oil to the refineries. Maybe they can run on charcoal made from all the disposable wooden chopsticks consumed every year in Japan while eating bento! After WWII, cars running on charcoal apparently were a common sight on the streets of Tokyo.
Extra trucks? What about the trucks already used to remove the used oil? they could: 1. use the same service/infrastructure to take the oil from Bentol to the refinery or 2. cancel existing oil disposal/removal contracts and use own trucks, either way the difference in number of trucks will be negligable.
Thanks to pro-active companies like Plenus Co., Ltd., we can have some hope to stopping global warming and climate change.
This is the future oil :)
Both Tim and Luke suffer from a typically American thinking problem. I bet you that the Japanese boys thought things out pretty well. They normally do better than producing Hummers when oil is expensive, depleting their entire economy in Iraq to satisfy the personal yearnings of the megalomaniac Bush, and spreading land mines on other folks’ farmland.
Any step, no matter how small or inconsequential it may seem, to fat-assed over fed super-privileged people, is a step in the right direction, and should be encouraged.
p. e. n. u. s.?
that’s what it looks like to me on their logo… i think i need a holiday.