[Climate Tech Heat ④] Global Waste Cooking Oil Collected and Revived as Aviation Fuel by ‘Lipid’

Tracking the Entire Process from Waste Cooking Oil Generation to Recycling
Waste Cooking Oil Used for Aviation Fuel, Automobile Fuel, and More
Annual Collection Target of 10,000 Tons in Vietnam... Planned Entry into the Indian Market

There are people traveling around the world collecting waste cooking oil that can be recycled into biofuel. This is the startup Lipid, which seeks sustainable raw materials to address climate change issues.

Waste cooking oil can be recycled into biofuel, such as aviation fuel, by reacting it with methanol and other substances. It has already been recognized as a sustainable energy source worldwide for several years. However, the problem is that not all waste cooking oil can be recycled into biofuel. Lipid focused on this point.

On the 24th, Chung-ho Lee, CEO of Lipid, said, “Our vision is to collect, refine, and certify waste cooking oil to add new value,” adding, “Currently, we are focusing on securing and managing materials that can be recycled into biofuel, such as waste cooking oil and animal fats.”

Lipid’s beginning dates back to 2017 when CEO Lee was working as an employee at an oil refining company. He explained, “While working as an expatriate in Vietnam, I realized that tens of thousands of tons of waste cooking oil were discarded daily, but only a very small portion was collected. I started this business thinking that properly recycling this waste cooking oil would help the environment.”

Lipid, which started its business in 2022, is focusing on Vietnam. It operates offices in five locations, including Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi. The amount of waste cooking oil discarded in Vietnam, with a population of 100 million, is significantly higher than in Korea, and its management is poor.

In Vietnam, 18 employees, including co-founder Jun-bong Jeon, reside locally and directly collect waste cooking oil. They do more than just collect it. They inspect the waste cooking oil to ensure there is no water or mixing with new cooking oil. They also accumulate data on the entire process from the generation of waste cooking oil to its recycling.

Used cooking oil collected by Lipid in Vietnam. (Photo by Lipid)

CEO Lee said, “Value is created by tracking the waste cooking oil processing process and turning it into data,” adding, “The core of the business to reduce carbon with waste cooking oil is to calculate the carbon emissions generated during the process of producing waste cooking oil and to reliably certify how much carbon reduction can be achieved when it is recycled.”

Last year, Lipid collected 300 tons of waste cooking oil in Vietnam alone. More than 380 customers worldwide, including global oil refining companies, used it. With the foundation laid, this year the goal is to significantly increase collection to 1,000 tons per month and 10,000 tons per year in Vietnam alone. They are also preparing to enter the Indian market within the year.

The biofuel market is expected to grow steeply. Biofuel is increasingly important as part of carbon neutrality efforts aiming for net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. The most widely used biofuels currently are Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) for aircraft and Biodiesel (BD) for diesel vehicles.

According to market research firm Mordor Intelligence, the SAF market is expected to grow from $745.5 million (about 1 trillion KRW) in 2021 to $10 billion (about 13.9 trillion KRW) in 2025 and $21.5 billion (about 29.8 trillion KRW) in 2027. Korea has been implementing the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) since July 2015, mandating the blending of 3% BD into automotive transport fuels, with plans to increase this to 5% by 2030.

CEO Lee foresees Korea playing a leading role amid the expanding biofuel trend. He explained, “About 70% of waste cooking oil worldwide is generated in Asia, while most demand is concentrated in some advanced countries such as Europe and the United States.”

He added, “Policies and business models have been tailored to Europe and the United States, but increasingly, Asia, the supply source, is becoming the demand source. If Korea, with well-established business capabilities and policy systems, creates and spreads its waste management policies to neighboring Asian countries, it will serve as a good example in terms of national competitiveness.”