Dubai biofuels firm to launch McDonald's Aus plant

Dubai-based biofuels firm Neutral Fuels will launch a processing facility in the Australian state of Victoria via a partnership with the regional government there.

The plant in Dandenong, just outside of Melbourne, will see waste cooking oil converted into biodiesel which will then be used to fuel the McDonald’s fast-food chain’s vehicle fleet across the state.

“Neutral Fuels originally developed this process in the Middle East where it has been very successful and it is now expanding into Victoria,” said Louise Asher, the state government of Victoria’s Minister for Innovation, Services and Small Business, in a statement.

“This investment will create new jobs and add to the vast range of innovative companies we have in Victoria,” she added.

Neutral Fuels currently has waste collection sites at 106 McDonald’s restaurants across Victoria and plans to serve the remaining 105 outlets by early next year. The press release did not indicate how much was being invested into the roll-out.

In July 2011, Neutral Fuels undertook a pilot programme with McDonald’s Middle East to test a process for converting waste cooking oil into biodiesel for use in delivery vehicles. The first facility was located in Dubai Investments Park and has the capacity to produce 1m litres of biofuel per year.

Neutral Fuels plans to roll out 16 additional bio-fuel production facilities worldwide over the next three years.