Climate change: Growing doubts over chip fat biofuel

21 April 2021

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New research questions the environmental effect 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 conserves carbon emissions by displacing fossil oil.

But such is the need throughout Europe that now represent over 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 can be found in, professionals think it is likewise ripe for scams.

Used cooking oil imports may increase logging

Consumers present 'growing risk' to tropical forests

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

They've encouraged using biofuels as an essential means of curbing carbon from vehicles and trucks.

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

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

Soy and palm oil were when extensively used as parts of biodiesel however this practice has been widely rejected since it motivates logging.

So for the last years or so, making use of utilized cooking oil has actually expanded enormously as an alternative feedstock for fuel.

Chip fat and other waste oils have actually become an essential component of biodiesel with an effective 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 since 2014, there just isn't enough chip fat to go around.

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

Their research study suggests this is highly problematic when it pertains to impacts 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 individuals 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 countries aren't readily available but the circulation of UCO is likely to be comparable.

With a population of around 33 million, that's close to three 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 less used cooking oil to utilize on the things that they were formerly utilizing it for," said Greg Archer with Transport & Environment.

"And they're simply buying more virgin oil which virgin oil is mainly palm oil, since that's the most affordable oil readily available.

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

Another significant problem with UCO is the suspicion of scams.

Because of demand from Europe, the price of UCO is frequently higher than palm oil. The worry is that some unethical traders are simply diluting shipments of UCO with palm.

As oils of different types are mixed in bulk for transport, and no screening of the products is performed, some experts believe fraud is rife.

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

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

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

"The combination of revised certification schemes and the pan-EU track and trace database will ensure that no sustainability concerns emerge in the entire biofuels and bio-liquids supply chain," he told BBC News.

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

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

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

Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc, external.

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