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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 considered waste, so when they are used to make biodiesel it conserves carbon emissions by displacing fossil oil.

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

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

Without any screening of what's can be found in, experts think it is likewise ripe for fraud.

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Reducing emissions from transportation is showing to be among the most difficult challenges for federal governments all over the world.

They have actually motivated using biofuels as an important methods of suppressing carbon from cars and trucks and lorries.

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

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

Soy and palm oil were as soon as extensively used as elements of biodiesel but this practice has been extensively discredited because it encourages deforestation.

So for the last decade approximately, using utilized cooking oil has expanded massively as an alternative feedstock for fuel.

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

But with the amount of biodiesel made from UCO increasing by around 40% every year considering that 2014, there merely isn't adequate chip fat to walk around.

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

Their study recommends this is extremely troublesome 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 offered but the circulation of UCO is most likely to be comparable.

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 comparison, Thailand, which has a population of 70 million individuals, managed to collect around five million litres of UCO in 2019.

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

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

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

Another major issue with UCO is the suspicion of scams.

Because of demand from Europe, the price of UCO is often greater than palm oil. The worry is that some deceitful traders are just diluting shipments of UCO with palm.

As oils of various types are blended in bulk for transportation, and no screening of the materials is carried out, some specialists think fraud is swarming.

The idea of fraud anywhere along the chain of supply is declined by the European Waste-to-Advanced Biofuels Association (EWABA), who state there are robust certification schemes in location.

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

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

"The mix of modified accreditation plans and the pan-EU track and trace database will ensure that no sustainability issues develop in the entire biofuels and bio-liquids supply chain," he told BBC News.

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

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

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

Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc, external.

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