Climate modification: Growing doubts over chip fat biofuel

21 April 2021

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New research concerns 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 demand throughout Europe that imports now represent majority of the UCO that's made into fuel.

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

Without any screening of what's can be found in, professionals believe it is also ripe for scams.

Used cooking oil imports may enhance deforestation

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Reducing emissions from transportation is showing to be among the most difficult obstacles for federal governments all over the world.

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

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

The reality that these crops can be re-grown and soak up more CO2 means they cancel out the carbon produced when utilized in engines.

Soy and palm oil were once commonly utilized as components of biodiesel however this practice has been widely discredited due to the fact that it motivates deforestation.

So for the last decade or two, using used cooking oil has actually broadened enormously as an alternative feedstock for fuel.

Chip fat and other waste oils have actually become a key element of biodiesel with a reliable industry springing up throughout Europe to collect and process the product.

But with the quantity of biodiesel made from UCO increasing by around 40% every year since 2014, there merely isn't sufficient 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 research study recommends this is extremely problematic when it concerns influence 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 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 nations aren't readily available however the flow of UCO is most likely to be comparable.

With a population of around 33 million, that's close to three litres per head of utilized oil that's gathered and to the UK and Ireland alone.

By comparison, Thailand, which has a population of 70 million people, managed to gather around five million litres of UCO in 2019.

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

"And they're simply buying more virgin oil which virgin oil is mainly palm oil, because that's the cheapest oil readily available.

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

Another major issue with UCO is the suspicion of fraud.

Because of need from Europe, the price of UCO is frequently greater than palm oil. The worry is that some deceitful traders are just diluting shipments of UCO with palm.

As oils of different types are blended in bulk for transportation, and no testing of the products is brought out, some professionals believe fraud is swarming.

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 schemes in location.

"It is extensively known that the European Commission has actually taken pertinent steps to totally suppress unsound market practices in biofuel markets," stated Angel Alberdi, EWABA's secretary general.

He says a new database being established by the EU will ensure that trading, accreditation and sustainability information on all bio-liquids will need to be registered.

"The combination of revised certification plans and the pan-EU track and trace database will guarantee that no sustainability issues arise 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, may not be effective in stemming presumed fraud.

The report from Transport & Environment points out that with shipping and aviation seeking to decarbonise by using biofuels, need for UCO could double over the next decade.

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

Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc, external.

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