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Climate change: Growing doubts over chip fat biofuel

21 April 2021

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New research study concerns the environmental effect of rising imports of utilized cooking oil (UCO) into the UK and Europe.

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

But such is the need throughout 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.

With no screening of what's coming in, experts believe it is likewise ripe for scams.

Used cooking oil imports might boost logging

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

They have actually motivated using biofuels as an essential means of suppressing carbon from vehicles and trucks.

Biofuels are generally a mix of nonrenewable fuel source and oil made from plants or veggies.

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

Soy and palm oil were when extensively used as components of biodiesel but this practice has been widely rejected due to the fact that it motivates logging.

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

Chip fat and other waste oils have actually become a crucial element of biodiesel with an efficient market springing up across Europe to gather and process the product.

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

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

Their research study suggests this is extremely problematic 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 long been utilized to feed animals. The report raises the concern of what people in these nations 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 nations aren't available however the flow of UCO is most likely to be comparable.

With a population of around 33 million, that's close to 3 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 individuals, handled to gather around 5 million litres of UCO in 2019.

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

"And they're just purchasing more virgin oil and that virgin oil is mainly palm oil, since that's the most affordable oil available.

"So indirectly, we're simply encouraging more logging in Southeast Asia."

Another major problem with UCO is the suspicion of scams.

Because of need from Europe, the rate of UCO is typically higher than palm oil. The concern is that some unscrupulous traders are just watering down deliveries of UCO with palm.

As oils of various types are blended in bulk for transportation, and no testing of the products is carried out, some specialists think scams is rife.

The tip of scams 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 place.

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

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

"The mix of revised accreditation schemes and the pan-EU track and trace database will ensure that no sustainability issues occur in the entire biofuels and bio-liquids supply chain," he informed BBC News.

Others in the field are concerned that the database concept, which was very first mooted in 2018, might not work in stemming presumed fraud.

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

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

Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc, external.

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