Climate change: Growing doubts over chip fat biofuel

21 April 2021

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New research questions the ecological impact of rising imports of utilized 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 across Europe that imports now account for more than half of the UCO that’s made into fuel.

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

Without any testing of what’s can be found in, experts think it is also ripe for scams.

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

They’ve encouraged making use of biofuels as an essential methods of suppressing carbon from vehicles and trucks.

Biofuels are normally a mix of nonrenewable fuel source and oil made from plants or veggies.

The fact that these crops can be and soak up more CO2 means they counteract the carbon emitted when used in engines.

Soy and palm oil were once commonly utilized as parts of biodiesel however this practice has actually been widely rejected because it motivates deforestation.

So for the last decade or so, the use of utilized cooking oil has actually expanded enormously as an alternative feedstock for fuel.

Chip fat and other waste oils have actually become an essential component of biodiesel with an effective market emerging throughout Europe to collect and process the item.

But with the amount of biodiesel made from UCO increasing by around 40% every year because 2014, there just isn’t enough 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 research study recommends this is extremely bothersome when it concerns effect on the environment.

While UCO is considered a waste product in the UK, in China, Indonesia and Malaysia it has long been utilized to feed animals. The report raises the question 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 nations aren’t available but the flow of UCO is likely to be similar.

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 comparison, Thailand, which has a population of 70 million people, handled to gather around 5 million litres of UCO in 2019.

“Because we are purchasing it, they have actually less utilized cooking oil to utilize on the things that they were formerly using it for,” stated Greg Archer with Transport & Environment.

“And they’re just purchasing more virgin oil and that virgin oil is largely palm oil, since that’s the most affordable oil available.

“So indirectly, we’re just encouraging more logging in Southeast Asia.”

Another significant problem with UCO is the suspicion of fraud.

Because of need from Europe, the rate of UCO is typically greater than palm oil. The concern is that some deceitful traders are simply diluting shipments of UCO with palm.

As oils of various types are mixed in bulk for transportation, and no testing of the materials is brought out, some experts believe scams is swarming.

The recommendation 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 widely understood that the European Commission has actually taken pertinent steps to completely 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 make sure that trading, certification and sustainability data on all bio-liquids will need to be signed up.

“The combination of modified accreditation schemes and the pan-EU track and trace database will ensure that no sustainability problems arise in the entire biofuels and bio-liquids supply chain,” he told BBC News.

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

The report from Transport & Environment explains that with shipping and air travel looking to decarbonise by utilizing biofuels, demand for UCO might double over the next decade.

“Rising the demand beyond sustainable supply levels would increase these issues, and threats of utilizing ‘fake’ UCO, potentially causing indirect impacts such as deforestation.”

Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc, external.

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