The president of Alcoholes del Uruguay (ALUR), Alfredo Fernández Sívori, reported that the agency has already purchased 50,000 tons of the oilseed, out of an estimated total volume of between 80,000 and 100,000, which will be processed as edible oil and biodiesel to sell it to Europe. Likewise, he announced that this year the institution has collected more than 75,000 liters of used cooking oil, which it converted into biodiesel for export.
ALUR ordered the purchase of 30% of the national canola production, estimated at 80,000 to 100,000 tons, of which 50,000 had been purchased until Saturday the 19th, Fernández Sívori reported to Presidential Communication. The hierarch indicated that this volume will be processed for the manufacture of oil and biodiesel destined for the European Union.
Uruguay and Canada are the only countries in America that grow the aforementioned oilseed, explained Fernández Sívori. He stressed that our country can harvest it in the offseason, that 40% can be converted into oil and that the product tolerates temperatures below 10 degrees, which is why it is highly required in the northern hemisphere.
The infrastructure available to the Ancap company is adequate, although as this business unit grows as expected, it will be necessary to have a greater number of tanks at the La Teja refinery and a pump with a higher flow rate, he considered .
In addition, ALUR promotes the Energy is Transformed program, through which, since September 2014, it has collected and recycled 2,500,000 liters of used cooking oil. Regarding domestic collection, the plan works in 32 places in the departments of Montevideo, Canelones, Maldonado, Paysandú and Florida. In the commercial field, it covers more than 60 points, where used cooking oil from various companies is recycled.
In 2022, the agency collected more than 75,000 liters of used cooking oil, which it converted into second-generation biodiesel. In this case, the biomass comes from crop residues, by-products of the food and forestry industries.
This initiative, added the hierarch, in addition to making it possible to generate an export product, allows Uruguay to “maintain the imprint of a country that respects the environment.”
In this sense, he recalled that ALUR received for the fourth consecutive year recognition for the best business practices that contribute to the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), granted by the Network of Companies for Sustainable Development (Deres).
Fernández Sívori announced that ALUR and Ancap are starting to work on a project for the export of green hydrogen with biogenic carbon dioxide, which is obtained entirely from recyclable raw material.
