Australian refiner and retailer Viva Energy and waste management firm Cleanaway have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to explore the development of low-carbon liquid fuel (LCLF) products.
The companies will cooperate on sourcing and delivering domestic used cooking oil (UCO) to Viva's 120,000 b/d Geelong refinery for producing renewable diesel (RD) blends and other products such as a bio-circular polymer.
UCO from Cleanaway's Laverton facility in Melbourne could be processed at Geelong, the companies said on 15 October. This comes after a pilot program was carried out at Geelong where UCO was co-processed in commercial quantities alongside crude oil, Viva said.
Cleanaway runs more than 4,100 heavy vehicles for waste collection across Australia and aims to cut its scope 1 emissions by adopting renewable fuels such as RD.
LCLFs are expected to play a key role in meeting Australia's 2035 greenhouse gas emissions reduction target, with Canberra recently pledging A$1.1bn ($720mn) for the sector, in addition to A$250mn promised earlier this year.
Viva is also producing pilot quantities of plastic-derived pyrolysis oil at Geelong with US-based recycler Alterra. It plans to start initial engineering on a plastic recycling project with Cleanaway in 2026.
Australia produces about 100,000 t/yr of UCO, most of which is exported for biofuel production using the hydrotreated esters and fatty acids (HEFA) method.
