Climate modification: Growing doubts over chip fat biofuel

21 April 2021

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New research study concerns the environmental effect of increasing imports of used cooking oil (UCO) into the UK and Europe.

Chip fat and other oils are considered waste, so when they are used to make biodiesel it saves carbon emissions by displacing fossil oil.

But such is the need across Europe that imports now represent more than half of the UCO that's made into fuel.

According to the research study, external, there's no chance to prove these imports are sustainable.

With no screening of what's can be found in, specialists think it is also ripe for scams.

Used cooking oil imports might boost logging

Consumers posture 'growing threat' to tropical forests

Reducing emissions from transportation is proving to be one of the toughest difficulties for federal governments all over the world.

They have actually encouraged using biofuels as an essential methods of suppressing carbon from cars and trucks.

Biofuels are typically a blend of nonrenewable fuel source and oil made from plants or vegetables.

The truth that these crops can be re-grown and absorb more CO2 indicates they counteract the carbon emitted when utilized in engines.

Soy and palm oil were as soon as extensively utilized as parts of biodiesel but this practice has been extensively discredited since it encourages logging.

So for the last decade or two, the use of utilized cooking oil has broadened enormously as an alternative feedstock for fuel.

Chip fat and other waste oils have ended up being a crucial component of biodiesel with an efficient market emerging across Europe to collect and process the item.

But with the quantity of biodiesel made from UCO increasing by around 40% every year given that 2014, there merely isn't sufficient chip fat to walk around.

According to a report from the campaign group Transport & Environment, external, more than half of the UCO utilized in Europe is imported.

Their study suggests this is highly troublesome when it pertains to effect on the environment.

While UCO is considered a waste material in the UK, in China, Indonesia and Malaysia it has actually long been utilized to feed animals. The report raises the concern of what people in these nations are replacing the UCO with, when it is exported.

In 2019, Malaysia exported 90 million litres of UCO to the UK and Ireland. Figures for their exports to other European nations aren't available but the circulation of UCO is most likely to be similar.

With a population of around 33 million, that's close to three litres per head of utilized oil that's gathered and exported to the UK and Ireland alone.

By contrast, Thailand, which has a population of 70 million people, handled to collect around 5 million litres of UCO in 2019.

"Because we are buying it, they have actually less used cooking oil to utilize on the things that they were formerly using it for," said Greg Archer with Transport & Environment.

"And they're just buying more virgin oil which virgin oil is mostly palm oil, because that's the most inexpensive oil readily available.

"So indirectly, we're just encouraging more deforestation in Southeast Asia."

Another major problem with UCO is the suspicion of fraud.

Because of demand from Europe, the cost of UCO is often greater than palm oil. The worry is that some unethical traders are simply diluting deliveries of UCO with palm.

As oils of various types are blended in bulk for transportation, and no testing of the products is performed, some professionals believe fraud is rife.

The recommendation of fraud anywhere along the chain of supply is declined by the European Waste-to-Advanced Biofuels Association (EWABA), who say there are robust certification plans in location.

"It is commonly known that the European Commission has actually taken relevant steps to totally suppress unsound market practices in biofuel markets," said Angel Alberdi, EWABA's secretary general.

He states a brand-new database being developed by the EU will ensure that trading, accreditation and sustainability data on all bio-liquids will need to be signed up.

"The mix of revised certification plans and the pan-EU track and trace will ensure that no sustainability issues occur in the whole biofuels and bio-liquids supply chain," he informed BBC News.

Others in the field are worried that the database concept, which was first mooted in 2018, might not work in stemming presumed scams.

The report from Transport & Environment mentions that with shipping and aviation seeking to decarbonise by utilizing biofuels, need for UCO could double over the next decade.

"Rising the demand beyond sustainable supply levels would increase these issues, and dangers of utilizing 'fake' UCO, possibly causing indirect effects such as logging."

Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc, external.

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