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Climate modification: Growing doubts over chip fat biofuel

21 April 2021

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New research study questions the ecological impact of increasing imports of used cooking oil (UCO) into the UK and Europe.

Chip fat and other oils are thought about waste, so when they are used to make biodiesel it saves carbon emissions by displacing fossil oil.

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

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

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

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Reducing emissions from transport is proving to be one of the most difficult challenges for federal governments all over the world.

They have actually motivated using biofuels as a crucial means of suppressing carbon from cars and trucks.

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

The truth that these crops can be re-grown and take in more CO2 suggests they counteract the carbon given off when utilized in engines.

Soy and palm oil were as soon as widely utilized as elements of biodiesel however this practice has been extensively challenged since it encourages logging.

So for the last decade or two, the usage of utilized cooking oil has broadened massively as an alternative feedstock for fuel.

Chip fat and other waste oils have actually become a key component of biodiesel with an effective industry springing up across Europe to collect and process the product.

But with the quantity of biodiesel made from UCO increasing by around 40% every year given that 2014, there simply isn't sufficient chip fat to walk 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 concerns influence on the environment.

While UCO is thought about a waste product in the UK, in China, Indonesia and Malaysia it has actually long been used to feed animals. The report raises the question of what people in these countries 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 nations aren't readily available however the flow of UCO is most likely to be similar.

With a population of around 33 million, that's close to three 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 people, handled to gather around five million litres of UCO in 2019.

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

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

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

Another major issue with UCO is the suspicion of scams.

Because of demand from Europe, the rate of UCO is frequently higher than palm oil. The concern is that some unscrupulous traders are simply diluting deliveries of UCO with palm.

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

The tip of scams anywhere along the chain of supply is declined by the European Waste-to-Advanced Biofuels Association (EWABA), who state there are robust certification plans in place.

"It is widely understood that the European Commission has actually taken pertinent steps to totally curb unsound market practices in biofuel markets," stated 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 have to be registered.

"The combination of modified accreditation plans and the pan-EU track and trace database will make sure that no sustainability concerns emerge in the whole 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 presumed scams.

The report from Transport & Environment explains that with shipping and aviation looking to decarbonise by using biofuels, demand for UCO could double over the next decade.

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

Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc, external.

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