Climate change: Growing doubts over chip fat biofuel

21 April 2021

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New research study concerns the environmental effect of increasing imports of utilized cooking oil (UCO) into the UK and Europe.

Chip fat and other oils are considered waste, so when they are used to make biodiesel it saves 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 prove these imports are sustainable.

Without any testing of what's being available in, specialists believe it is likewise ripe for fraud.

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Reducing emissions from transport is showing to be one of the toughest difficulties for governments all over the world.

They've encouraged the usage of biofuels as a crucial means of suppressing carbon from cars and trucks and trucks.

Biofuels are generally a blend 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 discharged when utilized in engines.

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

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

Chip fat and other waste oils have actually become an essential part of biodiesel with an efficient industry springing up 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 sufficient chip fat to walk around.

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

Their research study suggests this is extremely troublesome 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 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 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 contrast, Thailand, which has a population of 70 million people, managed to gather around five million litres of UCO in 2019.

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

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

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

Another major problem with UCO is the suspicion of fraud.

Because of demand from Europe, the price of UCO is typically greater than palm oil. The worry is that some unscrupulous traders are just diluting deliveries of UCO with palm.

As oils of various types are mixed in bulk for transportation, and no testing of the products is carried out, some specialists think fraud is rife.

The suggestion 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 commonly understood that the European Commission has taken appropriate actions to entirely curb unsound market practices in biofuel markets," said Angel Alberdi, EWABA's secretary general.

He states a brand-new database being established by the EU will make sure that trading, certification and sustainability data on all bio-liquids will need to be registered.

"The combination of revised certification plans and the pan-EU track and trace database will make sure that no sustainability issues emerge in the entire biofuels and bio-liquids supply chain," he told BBC News.

Others in the field are concerned that the database idea, which was very first mooted in 2018, may not be effective in stemming presumed fraud.

The report from Transport & Environment explains that with shipping and air travel seeking to decarbonise by using biofuels, demand for UCO might double over the next years.

"Rising the need beyond sustainable supply levels would increase these concerns, and risks of using 'phony' UCO, possibly causing indirect effects such as deforestation."

Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc, external.

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