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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 impact of increasing imports of utilized 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 demand throughout 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 chance to show these imports are sustainable.

Without any screening of what's can be found in, specialists believe it is likewise ripe for scams.

Used cooking oil imports may enhance logging

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

They've encouraged making use of biofuels as an essential methods of curbing carbon from automobiles and trucks.

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

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

Soy and palm oil were once commonly used as parts of biodiesel however this practice has actually been extensively rejected because it encourages logging.

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

Chip fat and other waste oils have ended up being an essential part of biodiesel with a reliable industry springing up across Europe to gather and process the product.

But with the quantity of biodiesel made from UCO increasing by around 40% every year since 2014, there merely 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 study suggests this is extremely bothersome when it comes to effect on the environment.

While UCO is considered 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 individuals in these nations 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 offered 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 contrast, Thailand, which has a population of 70 million people, handled to collect around 5 million litres of UCO in 2019.

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

"And they're just buying more virgin oil and that virgin oil is mainly palm oil, because that's the most inexpensive oil readily available.

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

Another major issue with UCO is the suspicion of scams.

Because of demand from Europe, the cost of UCO is frequently higher than palm oil. The concern is that some dishonest traders are just diluting shipments of UCO with palm.

As oils of different types are mixed in bulk for transportation, and no testing of the products is performed, some professionals believe fraud is rife.

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

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

He says a brand-new database being developed by the EU will ensure that trading, accreditation and sustainability data on all bio-liquids will need to be signed up.

"The mix of revised certification plans and the pan-EU track and trace database will guarantee that no sustainability concerns emerge in the entire biofuels and bio-liquids supply chain," he informed BBC News.

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

The report from Transport & Environment mentions that with shipping and aviation looking to decarbonise by using 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 'fake' UCO, potentially leading to indirect impacts such as logging."

Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc, external.

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