Climate change: Growing doubts over chip fat biofuel

21 April 2021

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New research concerns the ecological effect of of used 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 demand across Europe that imports now account for 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 testing of what's coming in, experts believe it is likewise ripe for fraud.

Used cooking oil imports may increase deforestation

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

They have actually motivated the usage of biofuels as an essential ways of curbing carbon from automobiles and trucks.

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

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

Soy and palm oil were once commonly used as components of biodiesel but this practice has actually been extensively challenged because it encourages logging.

So for the last years or two, using utilized cooking oil has broadened massively as an alternative feedstock for fuel.

Chip fat and other waste oils have actually become an essential element of biodiesel with a reliable industry springing up throughout Europe to collect and process the product.

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

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

Their study recommends this is highly troublesome when it comes to impacts 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 concern of what individuals 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 nations aren't readily available however the flow of UCO is most likely to be similar.

With a population of around 33 million, that's close to three 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 people, handled to collect around 5 million litres of UCO in 2019.

"Because we are purchasing it, they have less used cooking oil to use on the important 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 mostly palm oil, because that's the most inexpensive oil available.

"So indirectly, we're simply 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 frequently higher than palm oil. The concern is that some unethical traders are merely 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 specialists think fraud is rife.

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

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

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

"The mix of modified certification plans and the pan-EU track and trace database will guarantee that no sustainability problems emerge in the entire biofuels and bio-liquids supply chain," he informed BBC News.

Others in the field are worried that the database concept, which was very first mooted in 2018, may not work in stemming thought scams.

The report from Transport & Environment mentions that with shipping and aviation 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 concerns, and dangers of utilizing 'phony' UCO, possibly leading to indirect effects such as logging."

Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc, external.

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