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Climate change: Growing doubts over chip fat biofuel

21 April 2021

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New research concerns the ecological 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 conserves carbon emissions by displacing fossil oil.

But such is the demand throughout Europe that imports now represent over half of the UCO that's made into fuel.

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

Without any screening of what's coming in, specialists believe it is likewise ripe for fraud.

Used cooking oil imports might improve logging

Consumers posture 'growing risk' to tropical forests

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

They have actually encouraged the usage of biofuels as an essential methods of curbing carbon from automobiles and trucks.

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

The fact that these crops can be re-grown and take in more CO2 suggests they cancel out the carbon given off when used in engines.

Soy and palm oil were once commonly utilized as elements of biodiesel however this practice has actually been widely since it encourages deforestation.

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

Chip fat and other waste oils have actually ended up being an essential part of biodiesel with an efficient industry springing up throughout Europe to gather and process the item.

But with the quantity of biodiesel made from UCO increasing by around 40% every year given that 2014, there just isn't enough chip fat to go around.

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

Their study recommends this is highly problematic when it comes to effect 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 concern of what people in these nations 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 readily available however the flow of UCO is likely to be comparable.

With a population of around 33 million, that's close to 3 litres per head of used oil that's collected and exported to the UK and Ireland alone.

By comparison, Thailand, which has a population of 70 million individuals, handled to gather around five million litres of UCO in 2019.

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

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

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

Another significant issue with UCO is the suspicion of scams.

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

As oils of different types are blended in bulk for transport, and no screening of the products is brought out, some specialists believe fraud is rife.

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

"It is widely understood that the European Commission has actually taken pertinent actions to totally 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 guarantee that trading, accreditation and sustainability data on all bio-liquids will have to be signed up.

"The mix of modified certification schemes and the pan-EU track and trace database will guarantee that no sustainability concerns develop in the whole biofuels and bio-liquids supply chain," he informed BBC News.

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

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

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

Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc, external.

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