The firm, Nishida Shoun, based in Fukuoka Prefecture, mixes
lard extracted from the broth, which is made from pork bones, with a fuel made
from waste cooking oil.
It has already started using the diesel oil in some of its
170 trucks and plans to use it in all of them from September.
An effective alternative to petroleum diesel, biodiesel fuel
is known to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The company's chairman, Masumi Nishida, came up with the
idea of using tonkotsu ramen broth for fuel production in 2013 when he was
approached by an operator of a ramen chain while conducting research on
biodiesel fuel derived from vegetable oil.
The operator said he had to pay for disposal of leftover
broth and wondered whether it could be put to use instead.
Rising to the challenge, 74-year-old Nishida developed a
device to separate out the lard from the broth that can be placed in the
kitchens of ramen shops.
Though lard tends to solidify easily compared to vegetable
oil, Nishida came up with a way to eliminate certain elements during refining
so that it can be mixed with biodiesel fuel made from waste cooking oil.
The company currently purchases lard and waste cooking oil
from around 2,000 restaurants and uses it to produce about 3,000 liters of fuel
a day at its plant in the prefecture.
"At the beginning, I had no knowledge of chemistry and
it was all about trial and error. But my development saw the light of day when
environmental issues are becoming a big challenge," Nishida said.