Climate modification: Growing doubts over chip fat biofuel

21 April 2021

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New research concerns the environmental impact of rising imports of used cooking oil (UCO) into the UK and Europe.

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

But such is the need across Europe that imports now account for over half of the UCO that's made into fuel.

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

With no testing of what's can be found in, experts believe it is also ripe for scams.

Used cooking oil imports may enhance logging

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

They've encouraged making use of biofuels as an important means of curbing carbon from automobiles and lorries.

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

The reality that these crops can be re-grown and soak up more CO2 indicates they cancel out the carbon emitted when used in engines.

Soy and palm oil were once widely used as parts of biodiesel however this practice has been commonly challenged since it motivates deforestation.

So for the last years or so, using used cooking oil has actually broadened massively as an alternative feedstock for fuel.

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

But with the amount of biodiesel made from UCO increasing by around 40% every year because 2014, there simply isn't enough 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 bothersome when it pertains to effect on the environment.

While UCO is thought about a waste material in the UK, in China, Indonesia and Malaysia it has actually long been used to feed animals. The report raises the concern of what people 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 but the flow of UCO is most likely to be comparable.

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

By contrast, Thailand, which has a population of 70 million people, managed to around five million litres of UCO in 2019.

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

"And they're just buying more virgin oil and that virgin oil is largely palm oil, since that's the least expensive oil offered.

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

Another significant issue with UCO is the suspicion of scams.

Because of need from Europe, the cost of UCO is frequently greater than palm oil. The concern is that some unscrupulous traders are merely diluting shipments of UCO with palm.

As oils of different types are blended in bulk for transportation, and no testing of the materials is performed, some professionals think fraud is swarming.

The recommendation of scams 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 taken pertinent steps to completely suppress unsound market practices in biofuel markets," said Angel Alberdi, EWABA's secretary general.

He states a new database being established by the EU will make sure that trading, accreditation and sustainability data on all bio-liquids will have to be registered.

"The mix of modified accreditation schemes and the pan-EU track and trace database will guarantee that no sustainability problems occur in the entire biofuels and bio-liquids supply chain," he informed BBC News.

Others in the field are worried that the database idea, which was first mooted in 2018, may not work in stemming believed fraud.

The report from Transport & Environment mentions that with shipping and air travel looking to decarbonise by utilizing 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 'phony' UCO, potentially causing indirect impacts such as logging."

Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc, external.

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