Climate change: Growing doubts over chip fat biofuel

21 April 2021

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New research 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 used to make biodiesel it saves carbon emissions by displacing fossil oil.

But such is the need throughout Europe that imports now represent majority of the UCO that's made into fuel.

According to the study, external, there's no method to prove these imports are sustainable.

With no screening of what's being available in, professionals think it is likewise ripe for scams.

Used cooking oil imports might enhance deforestation

Consumers position 'growing danger' to tropical forests

Reducing emissions from is proving to be among the hardest difficulties for governments all over the world.

They've motivated using biofuels as an important methods of curbing carbon from vehicles and trucks.

Biofuels are typically a mix of fossil fuel and oil made from plants or veggies.

The fact 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 when commonly utilized as elements of biodiesel but this practice has actually been extensively rejected due to the fact that it encourages deforestation.

So for the last years or so, using used 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 a reliable market emerging across Europe to gather and process the product.

But with the quantity of biodiesel made from UCO increasing by around 40% every year given that 2014, there simply isn't enough chip fat to go 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 troublesome when it concerns effects on the environment.

While UCO is considered a waste material in the UK, in China, Indonesia and Malaysia it has long been utilized to feed animals. The report raises the question of what individuals 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 readily 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 gathered and exported to the UK and Ireland alone.

By comparison, Thailand, which has a population of 70 million individuals, handled to collect around five million litres of UCO in 2019.

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

"And they're just buying more virgin oil and that virgin oil is largely palm oil, since that's the most affordable oil offered.

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

Another major issue with UCO is the suspicion of fraud.

Because of need from Europe, the cost of UCO is typically higher than palm oil. The worry is that some unscrupulous traders are just watering down deliveries of UCO with palm.

As oils of different types are mixed in bulk for transport, and no screening of the products is carried out, some professionals think scams is swarming.

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

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

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

"The combination of modified accreditation plans and the pan-EU track and trace database will guarantee that no sustainability concerns occur in the whole biofuels and bio-liquids supply chain," he informed BBC News.

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

The report from Transport & Environment points out that with shipping and air travel aiming to decarbonise by utilizing biofuels, demand for UCO could double over the next decade.

"Rising the need beyond sustainable supply levels would increase these concerns, and dangers of using 'fake' UCO, possibly resulting in indirect effects such as logging."

Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc, external.

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