Climate change: Growing doubts over chip fat biofuel

21 April 2021

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New research questions the ecological effect 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 utilized to make biodiesel it saves carbon emissions by displacing fossil oil.

But such is the need throughout Europe that imports now represent majority of the UCO that's made into fuel.

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

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

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Reducing emissions from transport is showing to be among the hardest obstacles for governments all over the world.

They've encouraged making use of biofuels as a crucial ways of suppressing carbon from cars and trucks.

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

The fact that these crops can be re-grown and absorb more CO2 indicates they counteract the carbon discharged when utilized in engines.

Soy and palm oil were once extensively used as parts of biodiesel but this practice has been extensively discredited because it encourages deforestation.

So for the last years approximately, the usage of used cooking oil has expanded enormously as an alternative feedstock for fuel.

Chip fat and other waste oils have actually become an essential part of biodiesel with an effective market emerging throughout 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 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 suggests this is extremely troublesome when it pertains to effect on the environment.

While UCO is considered a waste material in the UK, in China, Indonesia and Malaysia it has actually long been used to feed animals. The report raises the question 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 countries aren't available but the circulation of UCO is most likely to be comparable.

With a population of around 33 million, that's close to 3 litres per head of utilized oil that's gathered and exported to the UK and Ireland alone.

By comparison, Thailand, which has a population of 70 million individuals, managed to collect around five 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 formerly using it for," stated Greg Archer with Transport & Environment.

"And they're just buying more virgin oil and that virgin oil is mostly palm oil, since that's the least expensive oil available.

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

Another major problem with UCO is the suspicion of scams.

Because of demand from Europe, the price of UCO is often higher than palm oil. The concern is that some deceitful traders are simply watering down shipments of UCO with palm.

As oils of various types are blended in bulk for transport, and no testing of the products is performed, some specialists believe scams is swarming.

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

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

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

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

Others in the field are concerned that the database idea, which was very first mooted in 2018, might not be efficient in stemming suspected scams.

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

"Rising the demand beyond sustainable supply levels would increase these issues, and threats of utilizing 'phony' UCO, possibly leading to indirect effects such as deforestation."

Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc, external.

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