Climate change: Growing doubts over chip fat biofuel

21 April 2021

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New research questions the ecological effect of increasing 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 conserves carbon emissions by displacing fossil oil.

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

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

With no testing of what's can be found in, professionals believe it is likewise ripe for fraud.

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Reducing emissions from transportation is proving to be one of the most difficult challenges for governments all over the world.

They have actually motivated using biofuels as an important methods of curbing carbon from cars and trucks and lorries.

Biofuels are normally a blend of nonrenewable fuel source and oil made from plants or vegetables.

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

Soy and palm oil were once commonly utilized as elements of biodiesel but this practice has actually been widely discredited due to the fact that it encourages deforestation.

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

Chip fat and other waste oils have actually ended up being a crucial component of biodiesel with a reliable market springing up across Europe to collect and process the item.

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

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

Their research study recommends this is extremely troublesome when it concerns influence on the environment.

While UCO is thought about a waste material in the UK, in China, Indonesia and Malaysia it has long been used to feed animals. The report raises the question 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 offered 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 utilized 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 gather around five million litres of UCO in 2019.

"Because we are purchasing it, they have actually less used cooking oil to utilize on the things that they were formerly using it for," said Greg Archer with Transport & Environment.

"And they're simply purchasing more virgin oil and that virgin oil is mainly palm oil, since that's the least expensive oil offered.

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

Another significant issue with UCO is the suspicion of scams.

Because of demand from Europe, the cost of UCO is typically greater than palm oil. The concern is that some dishonest traders are just watering down deliveries of UCO with palm.

As oils of various types are mixed in bulk for transport, and no testing of the materials is carried out, some specialists think scams is rife.

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

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

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

"The mix of revised certification plans and the pan-EU track and trace database will ensure that no sustainability concerns emerge in the whole 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, may not work in stemming thought scams.

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

"Rising the need beyond sustainable supply levels would increase these issues, and dangers of utilizing 'phony' UCO, possibly causing indirect impacts such as deforestation."

Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc, external.

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