Climate change: 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 conserves 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 other way to show these imports are sustainable.

Without any screening of what's coming in, professionals believe it is likewise ripe for fraud.

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Reducing emissions from transportation is showing to be one of the most difficult difficulties for federal governments all over the world.

They have actually motivated making use of biofuels as an essential ways of suppressing carbon from vehicles and lorries.

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

The truth that these crops can be re-grown and absorb more CO2 suggests they cancel out the carbon released when used in engines.

Soy and palm oil were once extensively used as components of biodiesel however this practice has been commonly discredited due to the fact that it encourages logging.

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

Chip fat and other waste oils have actually become a crucial part of biodiesel with a reliable market emerging across Europe to collect and process the product.

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

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

Their research study recommends this is extremely bothersome when it comes to influence on the environment.

While UCO is considered 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 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 readily available however the circulation of UCO is likely to be comparable.

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

By contrast, Thailand, which has a population of 70 million people, handled to gather around 5 million litres of UCO in 2019.

"Because we are buying it, they have actually less used 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 purchasing more virgin oil which virgin oil is largely palm oil, since that's the most inexpensive oil offered.

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

Another significant problem with UCO is the suspicion of scams.

Because of demand from Europe, the cost of UCO is frequently higher than palm oil. The concern is that some dishonest traders are merely diluting deliveries of UCO with palm.

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

The idea of fraud 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 location.

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

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

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

Others in the field are worried that the database concept, which was first mooted in 2018, might not be reliable in stemming suspected fraud.

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 decade.

"Rising the need beyond sustainable supply levels would increase these issues, and threats of using 'fake' UCO, possibly resulting in indirect effects such as logging."

Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc, external.

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