We can no longer afford gutter oil? You read that right—the recycling price of gutter oil has once soared to 10,000 yuan per ton, even higher than soybean oil. Even more astonishing, the entire world is scrambling for gutter oil. In 2024 alone, the U.S. imported over 600k tons of it from us. By 2030, the U.S.'s annual demand for gutter oil will surpass 10 million tons. How did gutter oil suddenly become such a hot commodity?

From being universally condemned to becoming a sought-after treasure, the turning point for gutter oil's status came in 2012. That year, a passenger jet operated by Royal Dutch Airlines flew from Amsterdam to Rio de Janeiro, fully loaded with passengers. Unlike usual, the plane's fuel tanks were filled with gutter oil—more precisely, sustainable aviation kerosene made from processed gutter oil.

Scientists had long discovered that the main components of waste cooking oil are glycerides and free fatty acids, with the core elements being carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. Conventional aviation kerosene, on the other hand, primarily consists of carbon and hydrogen. Someone reasoned that if the oxygen in gutter oil could be removed, it could be converted into aviation fuel.

So scientists first filtered the gutter oil to obtain clear waste oil, then added hydrogen to it. The hydrogen and oxygen reacted to form water, and after removing the excess water, the result was a base oil. Next, the molecular structure was cracked and rearranged to lower the oil's freezing point, making it suitable for the low-temperature environment at high altitudes. Finally, through heating and fractional distillation, the gutter oil was successfully transformed into qualified bio-aviation kerosene.

In 2012, with the success of the Dutch trial, the feasibility of turning gutter oil from waste into treasure was fully confirmed.

However, as demand surged, the supply of raw materials gradually fell short. China produces about 600k tons of gutter oil annually, but even that cannot keep up with global consumption. It is estimated that within five years, China's gutter oil exports will be depleted. Plus, since our aviation sector also needs this type of fuel, exports may need to be restricted. In the future, we no longer have to worry about gutter oil re-entering the dining table; instead, we will have to grapple with where to find enough gutter oil. $BTC