Climate modification: Growing doubts over chip fat biofuel

21 April 2021

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New research study questions the environmental impact of increasing 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 account for more than half of the UCO that's made into fuel.

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

Without any testing of what's can be found in, professionals think it is likewise ripe for fraud.

Used cooking oil imports might increase logging

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

They've encouraged using biofuels as an important methods of suppressing carbon from vehicles and lorries.

Biofuels are usually a blend 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 means they cancel out the carbon released when used in engines.

Soy and palm oil were when widely used as elements of biodiesel however this practice has been commonly discredited due to the fact that it motivates logging.

So for the last decade or so, making use of used cooking oil has actually expanded massively as an alternative feedstock for fuel.

Chip fat and other waste oils have actually become a crucial component of biodiesel with an efficient industry 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 simply isn't sufficient chip fat to walk around.

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

Their research study suggests this is extremely problematic when it concerns 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 question of what people in these nations are changing 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 flow of UCO is 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 contrast, Thailand, which has a population of 70 million people, handled to collect around five million litres of UCO in 2019.

"Because we are buying it, they have actually less utilized cooking oil to use on the important things that they were formerly using it for," said 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 most inexpensive 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 need from Europe, the rate of UCO is typically greater than palm oil. The concern is that some deceitful traders are just diluting shipments of UCO with palm.

As oils of different types are blended in bulk for transportation, and no testing of the materials is performed, some professionals believe scams is swarming.

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

"It is extensively understood that the European Commission has actually taken pertinent steps to completely curb 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 make sure that trading, accreditation and sustainability information on all bio-liquids will need to be signed up.

"The combination of modified accreditation schemes and the pan-EU track and trace database will make sure that no sustainability problems arise in the whole biofuels and bio-liquids supply 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 presumed scams.

The report from Transport & Environment mentions that with shipping and air travel aiming to decarbonise by utilizing biofuels, demand for UCO might double over the next decade.

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

Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc, external.

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