15th February 2005 - The Future for Recovered Fuel Oil (RFO)
Our March meeting was a Joint Meeting with Institute of Asphalt Technology attended by nearly 60 members and guests. Roger Cresswell of the Oil Recycling Association and Michael Dickie of ECO-OIL LTD jointly presented the paper.
Roger started by outlining the history of recovered fuel oil (RFO), which has been used for many years as an effective and economic alternative to heavy fuel oil. He explained that RFO is manufactured by dewatering, filtering and blending recovered lubricants and higher flashpoint fuels. He went to on to show how due to changes in legislation RFO is being classified as a waste, as displayed in the diagram below.
Our March meeting was a Joint Meeting with Institute of Asphalt Technology attended by nearly 60 members and guests. Roger Cresswell of the Oil Recycling Association and Michael Dickie of ECO-OIL LTD jointly presented the paper.
The legal issues from this relate to :
Definitions of waste
Recovery
Disposal
End of Waste
The result from this is situation is that operators wanting to use RFO will be expected to apply for PPC certification by 1st April 2005 if they wish to continue to use after December 2005. A short form (thin) PPC application has been developed by the QPA to assist operators who wish to continue to use RFO until the December 05 deadline. Roger explained that care was needed however as there is also an issue over licensing for storage of the RFO that needs checking with the local Environment Agency.
He went on to explain that although lobbying is still going on, the current situation is as stated.
Michael Dickie took over at this point to explain that the supply side was doing all it could to progress matters. As an alternative they were working with their R&D department to look at other fuel alternatives. He was not in a position to give more information at this stage but considered a new option may be available. In cost terms it was likely to be dearer than present RFO prices but in real terms it should maintain the same price differential as was between RFO and Fuel Oil before the recent surge in prices.
The presentation was followed by an extensive question and answer session with useful contributions from the floor regarding the "thin" PPC application.
The meeting closed with a vote of thanks by Branch Chairman Kevin Sargant.
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