Ecobus

Introduction

The eating habits of the Spanish "Levante", Mediterranean Diet, produce a high level of consumption of vegetable oil. In the majority of cases, once the oil is used in the kitchen, it goes down the drain, which causes harm to the environment: increased amount of grease and nutrients in sewerage that causes pipes to get clogged, increased difficulty in the treatment of sewerage, increased number of rats in drains and jelly fish on coastlines. This also produces a negative effect on the capacity of auto regeneration of rivers, fauna and flora, aswell as a substantial increase in the cost of the treatment for sewerage at treatment plants.

European Project

The LIFE-ECOBÚS project, which is led by EMT Valencia, is included in the LIFE-Environment in the European Commission program and basically consists in the selective recollection of used vegetable oils (which comes from frying food) and making them useful again by putting them through a chemical process that will allow them to be used as Biofuel for busses. The actions of recollecting and using the oil take place in the same location in order to create a closed circuit of pollution.

LIFE-ECOBÚS improves the quality of life and the environment for the citizens of Valencia. On one hand, the selective collection keeps the oil out of public drain pipes, causing the amount of rats in the sewerege network and the Jelly Fish in the sea to decrease aswell as a substantial decrease in the cost of treating sewerage in treatment plants. On the other hand, with these actions the used oil will no longer be used to fabricate fodder which creates a risk of intoxication for the general public. Once the oil has been collected and treated, it's use as a biofuel for EMT's float of busses will result in a reduction of the emission of polluting elements and as a consecuence an increase in the protection of our city's environment through the use of more environmentally friendly transport.

Objectives

The main objective consists of demonstrating the technical en economic viability, of implanting a pilot vegetable collection system (which is recollected at homes, bars, restaurants and hotels) in order to convert it, through the means of a chemical process, into a biofuel which will be used on the EMT's busses in Valencia.

Colaborators

PARTNERS

-EMPRESA MUNICIPAL DE TRANSPORTE DE VALENCIA (EMT): Leads the project.
-FEDERACION NACIONAL DE TRANSPORTE DE VIAJEROS POR CARRETERA (FENEBUS): Divulgation of the project.
-ASOCIACION NACIONAL DE TRANSPORTES COLECTIVOS URBANOS DE VIAJEROS DE SUPERFICIE (ANTUC): Divulgation of the project.
-CONCEJALIA DE MEDIO AMBIENTE DEL AYUNTAMIENTO DE VALENCIA: Make citizens conscious.
-UNIVERSIDAD POLITECNICA DE VALENCIA (UPV): Biofuel testing.
-INSTITUTO PARA LA DIVERSIFICACION Y AHORRO DE ENERGIA(IDAE): Process of transforming oil in biofuel.
-FEDERACION VALENCIANA DE EMPRESARIOS DE TURISMO Y MEDIO AMBIENTE (FEVET): System for the recollection of used oils.

GUESTS: 

-COMPAÑIA VALENCIANA DE FERTILIZANTES (FERVASA).
-AGENCIA VALENCIANA DE LA ENERGIA (AVEN).
-INSTITUTO DE LA MEDIANA Y PEQUEÑA INDUSTRIA VALENCIANA (IMPIVA).
-UNIVERSIDAD DE VALENCIA (UV).
-FEDERACION VALENCIANA DE MUNICIPIOS Y PROVINCIAS (FVMP).

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