Climate change: Growing doubts over chip fat biofuel

21 April 2021

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New research study concerns the ecological effect of increasing 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 saves carbon emissions by displacing fossil oil.

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

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

Without any testing of what's coming in, specialists believe it is also ripe for scams.

Used cooking oil imports might improve deforestation

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

They've encouraged the use of biofuels as an important methods of suppressing carbon from cars and trucks.

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

The reality that these crops can be re-grown and take in more CO2 means they counteract the carbon emitted when utilized in engines.

Soy and palm oil were as soon as widely utilized as components of biodiesel however this practice has been widely challenged because it motivates logging.

So for the last decade or two, making use of utilized cooking oil has broadened enormously as an alternative feedstock for fuel.

Chip fat and other waste oils have become an essential element of biodiesel with an efficient industry emerging throughout Europe to gather and process the item.

But with the quantity of biodiesel made from UCO increasing by around 40% every year since 2014, there simply isn't enough chip fat to go around.

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

Their study recommends this is extremely troublesome 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 long been utilized to feed animals. The report raises the concern of what individuals 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 offered however 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 contrast, Thailand, which has a population of 70 million individuals, managed to gather around five million litres of UCO in 2019.

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

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

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

Another major problem with UCO is the suspicion of scams.

Because of demand from Europe, the rate of UCO is typically greater than palm oil. The worry is that some unscrupulous traders are merely watering down shipments of UCO with palm.

As oils of various types are mixed in bulk for transport, and no testing of the materials is performed, some experts believe fraud is rife.

The recommendation 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 extensively understood that the European Commission has taken relevant steps to totally 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 information on all bio-liquids will have to be registered.

"The mix of modified accreditation plans and the pan-EU track and trace database will make sure that no sustainability issues develop in the whole biofuels and bio-liquids supply chain," he informed BBC News.

Others in the field are worried that the database idea, which was first mooted in 2018, may not be effective in stemming presumed fraud.

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

"Rising the need beyond sustainable supply levels would increase these issues, and threats of using 'phony' UCO, possibly causing indirect effects such as logging."

Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc, external.

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