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Climate change: Growing doubts over chip fat biofuel

21 April 2021

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New research questions the ecological impact of rising imports of used cooking oil (UCO) into the UK and Europe.

Chip fat and other oils are thought about waste, so when they are used to make biodiesel it saves carbon emissions by displacing fossil oil.

But such is the demand 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 way to prove these imports are sustainable.

With no testing of what's coming in, professionals believe it is also ripe for scams.

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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 have actually motivated making use of biofuels as an essential ways of from cars and trucks and lorries.

Biofuels are normally a blend of nonrenewable fuel source and oil made from plants or veggies.

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

Soy and palm oil were when extensively utilized as parts of biodiesel but this practice has been extensively discredited since it encourages logging.

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

Chip fat and other waste oils have actually ended up being a crucial part of biodiesel with an effective industry emerging across Europe to collect and process the product.

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

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

Their study recommends this is extremely bothersome when it concerns influence on the environment.

While UCO is considered a waste material in the UK, in China, Indonesia and Malaysia it has 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 circulation of UCO is likely to be similar.

With a population of around 33 million, that's close to three 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 people, managed to gather around 5 million litres of UCO in 2019.

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

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

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

Another major problem with UCO is the suspicion of fraud.

Because of need from Europe, the price of UCO is frequently greater than palm oil. The concern is that some unethical traders are merely watering down deliveries of UCO with palm.

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

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

"It is extensively understood that the European Commission has actually taken relevant actions 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 guarantee that trading, certification and sustainability data on all bio-liquids will need to be signed up.

"The combination of revised certification plans and the pan-EU track and trace database will guarantee that no sustainability concerns 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, might not work in stemming believed scams.

The report from Transport & Environment mentions that with shipping and aviation aiming to decarbonise by utilizing biofuels, demand for UCO could double over the next decade.

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

Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc, external.

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