Woolworths chicken a game-changer for bio-diesel in South Africa

Winthur Nell, founder of JBay Biofuels, has found an innovative way to produce eco-friendly diesel by using leftover chicken fat from in-store Woolworths rotisseries.

JBay Biofuels was established in 2014 and first sourced used cooking oils and fats from various restaurants and stores in Jeffreys Bay, around 2018, Woolworths got in contact with Nell through his equipment suppliers at BiotechSA and proposed a partnership between the two organisations, Nell said in an interview on Talk 702.

Initially, the company started by only collecting rotisserie chicken fat from Woolworths stores in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal, it quickly moved on to include the Eastern and Western Cape provinces, and today, it collects from all 385 Woolworths Food locations across the nation.

Finding used oils and fats is one of the biggest challenges facing bio-fuel producers as they need a tremendous amount to run a profitable business model, with the consistent supply from Woolworths undoubtedly being a valuable lifeline for JBay Biofuels.

Presumably, this collaborative effort is part of Woolworths’ goal to reduce its waste and become a net-zero emissions organisation by 2040, as just recently, it also partnered with DSV and Everlectric to become the first retailer in South Africa to use electric vehicles for its online deliveries.

How it works

After collecting the chicken fat from Woolies stores nationwide, it is cleaned through a proprietary process developed by Nell so that it can be used in a processor, which separates the natural oils into two portions namely bio-diesel and high-energy glycerol soap via a chemical reaction called “cracking”.

The bio-diesel is then taken through “many processes until it gets to the final product” where JBay Biofuels blends in a specific additive that would make the eco-friendly fuel work in any diesel engine, whether it be a car, bakkie, tractor, or generator, said Nell.

Per month, the organisation collects between 16,000 to 21,000 litres of chicken fat with around 85% being converted to fuel, equating to between 13,600 and 17,850 litres of bio-diesel.

The fuel is available to the public with many residents and farmers in the Jeffreys Bay area being regular customers at JBay Biofuels, it powers the Fountains Mall generators during load-shedding, and it is used in the company’s own vehicles when doing its chicken fat collections across the country.

The cost of the bio-diesel fluctuates due to “raw material prices and other factors” out of the company’s control.

The prices per litre as per JBay Biofuels’ Facebook page during 2022, compared to the coastal rates of standard petroleum-based diesel, were as follows:

JBay Biofuels hasn’t posted a price update for 2023 as yet, however, judging from the relationship between its products and the national petroleum-based diesel cost, it should be lower than the current coastal prices which sit between R22.33 and R22.58 per litre, depending on the grade.