Climate modification: Growing doubts over chip fat biofuel

21 April 2021

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New research concerns the environmental impact of rising imports of utilized cooking oil (UCO) into the UK and Europe.

Chip fat and other oils are thought about waste, so when they are used to make biodiesel it conserves carbon emissions by displacing fossil oil.

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

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

With no screening of what's coming in, experts believe it is likewise ripe for fraud.

Used cooking oil imports might increase deforestation

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Reducing emissions from transportation is showing to be one of the hardest obstacles for governments all over the world.

They've encouraged making use of biofuels as a crucial means of curbing carbon from automobiles and lorries.

Biofuels are generally a mix of nonrenewable fuel source and oil made from plants or veggies.

The fact that these crops can be re-grown and absorb more CO2 means they counteract the carbon given off when utilized in engines.

Soy and palm oil were when extensively used as parts of biodiesel however this practice has been widely challenged since it encourages logging.

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

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

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

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

Their study recommends this is extremely troublesome when it comes to impacts on the environment.

While UCO is considered a waste product in the UK, in China, Indonesia and Malaysia it has long been used to feed animals. The report raises the concern of what people in these countries 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 however 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 gathered and exported to the UK and Ireland alone.

By comparison, Thailand, which has a population of 70 million individuals, 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 things that they were formerly utilizing it for," stated Greg Archer with Transport & Environment.

"And they're simply purchasing more virgin oil which virgin oil is mainly palm oil, because that's the cheapest oil readily available.

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

Another major issue with UCO is the suspicion of fraud.

Because of need from Europe, the rate of UCO is frequently higher than palm oil. The concern is that some unscrupulous traders are just watering down shipments of UCO with palm.

As oils of different types are mixed in bulk for transportation, and no screening of the products is carried out, some professionals think scams is rife.

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

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

He states a new database being established by the EU will ensure that trading, certification and sustainability data on all bio-liquids will need to be signed up.

"The mix of modified accreditation schemes and the pan-EU track and trace database will ensure that no sustainability issues occur in the entire biofuels and bio-liquids supply chain," he told BBC News.

Others in the field are concerned that the database concept, which was very first mooted in 2018, might not work in stemming thought fraud.

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

"Rising the need beyond sustainable supply levels would increase these concerns, and threats of using 'fake' UCO, potentially leading to indirect impacts such as deforestation."

Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc, external.

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