China News Service, Shijiazhuang, November 2. Title: From kitchen waste oil to "green diesel", Hebei Shenze builds a full bioenergy chain
Author Zhao Danmei Han Xiaoou
Walking into Hebei Huide Renewable Resources Co., Ltd. located in Shenze Economic Development Zone, Shijiazhuang City, Hebei Province, barrels of waste grease collected from food waste treatment companies from various places are converted into biodiesel that can be used by heavy trucks and ships after sedimentation, centrifugal separation and other processes. As the largest biodiesel manufacturer in Hebei Province, the company's products have been steadily exported to the EU market. This complete chain from kitchen waste oil to biodiesel to biojet kerosene is becoming a county sample for observing the upgrading of China's bioenergy industry.
Biodiesel is a clean renewable energy source, known as "green diesel". Compared with traditional diesel, biodiesel can reduce emissions of harmful gases such as sulfur dioxide and carbon monoxide after combustion.
"The raw oil we purchase requires a purity of more than 99%, with moisture and impurities controlled within 1%." Guo Xidao, deputy general manager of Hebei Huide Renewable Resources Co., Ltd., said that these waste oils can be turned into high-quality biodiesel through a series of complex processes; and then through hydrogenation, cracking and other processes, the biodiesel can be further made into bio-jet kerosene with higher standards and become fuel for aircraft.
In Shenze, a full-chain utilization path for waste oil has been built locally, from the collection of waste kitchen oil to processing into industrial-grade mixed oil and biodiesel, and then into bio-jet kerosene. In fact, Shenze's bioenergy industry has a long history: in the 1960s, a group of daily oil and fat processing companies gathered in the local area; now, relying on a nationwide waste oil collection and transportation network, Shenze has established stable cooperation with nearly a thousand food waste treatment entities across the country, and annually recycles more than 1 million tons of various types of waste oil raw materials.
Li Long, deputy secretary of the Party Working Committee and executive deputy director of the Management Committee of Hebei Shenze Economic Development Zone, said that currently, the policy dividends of the domestic bioenergy industry are constantly being released. Shenze County has seized the opportunity to strengthen the energy and chemical industry with bioenergy as the core, gathering 88 related companies. The products cover industrial-grade blended oil, biodiesel, and biojet kerosene. The products have entered the supply chain of international energy companies such as Shell, Total, and Chevron.
In July this year, the National Development and Reform Commission and the National Energy Administration jointly issued the "15th Five-Year Plan for Renewable Energy Development", which proposed the development of biodiesel, non-grain fuel ethanol, and bio-jet kerosene according to local conditions, improve the raw material supply and industrial standard system, and promote the alternative application of related fuels in the transportation field.
Shenze County has also set its sights on the higher-end bio-aviation kerosene track. Chen Rong, general manager of Zhongneng Yida (Hebei) New Energy Co., Ltd., said that the sustainable aviation fuel hydrogenation project uses the hydrogenation process of Denmark's Topsoe Company to directly convert Shenze's existing industrial-grade mixed oil and biodiesel into aviation kerosene, forming a nearby supporting and upstream and downstream collaboration relationship with local enterprises. The project is expected to be completed and put into operation in 2027. By then, it will be able to consume 400,000 tons of waste grease and produce 300,000 tons of high-quality aviation kerosene annually.
Nowadays, the bioenergy industry in Shenze has gathered momentum. There are 32 bioenergy companies in the county, basically forming the largest recycled oil industry gathering area in the north. The local government has compiled the "Three-Year Breakthrough Action Plan for Cultivating and Strengthening Leading Industries in Shenze County (2026-2028)", which clarifies that the revenue of the leading bioenergy industry will exceed 10 billion yuan by 2028.
Hao Yingpeng, secretary of the Shenze County Party Committee, said that Shenze will make bioenergy the leading industry in the county, improve the entire industrial chain of "waste kitchen oil - raw oil - industrial grade mixed oil - biodiesel - bio-jet kerosene", consolidate the advantages of the collection and transportation network, accelerate the construction and commissioning of the aviation kerosene project, promote the coordinated upgrading of 88 companies, create a Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei bioenergy pilot zone, and explore replicable paths for the high-quality development of the national bioenergy industry.
