Omani researcher Zumrud Al Siyabiya has developed a method for extracting biofuel from shimeji mushrooms, Oman Daily reported last week. Shimeji mushrooms produce biofuel that matches international specifications with an extracted percentage rate of 25%, Siyabiya says. The researcher is currently working on using bacteria to increase this percentage and exploring the development of new fungal strains that increase the efficiency of biofuel production.

Why this matters: Researchers have found that mushroom waste can serve as an abundant and cost-effective feedstock for producing various biofuels including biogas, biohydrogen, bioethanol, bio-oil, and solid biofuels3. Mushroom cultivation also acts as an efficient biological pretreatment for biofuel production, enhancing biofuel yield.

Oman is making headway in biofuels: Omani-British green energy venture X2E revealed last month that it will pour USD 1.6 bn into the production of biodiesel, sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), and Camelina oil. Oman’s first biofuels producer Wakud also revealed in June last year its plans to establish a plant with a capacity of 250 tons per day. The Sultanate finalized a feasibility study with Be'ah in April 2023 for a new plant with a capacity of 4.5k tons of municipal waste which is set to slash the carbon footprint of landfills by 50 mn tons in 35 years.

Oman’s first fish waste recycling plant going online soon: Wakud is also setting up a fish-waste recycling facility and a vegetable and fruit waste-to-biogas plant, with work expected to begin by 2H 2024. The company operates WtE plants that use waste products, including recycled cooking oil, to produce biofuels for offtakers including Oman Aluminium Rolling Company.

There’s a wider biofuels push happening regionally: Saudi Arabia’s Biofuel Company inaugurated the first biofuel production plant in the country a year ago converting reclaimed cooking oil into carbon-neutral biodiesel. Over in the UAE, two international consortiums submitted proposals last May to the Emirates Water and Electricity Company and the Abu Dhabi Waste Management Company (Tadweer) for the development of a 900k ton capacity greenfield Waste-to-Energy (WtE) IPP facility in Abu Dhabi.

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