Climate Change: Growing Doubts Over Chip Fat Biofuel
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Climate change: Growing doubts over chip fat biofuel

21 April 2021

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New research study questions the ecological effect of rising imports of used 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 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 other way to prove these imports are sustainable.

Without any testing of what's can be found in, specialists think it is also ripe for fraud.

Used cooking oil imports might enhance logging

Consumers pose 'growing risk' to tropical forests

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

They've encouraged the usage of biofuels as a crucial methods of suppressing carbon from automobiles and lorries.

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

The reality that these crops can be re-grown and soak up more CO2 means they cancel out the carbon given off when used in engines.

Soy and palm oil were as soon as extensively used as elements of biodiesel but this practice has been widely rejected since it encourages logging.

So for the last years 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 ended up being a key component of biodiesel with an efficient industry springing up throughout Europe to gather and process the item.

But with the quantity of biodiesel made from UCO increasing by around 40% every year given that 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 suggests this is extremely bothersome when it concerns effect on the environment.

While UCO is thought about 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 countries are replacing the UCO with, when it is exported.

In 2019, Malaysia exported 90 million litres of UCO to the UK and Ireland. Figures for their to other European nations aren't readily available however the flow of UCO is most likely to be comparable.

With a population of around 33 million, that's close to three litres per head of used oil that's gathered and exported to the UK and Ireland alone.

By comparison, Thailand, which has a population of 70 million individuals, managed to gather around 5 million litres of UCO in 2019.

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

"And they're simply purchasing more virgin oil and that virgin oil is mostly palm oil, because that's the least expensive oil offered.

"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 price of UCO is often greater than palm oil. The concern is that some deceitful traders are just watering down shipments of UCO with palm.

As oils of various types are blended in bulk for transportation, and no screening of the products is carried out, some professionals believe scams is rife.

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

"It is widely known that the European Commission has taken pertinent actions to completely 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 ensure that trading, accreditation and sustainability data on all bio-liquids will need to be registered.

"The combination of modified certification schemes and the pan-EU track and trace database will guarantee that no sustainability issues arise in the entire biofuels and bio-liquids supply chain," he told BBC News.

Others in the field are worried that the database concept, which was first mooted in 2018, may not work in stemming thought scams.

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

"Rising the demand 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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