Climate change: Growing doubts over chip fat biofuel

21 April 2021

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New research questions the ecological impact of increasing 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 represent over half 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.

With no testing of what's being available in, experts believe it is likewise ripe for scams.

Used cooking oil imports may enhance logging

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

They have actually motivated the use of biofuels as a crucial methods of suppressing carbon from cars and lorries.

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

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

Soy and palm oil were as soon as extensively used as components of biodiesel but this practice has actually been commonly challenged since it motivates deforestation.

So for the last years or two, the usage 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 element of biodiesel with an efficient market emerging throughout Europe to collect and process the product.

But with the quantity of biodiesel made from UCO increasing by around 40% every year because 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 suggests this is extremely troublesome when it pertains to effects on the environment.

While UCO is thought about a waste material in the UK, in China, Indonesia and Malaysia it has actually long been utilized to feed animals. The report raises the concern of what people 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 but the circulation of UCO is likely to be comparable.

With a population of around 33 million, that's close to 3 litres per head of utilized 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 collect around 5 million litres of UCO in 2019.

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

"And they're just buying more virgin oil and that virgin oil is mostly palm oil, since that's the cheapest oil available.

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

Another major problem with UCO is the suspicion of scams.

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

As oils of different types are mixed in bulk for transport, and no testing of the products is brought out, some specialists think scams is rife.

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

"It is widely known that the European Commission has actually taken relevant steps 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 guarantee that trading, accreditation and sustainability information 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 emerge in the whole biofuels and bio-liquids supply chain," he told BBC News.

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

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

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

Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc, external.

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