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Climate change: Growing doubts over chip fat biofuel

21 April 2021

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New research study concerns the environmental effect of increasing imports of used 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 majority of the UCO that's made into fuel.

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

Without any testing of what's being available in, experts believe it is also ripe for fraud.

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

They've motivated the use of biofuels as an important methods of suppressing carbon from cars and trucks and trucks.

Biofuels are normally 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 suggests they cancel out the carbon given off when used in engines.

Soy and palm oil were once extensively utilized as elements of biodiesel but this practice has actually been widely because it motivates logging.

So for the last years approximately, the usage of used cooking oil has broadened enormously as an alternative feedstock for fuel.

Chip fat and other waste oils have actually become a key part of biodiesel with an efficient market emerging across Europe to gather and process the item.

But with the amount of biodiesel made from UCO increasing by around 40% every year given that 2014, there merely isn't enough chip fat to walk 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 bothersome when it comes to influence on the environment.

While UCO is thought about a waste material in the UK, in China, Indonesia and Malaysia it has long been utilized to feed animals. The report raises the question 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 nations aren't available however the circulation of UCO is most likely to be similar.

With a population of around 33 million, that's close to 3 litres per head of utilized 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 buying it, they have actually less utilized cooking oil to utilize on the things that they were formerly using it for," said Greg Archer with Transport & Environment.

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

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

Another significant issue with UCO is the suspicion of fraud.

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

As oils of various types are mixed in bulk for transport, and no testing of the products is performed, some specialists think fraud is rife.

The idea 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 plans in place.

"It is extensively known that the European Commission has taken pertinent actions to totally curb unsound market practices in biofuel markets," stated 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 need to be signed up.

"The mix of revised 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 concept, which was very first mooted in 2018, might not be effective in stemming presumed scams.

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 risks of using 'phony' UCO, possibly resulting in indirect effects such as logging."

Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc, external.

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