Lifecycle
Renewables is offering a used cooking oil (UCO) drop-in replacement for fuel
oil in the New York City area that claims a 93% reduction in greenhouse gas
emissions. The city’s ‘Local Law 97’ demands replacement of
the dirtiest fuel oil with an upcoming ban on this No. 4 oil expected to take
effect soon. The city and the whole Northeast region have held onto the use of
expensive, dirty, and carbon-emitting fuel oil instead of welcoming natural
gas, which could have become a more durable and widespread replacement, cutting
costs, pollution, and emissions. More than 80 percent of all heating oil in the
U.S. is used in the Northeast, where more than 30 percent of all homes and businesses
use it as their primary fuel. My question: Is there really enough used cooking
oil locally available to replace all the fuel oil used in NYC? I don’t know the
answer yet, but I doubt it.
Lifecycle Renewables’ heating oil, known as Truburn, offers a 93% reduction in emissions compared to fossil fuels (likely No.4 fuel oil, since natural gas is much less emitting than that fuel oil) and 74% directly counts toward Local Law 97 compliance. The EPA tags biodiesel from UCO as 86% less emitting than diesel.
Apparently, Truburn is new
to NYC but has been used for over a decade at some college campuses and in some
cities in the Northeast. Lifecycle touts Truburn as the leading fuel oil for
Local Law 97 compliance. Truburn is primarily soy oil that has been treated to
remove impurities that might make combustion challenging. It is entirely a
drop-in replacement aside from “a simple fine-tuning of the burner.”
According to a 2024 post, Lifecycle delivers millions of gallons of Truburn
from Maine to Philadelphia. It touts its Truburn as locally derived and locally
delivered. It is stable and non-degradable and without the fumes of fuel oil,
although they say there is “a faint, familiar fried food smell.”
UCO is waste oil. Thus, it
also has the feature of reducing waste that would otherwise be in need of
disposal. It is a circular economy solution. UCO may also be blended with
traditional fuel oil for less emissions reduction but more ease of processing,
and is required in Connecticut. UCO is collected for free from local
restaurants, which helps them dispose of it cheaply, and companies such as
Lifecycle Renewables filter and process it into a usable drop-in fuel
replacement. The company says that Truburn costs are similar to heating oil
costs. Of course, natural gas is still far cheaper.
According to a November 2016
Restaurant & Retail Facility Business article, 250 million gallons of used
cooking oil are produced per year by U.S. restaurants. They also note that all
restaurants are legally required to recycle their cooking oil, also known as
yellow grease. I wrote recently about the problem of “fatbergs,” huge clogs of grease and solid
material in sewer systems. Recycling oil keeps more grease out of our sewer
systems, where it can be very expensive to remedy. The oil may be used in
animal feed, cosmetics, or converted to biodiesel. I’m not sure how Truburn
differs from biodiesel. The use of automated oil management systems in large
restaurants can aid UCO recycling, as shown below.
These systems also eliminate
the discarded packaging plastic (35lb plastic oil jugs are common) and
cardboard that would be used to haul the oil. In these systems, it can be
delivered from one large tank to another. This means less waste in landfills. It also helps to keep employees from dumping used oil down drains. The tanks
for its used oil are outside, where they can be easily transferred to a truck
used by a company such as Lifecycle.
The History of Vegetable Oil as a Fuel
This is mostly a summary of a
Lifecycle Renewables blog post. They note that olive, castor, and grapeseed oil
lamps were used in ancient times for light and a little bit of heat. Whale oil
replaced vegetable oil in the 1700s, but the discovery of more petroleum in the
ground in the late 1800s ended up saving the whales, although the high cost of
whale oil after populations dwindled led to oil producers mixing corn alcohol
with turpentine to create camphine as a light fuel.
“In the early 1900s, pioneering engineer Rudolph Diesel
tested the earliest versions of his engine to see how they ran on various kinds
of vegetable oil, reasoning that the durable workhorse motors would be easier
to market in far-flung locations that otherwise would have to rely on imported
petroleum-derived fuel.”
He reasoned that places could
grow their own seed oils for fuel.
During the 1970s energy
crisis many countries experimented with alternative diesel engine fuels,
including vegetable oils. It was also discovered that vegetable oil burns much
cleaner than diesel, with less pollution and carbon emissions. Biodiesel began
to be produced in quantity in 1987 in Austria. In the modern U.S., we power our
gasoline transport with 10% or more added ethanol derived from plants. Thus,
10% or more of our transport is via biofuels. Nowadays. UCO can be incorporated
into a functional circular economy where waste is reused as a valuable
commodity, emissions are reduced significantly, and less grease gets into sewer
systems. However, there is no cost reduction in the Northeast. Traditional fuel
oil is already much more costly than natural gas, propane, and electric heat.
That means the region won’t incur costs for switching from one expensive fuel
to another. In other regions of the country, the costs to switch from natural
gas, propane, or electric heat to UCO or biodiesel would be prohibitive. That
means that only this region would not take an economic hit for switching. That
also suggests that the region can import UCO from other parts of the country if
needed.
UCO Market Projections
According to Fortune Business
Insights:
“The global used cooking oil market size was valued at
USD 6.90 billion in 2024. The market is projected to grow from USD 7.43 billion
in 2025 to USD 12.85 billion by 2032, exhibiting a CAGR of 8.13% during the
forecast period. The used cooking oil market is poised for substantial growth
in the coming years, driven by sustainability initiatives, technological
advancements, and increasing demand for renewable energy sources. North America
dominated the used cooking oil market with a market share of 43.62% in 2024.”
They believe the global UCO
market will nearly double over the next seven years. They note that:
“North America dominated the used cooking oil market
with a 43.62% share in 2024, driven by high biodiesel production capacity,
government recycling incentives, and strong infrastructure for UCO collection.”
The North American market is expected to grow to $5 billion in 2032 from $3 billion today. They also project that somewhere around 20% of the source of the UCO will be from households. I find that a bit hard to believe since it seems hard to believe that households use that much cooking oil, and the time and logistics of individually collecting, storing, and transferring these presumably low volumes of product seem like they would be difficult to monetize.
They list regulatory
challenges as a market restraint:
“The regulatory landscape surrounding the collection,
transportation, and processing of used cooking oil can be complex and vary
widely by region. Stricter regulations may impose additional compliance costs
on businesses involved in UCO recycling, which can deter participation in the
market. Moreover, inconsistent regulations across different jurisdictions can
create barriers for companies looking to operate on a larger scale.”
They stress that enhanced
collection infrastructure will strengthen the market and lead to economic
growth. Efficiencies can be gained by optimizing collection routes and
schedules.
They also cite as a market
challenge some issues in UCO processing, including fatty acids and water mixed
in with the oil:
“The presence of impurities such as free fatty acids and
water in used cooking oil can complicate processing and refinement. These
impurities must be removed before transesterification, which is essential for
producing high-quality biodiesel. High levels of impurities can lead to poor
biodiesel yields and limit the utilization of UCO in applications, such as
animal feed, due to safety concerns.”
UCO can also be processed
into other products, including better quality biodiesel fuels, and
ozone-treated oil, which is used in skin care and has other healthcare
functions relying on its antimicrobial, antifungal, and anti-inflammatory
properties. It can also be used in environmental remediation, particularly of
diesel spills.
“Along with the biodiesel, the UCO can produce
ozone-treated oil with a higher calorific value and lower ignition point. This
oil is also used as a fermentation media component that further acts as a
carbon source for microorganisms. The formation of beneficial by-products of
certain components can be put to further use, which drives the segment's growth.
UCO Imports from China: Trump Administration Threatens to Stop Them
According to Bloomberg:
“Having hit a record 1.27 million tons — worth $1.2
billion — in 2024, Chinese sales of processed edible oils to the US, mainly
UCO, have plunged this year after Beijing scrapped tax relief on exports. Over
the first seven months, sales were 387,000 tons versus 684,000 tons in the same
period last year, according to the US Department of Agriculture.”
It also notes that the U.S.
was China’s largest UCO destination last year, totaling 43% of its UCO exports.
It looks like that number has been basically cut in half. These imports are
mainly used for biodiesel feedstocks. Green incentives caused U.S. UCO imports
to rise dramatically in 2023, and presumably, the fall of those incentives
under Trump would lead to fewer imports. Imports of cheap UCO into Europe caused
local UCO prices to drop so that local producers could not profit. The U.S. has
also argued that it could become a problem here as well, although it appears
that the dropping of the export tax relief in China is making U.S. and E.U. UCO
more competitive again. The following graph shows 2024 data for UCO imports from China, which were at a record high and have since dropped to half of what they were then. This is compared to the amount of soybeans we exported to China in 2024, which is now at zero.
Trump recently said he might
stop trade in cooking oil with China, but that would not likely affect the
biodiesel market that much, especially compared to the amount of soybeans we
used to export to China which went from large amounts to zero since they refuse
to buy from the U.S. and have since found other sources, mainly from Brazil and
Argentina, due to tariffs.
China is the world's largest
buyer of soybeans, a massive portion of which is crushed and used to feed its
massive livestock of pigs. It is entirely possible that the U.S. has
permanently lost some or all of that huge market share. It is also likely that
soybean farmers will need a bailout in the billions as they did during the
first Trump administration China tariffs.
References:
Truburn
Cuts Carbon Emissions by 93%: A Game-Changer for New York City. Lifecycle
Renewables. Blog. October 15, 2025. Truburn
Cuts 93% of Carbon Emissions for NYC Buildings
From
Plants to Power: The History of Vegetable Oil as a Fuel. Lifecycle Renewables.
Blog. April 26, 2024. From
Plants to Power: The History of Vegetable Oil as Fuel | Truburn
Green
Heating Fuel Buyer’s Guide: 9 Things Universities Need to Know. Lifecycle
Renewables. Blog. August 16, 2024. The
10 Things Universities Need to Know About Green Heating Fuel | Truburn
Used
Cooking Oil Market Size, Share & Industry Analysis By Source (Food Services
and Households), By Application (Industrial Usage [Biofuels, Cosmetics, and
Others] and Animal Feed), and Regional Forecast, 2025-2032. Last Updated:
September 29, 2025. Fortune Business Insights. Used
Cooking Oil Market Size, Share | Growth Report [2032]
Trump
Threatens Retaliation for China’s Soy Boycott. Catherine Lucey. Bloomberg.
October 15, 2025. Trump
Threatens Retaliation for China’s Soy Boycott
Trump
Feuds Over Cooking Oil Even After Chinese Exports Sank. Hallie Gu, Ben Westcott
and Srinidhi Ragavendran. Bloomberg. October 15, 2025. Trump
Feuds Over Cooking Oil Even After Chinese Exports Sank
When
Demand Is Hot: Oil Recycling: How to find the hidden gold in your restaurant
operation. Tina Swanson. Restaurant & Retail Facility Business. November
11, 2016. When
Demand Is Hot - Retail & Restaurant Facility Business
The
Used Cooking Oil Life Cycle: From the Farm to Harvard University. Lifecycle
Renewables. December 11, 2023. How
soybeans make fries crunchy—and keep buildings warm | Truburn
How to
Make Ozonated Oil: A Guide and Best Oils to Use. Enaly. Blog / November 15,
2024. How
to Make Ozonated Oil: A
Guide and Best Oils to Use
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