Climate change: Growing doubts over chip fat biofuel

21 April 2021

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New research questions the environmental effect of rising 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 conserves 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 method to prove these imports are sustainable.

With no screening of what's coming in, specialists think it is likewise ripe for fraud.

Used cooking oil imports might enhance logging

Consumers posture 'growing danger' to tropical forests

from transport is proving to be among the most difficult challenges for governments all over the world.

They've motivated using biofuels as a crucial ways of suppressing carbon from cars and trucks and trucks.

Biofuels are usually a blend of nonrenewable fuel source and oil made from plants or veggies.

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

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

So for the last years or two, the use of used cooking oil has expanded massively as an alternative feedstock for fuel.

Chip fat and other waste oils have actually become an essential component of biodiesel with an efficient market 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 because 2014, there merely 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 suggests this is extremely bothersome when it pertains to impacts on the environment.

While UCO is considered a waste product in the UK, in China, Indonesia and Malaysia it has actually long been used to feed animals. The report raises the concern 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 countries aren't readily available but the circulation of UCO is most likely to be similar.

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

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

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

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

Another significant issue with UCO is the suspicion of fraud.

Because of need from Europe, the price of UCO is frequently higher than palm oil. The concern is that some unscrupulous traders are merely watering down shipments of UCO with palm.

As oils of various types are blended in bulk for transport, and no screening of the products is carried out, some specialists believe scams is swarming.

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

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

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

"The combination of revised accreditation schemes and the pan-EU track and trace database will make sure that no sustainability problems arise in the whole 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, may not work in stemming presumed fraud.

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

"Rising the need beyond sustainable supply levels would increase these concerns, and risks of using 'phony' UCO, possibly leading to indirect effects such as deforestation."

Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc, external.

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