Climate modification: Growing doubts over chip fat biofuel

21 April 2021

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

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

But such is the need throughout Europe that imports now represent majority 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.

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Reducing emissions from transportation is proving to be among the hardest challenges for governments all over the world.

They've motivated using biofuels as an important methods of curbing carbon from cars and trucks and trucks.

Biofuels are typically a blend of fossil fuel and oil made from plants or veggies.

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

Soy and palm oil were as soon as widely used as parts of biodiesel however this practice has been commonly discredited because it motivates deforestation.

So for the last years approximately, using used cooking oil has expanded enormously as an alternative feedstock for fuel.

Chip fat and other waste oils have ended up being a key component of biodiesel with an efficient industry emerging throughout Europe to gather and process the item.

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

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

Their research study suggests this is extremely problematic when it pertains to impacts on the environment.

While UCO is considered a waste product in the UK, in China, Indonesia and Malaysia it has actually long been utilized to feed animals. The report raises the question of what people in these countries 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 readily available but the circulation of UCO is likely to be similar.

With a population of around 33 million, that's close to 3 litres per head of used 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 collect around five million litres of UCO in 2019.

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

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

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

Another major problem with UCO is the suspicion of fraud.

Because of need from Europe, the cost of UCO is frequently greater than palm oil. The worry is that some unscrupulous traders are just watering down deliveries of UCO with palm.

As oils of different types are blended in bulk for transport, and no testing of the materials is performed, some specialists believe fraud is swarming.

The suggestion of scams 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 location.

"It is commonly known that the European Commission has actually taken appropriate actions to completely market practices in biofuel markets," stated Angel Alberdi, EWABA's secretary general.

He says a new database being developed by the EU will guarantee that trading, accreditation and sustainability information on all bio-liquids will need to be registered.

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

Others in the field are concerned that the database idea, which was first mooted in 2018, might not work in stemming suspected fraud.

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

"Rising the need beyond sustainable supply levels would increase these concerns, and dangers of using 'fake' UCO, possibly causing indirect effects such as deforestation."

Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc, external.

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