Climate change: Growing doubts over chip fat biofuel

21 April 2021

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New research questions the ecological effect of rising imports of utilized 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 throughout Europe that imports now represent more than half of the UCO that's made into fuel.

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

With no screening of what's coming in, specialists think it is likewise ripe for scams.

Used cooking oil imports might increase logging

Consumers position 'growing hazard' to tropical forests

Reducing emissions from transport is proving to be one of the most difficult difficulties for governments all over the world.

They've encouraged using biofuels as an important means of suppressing carbon from cars and trucks and lorries.

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

The reality that these crops can be re-grown and soak up more CO2 indicates they counteract the carbon produced when utilized in engines.

Soy and palm oil were once extensively utilized as parts of biodiesel but this practice has been extensively rejected because it motivates deforestation.

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

and other waste oils have actually become a key element of biodiesel with an effective market emerging across Europe to collect and process the item.

But with the amount of biodiesel made from UCO increasing by around 40% every year since 2014, there simply 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 utilized in Europe is imported.

Their study suggests this is extremely troublesome when it pertains to effects on the environment.

While UCO is thought about 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 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 countries aren't offered 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 people, managed to collect around 5 million litres of UCO in 2019.

"Because we are buying it, they have actually 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 buying more virgin oil which virgin oil is mainly palm oil, because that's the least expensive oil readily available.

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

Another significant problem with UCO is the suspicion of fraud.

Because of need from Europe, the price of UCO is frequently greater than palm oil. The worry is that some dishonest traders are simply diluting deliveries of UCO with palm.

As oils of different types are mixed in bulk for transportation, and no screening of the materials is brought out, some professionals think scams is swarming.

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

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

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

"The combination of revised accreditation schemes and the pan-EU track and trace database will make sure that no sustainability concerns arise in the entire 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, may not work in stemming thought fraud.

The report from Transport & Environment explains that with shipping and air travel wanting to decarbonise by utilizing biofuels, need for UCO could double over the next decade.

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

Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc, external.

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