Climate Change: Growing Doubts Over Chip Fat Biofuel

Climate change: Growing doubts over chip fat biofuel

21 April 2021

comments

354 Comments

New research concerns the environmental effect 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 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 prove these imports are sustainable.

With no testing of what's coming in, professionals believe it is also ripe for fraud.

Used cooking oil imports might boost logging

Consumers pose 'growing risk' to tropical forests

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

They have actually encouraged the use of biofuels as an essential methods of curbing carbon from automobiles and trucks.

Biofuels are typically a blend of nonrenewable fuel source and oil made from plants or veggies.

The truth that these crops can be re-grown and take in more CO2 implies they counteract the carbon emitted when used in engines.

Soy and palm oil were once commonly utilized as parts of biodiesel however this practice has been widely challenged since it motivates logging.

So for the last years 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 ended up being a crucial element of biodiesel with an effective 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 since 2014, there just 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 study suggests this is highly bothersome when it concerns impacts on the environment.

While UCO is considered a waste material in the UK, in China, Indonesia and Malaysia it has 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 offered however the flow 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 comparison, Thailand, which has a population of 70 million people, handled to collect around five million litres of UCO in 2019.

"Because we are purchasing it, they have actually less used cooking oil to utilize 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 which virgin oil is mainly palm oil, because that's the most inexpensive oil readily available.

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

Another major issue with UCO is the suspicion of scams.

Because of demand from Europe, the rate of UCO is typically higher than palm oil. The concern is that some unscrupulous 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 brought out, some specialists believe scams is rife.

The suggestion of fraud 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 place.

"It is widely known that the European Commission has taken pertinent steps to totally curb unsound market practices in biofuel markets," said Angel Alberdi, EWABA's secretary general.

He says a 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 mix of revised accreditation plans and the pan-EU track and trace database will make sure that no sustainability problems arise in the entire biofuels and bio-liquids supply chain," he informed BBC News.

Others in the field are worried that the database idea, which was very first mooted in 2018, might not work in stemming believed 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 issues, and dangers of utilizing 'fake' UCO, possibly leading to indirect impacts such as deforestation."

Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc, external.