Climate modification: Growing doubts over chip fat biofuel

21 April 2021

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New research study questions the ecological effect 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 across 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 show these imports are sustainable.

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

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Reducing emissions from transport is showing to be among the toughest difficulties for federal governments all over the world.

They've motivated making use of biofuels as an essential means of curbing carbon from cars and lorries.

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

The reality that these crops can be re-grown and absorb more CO2 suggests they counteract the carbon discharged when used in engines.

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

So for the last years approximately, making use of utilized cooking oil has broadened massively as an alternative feedstock for fuel.

Chip fat and other waste oils have ended up being an essential component of biodiesel with an effective industry springing up throughout Europe to collect and process the item.

But with the quantity of biodiesel made from UCO increasing by around 40% every year considering that 2014, there just isn't enough chip fat to walk around.

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

Their research study recommends this is highly bothersome when it concerns 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 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 but the flow of UCO is likely to be comparable.

With a population of around 33 million, that's close to three 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 individuals, managed to collect around 5 million litres of UCO in 2019.

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

"And they're just purchasing more virgin oil which virgin oil is mostly palm oil, because that's the least expensive oil available.

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

Another significant problem with UCO is the suspicion of fraud.

Because of need from Europe, the rate of UCO is often higher than palm oil. The concern is that some unscrupulous traders are just diluting shipments of UCO with palm.

As oils of different types are blended in bulk for transport, and no screening of the materials is performed, some experts think fraud 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 say there are robust accreditation plans in place.

"It is widely understood that the European Commission has taken appropriate steps to entirely curb 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, certification and sustainability data on all bio-liquids will have to be registered.

"The combination of modified accreditation plans and the pan-EU track and trace database will ensure that no sustainability concerns occur in the entire biofuels and chain," he told BBC News.

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

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

"Rising the demand beyond sustainable supply levels would increase these concerns, and dangers of utilizing 'phony' UCO, potentially leading to indirect impacts such as logging."

Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc, external.

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