Climate Change: Growing Doubts Over Chip Fat Biofuel
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Climate modification: Growing doubts over chip fat biofuel

21 April 2021

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New research questions the ecological impact 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 demand throughout Europe that imports now more than half of the UCO that's made into fuel.

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

Without any screening of what's being available in, experts believe it is also ripe for scams.

Used cooking oil imports may boost deforestation

Consumers position 'growing threat' to tropical forests

Reducing emissions from transport is showing to be among the most difficult challenges for governments all over the world.

They have actually encouraged the usage of biofuels as a crucial ways of curbing carbon from cars and lorries.

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 take in more CO2 indicates they counteract the carbon emitted when used in engines.

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

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

Chip fat and other waste oils have actually become a crucial component of biodiesel with an efficient market springing up throughout Europe to collect and process the item.

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

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

Their research study suggests this is extremely bothersome when it concerns influence on the environment.

While UCO is thought about a waste product in the UK, in China, Indonesia and Malaysia it has actually long been used to feed animals. The report raises the concern of what individuals in these countries are changing 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 countries aren't offered however the flow of UCO is most likely to be similar.

With a population of around 33 million, that's close to 3 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 individuals, handled to gather around 5 million litres of UCO in 2019.

"Because we are purchasing it, they have less utilized cooking oil to use on the important things that they were formerly using it for," stated Greg Archer with Transport & Environment.

"And they're simply purchasing more virgin oil which virgin oil is mostly palm oil, since that's the cheapest oil available.

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

Another major issue with UCO is the suspicion of scams.

Because of need from Europe, the rate of UCO is often greater than palm oil. The worry is that some unscrupulous traders are merely watering down shipments of UCO with palm.

As oils of various types are mixed in bulk for transportation, and no testing of the products is carried out, some professionals think fraud is rife.

The suggestion of fraud anywhere along the chain of supply is declined by the European Waste-to-Advanced Biofuels Association (EWABA), who state there are robust accreditation schemes in place.

"It is extensively known that the European Commission has actually taken appropriate actions to entirely suppress unsound market practices in biofuel markets," said Angel Alberdi, EWABA's secretary general.

He says a brand-new database being established by the EU will make sure that trading, certification and sustainability information on all bio-liquids will have to be registered.

"The combination of revised accreditation plans and the pan-EU track and trace database will ensure that no sustainability issues arise in the entire biofuels and bio-liquids supply chain," he told BBC News.

Others in the field are worried that the database concept, which was first mooted in 2018, may not be efficient in stemming presumed fraud.

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

"Rising the demand beyond sustainable supply levels would increase these concerns, and risks of using 'fake' UCO, possibly leading to indirect effects such as deforestation."

Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc, external.

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