B5 Biodiesel in Shanghai

July 28, 2023

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by Sharon Ji* (Advanced Biofuels USA) China is in the news for alleged fraud in Chinese biodiesel exports to the European Union. But what about biodiesel use in China itself? Shanghai has had biodiesel blends available at gas stations since 2017.

There are currently roughly more than 300 gas stations that sell B5 (5% biodiesel and 95% petroleum diesel) in Shanghai according to a report from HuaAn Security Co.

In 2017, the first two gas stations to provide B5 diesel opened to the public in suburban Shanghai. One is located close to the Pudong International Airport, another one is close to the Feng Xian District.

B5 in Shanghai is made from recycled cooking oil collected from kitchens, restaurants and residential drainage piping lines, also called “gutter oil”.

The main manufacturer is Zhuoyue New Energy which changed the name to Longyan Zhuoyue New Energy Co Ltd in 2011. According to Reuters, Longyan Zhuoyue New Energy Co Ltd is a China-based company mainly engaged in the research, development, manufacture and sales of biodiesel and derivative products. The Company's products mainly include biodiesel, industrial glycerin, bio-ester plasticizer, environmentally friendly alkyd resin, etc. Its products are mainly used in power fuels, bio-based materials, polyvinyl chloride (PVC) products, plastic runways, paints, coatings, resins, paper, leather, and automotive antifreeze. The Company mainly conducts its businesses in domestic and overseas markets.

Zhuoyue Shanghai BD100 manufacturing capacity is more than 400k ton annually according to the company 2022H1 report of the Shanghai Stock Exchange 688196.

According to public information, only Shanghai is supplying B5 in 2023. Gas stations in Beijing may add biodiesel in the future.

I talked to some drivers who said they like to buy B5 because they save money since B5 is cheaper with a discount of roughly 5% compare to normal diesel.

Also, B5 is advertised to be safer for engines.

So far, I have found no public record explaining the techniques used to commercially recycle agriculture wastes into biodiesel. However, the Shanghai Bioenergy Reuse Project is also using kitchen waste to make fuel, compressed natural gas/renewable natural gas. (Google Translation)

* Sharon Ji* works as a volunteer for Advanced Biofuel USA.

Two gas stations in Shanghai are piloting to sell B5 biodiesel, which may change the fate of "gutter oil" (The Paper ∙ Pujiang headlines; Google Translation)

2023 Excellence New Energy Research Report The first biodiesel company in China, with the largest production, sales and export scale in China (VZKOO.com (Google Translation))

Longyan Zhuoyue New Energy Co. Ltd. (Market Watch)

The coming biofuel revolution (China Daily (2018))

The construction of the third phase of the Shanghai Bioenergy Reuse Center project will be built into the world's largest deep resource utilization base for wet waste (Polaris Weekly)

231 gas stations in Shanghai supply B5 biodiesel | A list of outlets from 2019 is attached (travel.qianggen.net)