Climate change: Growing doubts over chip fat biofuel

21 April 2021

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New research study concerns the environmental impact of rising imports of used 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 account for over half of the UCO that's made into fuel.

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

Without any screening of what's being available in, professionals believe it is likewise ripe for scams.

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Reducing emissions from transportation is showing to be one of the hardest obstacles for federal governments all over the world.

They have actually encouraged making use of biofuels as an important methods of suppressing carbon from vehicles and lorries.

Biofuels are usually a blend of fossil fuel and oil made from plants or veggies.

The truth that these crops can be re-grown and absorb more CO2 implies they cancel out the carbon released when utilized in engines.

Soy and palm oil were when widely utilized as parts of biodiesel however this practice has actually been extensively rejected because it motivates logging.

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

Chip fat and other waste oils have become an essential part of biodiesel with a reliable industry springing up throughout Europe to gather and process the product.

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

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

Their study recommends this is extremely problematic when it pertains to effect on the environment.

While UCO is thought about 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 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 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 and exported to the UK and Ireland alone.

By contrast, Thailand, which has a population of 70 million people, handled to gather around 5 million litres of UCO in 2019.

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

"And they're just purchasing more virgin oil and that virgin oil is mostly palm oil, because that's the most inexpensive oil available.

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

Another major issue with UCO is the suspicion of scams.

Because of demand from Europe, the rate of UCO is typically higher than palm oil. The worry is that some unscrupulous traders are merely diluting deliveries of UCO with palm.

As oils of various types are blended in bulk for transport, and no screening of the materials is brought out, some specialists think fraud is rife.

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

"It is commonly understood that the European Commission has actually taken relevant steps to completely 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 make sure that trading, accreditation and sustainability data on all bio-liquids will need to be registered.

"The combination of modified accreditation schemes and the pan-EU track and trace database will guarantee that no sustainability problems develop in the entire biofuels and bio-liquids supply chain," he told BBC News.

Others in the field are concerned that the database idea, which was very first mooted in 2018, may not be reliable in stemming presumed scams.

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

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

Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc, external.

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