Climate change: Growing doubts over chip fat biofuel

21 April 2021

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New research study questions the environmental effect of increasing 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 majority of the UCO that's made into fuel.

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

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

Used cooking oil imports might boost logging

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

They've encouraged the use of biofuels as a crucial methods of curbing carbon from automobiles and trucks.

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

The truth that these crops can be re-grown and soak up more CO2 indicates they cancel out the carbon produced when utilized in engines.

Soy and palm oil were once commonly used as components of biodiesel but this practice has actually been widely rejected because it encourages deforestation.

So for the last decade approximately, making use of utilized cooking oil has expanded enormously as an alternative feedstock for fuel.

Chip fat and other waste oils have actually ended up being a crucial component 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 considering that 2014, there simply isn't adequate chip fat to go around.

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

Their study suggests this is extremely bothersome 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 actually long been used to feed animals. The report raises the concern 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 available however the circulation of UCO is most likely to be comparable.

With a population of around 33 million, that's close to three litres per head of used 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 gather around five million litres of UCO in 2019.

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

"And they're simply buying more virgin oil and that virgin oil is largely palm oil, since that's the most inexpensive oil readily available.

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

Another significant problem with UCO is the suspicion of scams.

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

As oils of different types are mixed in bulk for transport, and no screening of the products is brought out, some professionals believe fraud is swarming.

The recommendation of fraud anywhere along the chain of supply is declined by the European Waste-to-Advanced Biofuels Association (EWABA), who say there are robust certification plans in location.

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

He states a 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 combination of modified certification schemes and the pan-EU track and trace database will guarantee that no sustainability concerns 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 work in stemming believed fraud.

The report from Transport & Environment points out that with shipping and air travel wanting to decarbonise by using biofuels, need for UCO could double over the next decade.

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

Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc, external.

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