Climate modification: Growing doubts over chip fat biofuel

21 April 2021

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New research study questions 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 saves carbon emissions by displacing fossil oil.

But such is the demand across Europe that imports now account for more than 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 can be found in, specialists believe it is likewise ripe for fraud.

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

They've motivated the use of biofuels as a crucial ways of curbing carbon from cars and trucks.

Biofuels are normally a mix of nonrenewable fuel source and oil made from plants or vegetables.

The fact that these crops can be re-grown and take in more CO2 implies they counteract the carbon given off when used in engines.

Soy and palm oil were once widely used as parts of biodiesel but this practice has actually been extensively discredited because it motivates logging.

So for the last years approximately, using utilized cooking oil has actually expanded massively as an alternative feedstock for fuel.

Chip fat and other waste oils have become a crucial component of biodiesel with an effective industry springing up throughout Europe to gather and process the item.

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

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

Their research study recommends this is extremely problematic when it concerns impacts on the environment.

While UCO is considered a waste material in the UK, in China, Indonesia and Malaysia it has actually long been utilized 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 available however the flow of UCO is most likely to be similar.

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 comparison, Thailand, which has a population of 70 million people, handled to collect around 5 million litres of UCO in 2019.

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

"And they're simply buying more virgin oil which virgin oil is mostly palm oil, since that's the least expensive oil offered.

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

Another major issue with UCO is the suspicion of fraud.

Because of demand from Europe, the rate of UCO is frequently greater than palm oil. The worry is that some unethical traders are just diluting deliveries of UCO with palm.

As oils of various types are blended in bulk for transport, and no screening of the products is performed, some experts think scams is swarming.

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

"It is commonly understood that the European Commission has taken pertinent actions to completely suppress unsound market practices in biofuel markets," stated Angel Alberdi, EWABA's secretary general.

He states a new database being developed by the EU will guarantee that trading, certification and sustainability information on all bio-liquids will have to be signed up.

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

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

The report from Transport & Environment points out that with shipping and air travel seeking to decarbonise by utilizing biofuels, need for UCO might double over the next years.

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

Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc, external.

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