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Climate change: Growing doubts over chip fat biofuel

21 April 2021

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New research study concerns the ecological 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 demand across Europe that imports now represent more than half of the UCO that's made into fuel.

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

Without any screening of what's can be found in, experts believe it is likewise ripe for fraud.

Used cooking oil imports may boost logging

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Reducing emissions from transportation is proving to be among the toughest obstacles for federal governments all over the world.

They have actually encouraged using biofuels as an essential means of suppressing carbon from cars and trucks and lorries.

Biofuels are normally 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 indicates they cancel out the carbon produced when utilized in engines.

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

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 become an essential part of biodiesel with a reliable 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 just isn't adequate chip fat to walk around.

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

Their research study recommends this is highly problematic when it concerns impacts on the environment.

While UCO is considered a 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 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 countries 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 utilized oil that's collected and exported to the UK and Ireland alone.

By contrast, Thailand, which has a population of 70 million people, managed to gather around 5 million litres of UCO in 2019.

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

"And they're just purchasing more virgin oil which virgin oil is largely palm oil, since that's the most inexpensive oil readily available.

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

Another significant issue with UCO is the suspicion of scams.

Because of need from Europe, the rate of UCO is typically higher than palm oil. The worry is that some deceitful traders are simply 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 performed, some experts believe fraud is rife.

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

"It is extensively known that the European Commission has taken appropriate actions to totally 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, accreditation and sustainability data on all bio-liquids will need to be signed up.

"The combination of revised certification schemes and the pan-EU track and trace database will guarantee that no sustainability problems occur in the entire 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 be reliable in stemming presumed scams.

The report from Transport & Environment explains that with shipping and aviation looking to decarbonise by utilizing biofuels, demand for UCO could double over the next decade.

"Rising the demand beyond sustainable supply levels would increase these issues, and risks of utilizing 'fake' UCO, potentially resulting in indirect effects such as deforestation."

Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc, external.

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