Climate change: Growing doubts over chip fat biofuel

21 April 2021

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New research questions the ecological 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 used to make biodiesel it saves carbon emissions by displacing fossil oil.

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

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

With no screening of what's being available in, specialists believe it is likewise ripe for fraud.

Used cooking oil imports may improve deforestation

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Reducing emissions from transport is proving to be one of the toughest difficulties for federal governments all over the world.

They've encouraged the usage of biofuels as a crucial ways of suppressing carbon from cars and trucks.

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

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

Soy and palm oil were as soon as commonly utilized as parts of biodiesel however this practice has actually been extensively discredited due to the fact that it motivates logging.

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

Chip fat and other waste oils have actually become an essential element of biodiesel with an efficient industry springing up across Europe to gather and process the product.

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

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

Their study recommends this is extremely bothersome when it concerns effects 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 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 available but the flow 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 comparison, Thailand, which has a population of 70 million people, handled to collect around five million litres of UCO in 2019.

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

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

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

Another major issue with UCO is the suspicion of fraud.

Because of demand from Europe, the rate of UCO is typically higher than palm oil. The worry is that some unscrupulous traders are merely watering down shipments of UCO with palm.

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

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

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

He states a brand-new database being established by the EU will guarantee that trading, certification and sustainability information on all bio-liquids will have to be registered.

"The mix of revised accreditation schemes and the pan-EU track and trace database will guarantee that no sustainability problems arise in the whole biofuels and bio-liquids supply chain," he told BBC News.

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

"Rising the demand beyond sustainable supply levels would increase these concerns, and risks of utilizing 'fake' UCO, possibly causing indirect effects such as logging."

Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc, external.

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