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Climate change: Growing doubts over chip fat biofuel

21 April 2021

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New research study concerns the 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 saves carbon emissions by displacing fossil oil.

But such is the need throughout Europe that imports now account for majority 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.

Without any testing of what's coming in, specialists believe it is also ripe for fraud.

Used cooking oil imports might boost logging

Consumers posture 'growing risk' to tropical forests

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

They've encouraged the usage of biofuels as an important ways of suppressing carbon from vehicles and lorries.

Biofuels are normally a mix of fossil fuel and oil made from plants or veggies.

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

Soy and palm oil were once extensively used as parts of biodiesel but this practice has actually been extensively discredited since it motivates deforestation.

So for the last years or two, making use of utilized cooking oil has actually expanded massively as an alternative feedstock for fuel.

Chip fat and other waste oils have actually become a crucial component of biodiesel with a reliable industry springing up throughout Europe to gather and process the product.

But with the amount 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 project group Transport & Environment, external, more than half of the UCO used in Europe is imported.

Their research study recommends this is highly bothersome when it pertains to influence on the environment.

While UCO is considered a waste material in the UK, in China, Indonesia and Malaysia it has actually long been used to feed animals. The report raises the question of what individuals 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 readily available 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 gathered and exported to the UK and Ireland alone.

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

"Because we are buying it, they have 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 just purchasing more virgin oil which virgin oil is largely palm oil, since that's the cheapest oil readily available.

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

Another significant issue with UCO is the suspicion of fraud.

Because of need from Europe, the price of UCO is frequently greater than palm oil. The worry is that some unethical traders are merely watering down deliveries of UCO with palm.

As oils of different types are mixed in bulk for transportation, and no screening of the materials is performed, some specialists believe fraud is rife.

The recommendation 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 actually taken pertinent actions to totally suppress unsound market practices in biofuel markets," stated Angel Alberdi, EWABA's secretary general.

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

"The mix of modified accreditation plans and the pan-EU track and trace database will ensure that no sustainability problems emerge 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, may not be effective in stemming thought fraud.

The report from Transport & Environment explains that with shipping and air travel seeking 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 impacts such as logging."

Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc, external.

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