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Climate change: Growing doubts over chip fat biofuel

21 April 2021

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

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

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

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

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

They have actually encouraged using biofuels as a crucial methods of curbing carbon from automobiles and trucks.

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

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

Soy and palm oil were as soon as commonly used as components of biodiesel but this practice has been widely rejected due to the fact that it motivates deforestation.

So for the last years or so, making use of used cooking oil has broadened enormously as an alternative feedstock for fuel.

Chip fat and other waste oils have ended up being a crucial component of biodiesel with an efficient industry springing up across Europe to collect and process the product.

But with the amount of made from UCO increasing by around 40% every year since 2014, there just isn't enough 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 research study recommends this is highly troublesome when it concerns influence on the environment.

While UCO is considered a waste material 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 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 however the circulation of UCO is likely to be comparable.

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

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

"And they're just purchasing more virgin oil which virgin oil is largely palm oil, because that's the most affordable oil offered.

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

Another major issue with UCO is the suspicion of scams.

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

As oils of various types are mixed in bulk for transport, and no screening of the products is performed, 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 say there are robust accreditation plans in place.

"It is commonly understood that the European Commission has taken relevant actions to entirely suppress unsound market practices in biofuel markets," stated Angel Alberdi, EWABA's secretary general.

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

"The mix of modified certification schemes and the pan-EU track and trace database will ensure that no sustainability concerns arise in the entire biofuels and bio-liquids supply chain," he informed BBC News.

Others in the field are worried that the database idea, which was very first mooted in 2018, might not be reliable in stemming presumed scams.

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

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

Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc, external.

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