Climate Change: Growing Doubts Over Chip Fat Biofuel

Climate modification: Growing doubts over chip fat biofuel

21 April 2021

comments

354 Comments

New research study questions the ecological effect of increasing 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 conserves carbon emissions by displacing fossil oil.

But such is the need across Europe that imports now represent more than half of the UCO that's made into fuel.

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

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

Used cooking oil imports may boost deforestation

Consumers present 'growing hazard' to tropical forests

Reducing emissions from transport is showing to be one of the hardest difficulties for governments all over the world.

They've motivated using biofuels as an essential means of suppressing carbon from automobiles and lorries.

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

The truth 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 utilized as parts of biodiesel however this practice has actually been extensively rejected because it motivates deforestation.

So for the last decade approximately, the use of used cooking oil has broadened massively as an alternative feedstock for fuel.

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

But with the amount of biodiesel made from UCO increasing by around 40% every year because 2014, there merely isn't sufficient chip fat to walk around.

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

Their research study suggests this is highly bothersome when it comes to 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 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 exports to other European countries aren't readily available but the circulation 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 contrast, Thailand, which has a population of 70 million people, managed to collect around five million litres of UCO in 2019.

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

"And they're simply purchasing more virgin oil which virgin oil is largely palm oil, since that's the most inexpensive oil offered.

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

Another significant problem with UCO is the suspicion of scams.

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

As oils of different types are mixed in bulk for transportation, and no testing of the products is performed, some professionals think scams is swarming.

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

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

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

"The mix of revised certification plans and the pan-EU track and trace database will guarantee that no sustainability concerns occur in the entire biofuels and bio-liquids supply chain," he told BBC News.

Others in the field are concerned that the database concept, which was first mooted in 2018, may not be efficient in stemming suspected fraud.

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

"Rising the need beyond sustainable supply levels would increase these concerns, and dangers of using 'phony' UCO, possibly leading to indirect impacts such as deforestation."

Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc, external.