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28 March 2024

Dubai firm Neutral Fuels expands to Australia

Published
By Staff

Dubai-based company Neutral Fuels has partnered with McDonald’s Australia to launch a new biodiesel processing facility in the Australian State of Victoria.

The new facility based in Dandenong, located just outside of Melbourne, will see waste cooking oil converted as biodiesel to fuel McDonald’s vehicle fleet right across Victoria.

The State Government of Victoria’s Minister for Innovation, Services and Small Business, Louise Asher, officially launched the site in conjunction with representatives from McDonald’s Australia and Karl W. Feilder, CEO and Chairman of Neutral Fuels.

Minister Asher welcomed Neutral Fuels’ investment and innovation into Victoria, saying: “Neutral Fuels originally developed this process in the Middle East where it has been very successful and it is now expanding into Victoria. This investment will create new jobs and add to the vast range of innovative companies we have in Victoria.”

“Neutral Fuels has been working very closely with the Victorian Government Business Office in Dubai after I met with the company as part of a trade delegation that I led to the UAE earlier this year.

“The Victorian government has also assisted Neutral Fuels with site identification, planning and regulatory requirements to assist in bringing this innovative project to Victoria.

“The realisation of Neutral Foods investing in Victoria is a clear example of the benefits of our International Engagement Strategy which focuses on seeking investment opportunities into Victoria from international markets, such as the UAE, that have been identified as having further interest in Victorian investment.

“I congratulate McDonald’s in supporting innovative clean technology in Victoria, and I hope this example encourages other companies to think of these types of innovations and investment into our State,” she added.

Neutral Fuels now has waste collection sites at 106 McDonald’s restaurants across Victoria with plans in place to service the remaining 105 restaurants by early 2013.

The Victorian Government Business Office has worked closely with Neutral Fuels to help facilitate the partnership with McDonald’s Australia.

In July last year, Neutral Fuels undertook a pilot program with McDonald’s Middle East to test a process for converting waste cooking oil collected from McDonald’s restaurants into biodiesel for use in McDonald’s delivery vehicles. The first facility was located in the Dubai Investment Park, with the capacity to produce one million litres per annum.

Following the success of the pilot program, Neutral Fuels has now been commissioned to roll out 16 additional bio-fuel production facilities over the next three years. Three of these facilities will be in Australia, with the first now established in Dandenong, Victoria.

Melbourne has been chosen given it is a strong market for McDonald’s in the geographical region of Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa (APMEA).

John Butler, Commissioner to the Middle East and North Africa for the State Government of Victoria, said: “Victoria offers a competitive and dynamic business environment, along with a  skilled and innovative workforce. We have worked very closely with Neutral Fuels to help make their investment into the State a seamless one and we are proud to be welcoming them to Victoria.”

“There has been a lot of hard work and investment from both sides to make this happen and we now look forward to watching the growth of Neutral Fuels and supporting their future trade and investment plans in our State.”