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Climate modification: Growing doubts over chip fat biofuel

21 April 2021

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New research questions the environmental impact 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 need across Europe that imports now represent over half of the UCO that's made into fuel.

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

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

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

They've encouraged the usage of biofuels as a crucial ways of curbing carbon from cars and trucks and lorries.

Biofuels are generally a blend of fossil fuel and oil made from plants or vegetables.

The fact that these crops can be re-grown and take in more CO2 suggests they cancel out the carbon given off when utilized in engines.

Soy and palm oil were when extensively utilized as parts of biodiesel but this practice has been commonly rejected because it encourages deforestation.

So for the last years or two, making use of utilized cooking oil has expanded massively as an alternative feedstock for fuel.

Chip fat and other waste oils have actually ended up being an essential part of biodiesel with a reliable industry springing up throughout Europe to gather and process the item.

But with the amount 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 campaign group Transport & Environment, external, majority of the UCO used in Europe is imported.

Their research study suggests this is highly troublesome when it concerns impacts on the environment.

While UCO is thought about 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 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 readily available but the circulation of UCO is most likely to be similar.

With a population of around 33 million, that's close to 3 litres per head of used oil that's collected 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 buying it, they have actually less used cooking oil to utilize on the things that they were previously using it for," said Greg Archer with Transport & Environment.

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

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

Another significant issue with UCO is the suspicion of scams.

Because of demand from Europe, the rate of UCO is often greater than palm oil. The worry is that some unscrupulous traders are merely watering down deliveries of UCO with palm.

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

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

"It is widely understood 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 states a new database being developed by the EU will guarantee that trading, certification and sustainability data on all bio-liquids will have to be registered.

"The combination of modified certification schemes and the pan-EU track and trace database will make sure that no sustainability problems emerge in the entire biofuels and chain," he told BBC News.

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

The report from Transport & Environment explains that with shipping and aviation looking 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 'fake' UCO, possibly leading to indirect effects such as logging."

Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc, external.

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