LEEDS, England, July 27 (UPI) -- Don't discard the fat from the fryer after you've served the French fries, British scientists say -- you may be tossing out the fuel of the future.

Hydrogen, found in most vegetable oils, is being touted as a cleaner, greener replacement for fossil fuels, and University of Leeds researchers in England say they've found an energy-efficient way of extracting hydrogen from fryer fat normally discarded by restaurants and fast food outlets, a university release said Tuesday.

Current methods can extract hydrogen gas from cooking oil but require large amounts of energy and contribute to carbon dioxide greenhouse gas emissions.

Leeds researchers have perfected a two-stage process using a catalyst to increase heat in the process to yield more hydrogen without increasing carbon dioxide release, the release said.

The two-stage process works well in a small test reactor, they say, and they plan to scale up the trials.

"The beauty of this technology is that it can be operated at any scale. It is just as suitable for use at a filling station as at a small power plant," project leader Dr. Valerie Dupont said. "If we could create more of our electricity locally using hydrogen-powered fuel cells, then we could cut the amount of energy lost during transmission down power lines."