Climate modification: Growing doubts over chip fat biofuel

21 April 2021

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New research study questions the ecological 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 utilized to make biodiesel it conserves carbon emissions by displacing fossil oil.

But such is the need across Europe that imports now represent over half of the UCO that's made into fuel.

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

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

Used cooking oil imports may boost logging

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Reducing emissions from transport is proving to be one of the hardest challenges for federal governments all over the world.

They have actually encouraged using biofuels as a crucial ways of suppressing carbon from vehicles and lorries.

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

The reality that these crops can be re-grown and absorb more CO2 implies they cancel out the carbon produced when utilized in engines.

Soy and palm oil were once extensively utilized as parts of biodiesel however this practice has actually been extensively challenged because it encourages deforestation.

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

Chip fat and other waste oils have ended up being an essential part of biodiesel with an emerging across Europe to gather and process the item.

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

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

Their study suggests this is extremely bothersome when it concerns effects on the environment.

While UCO is considered a waste product in the UK, in China, Indonesia and Malaysia it has long been utilized to feed animals. The report raises the question of what individuals 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 nations aren't offered but the flow of UCO is likely to be similar.

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 five million litres of UCO in 2019.

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

"And they're simply purchasing more virgin oil which virgin oil is largely palm oil, because that's the least expensive oil available.

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

Another significant issue with UCO is the suspicion of scams.

Because of demand from Europe, the rate of UCO is frequently greater than palm oil. The worry is that some deceitful traders are merely watering down shipments of UCO with palm.

As oils of various types are blended in bulk for transportation, and no screening of the materials is brought out, some experts believe scams is swarming.

The suggestion of scams anywhere along the chain of supply is turned down by the European Waste-to-Advanced Biofuels Association (EWABA), who say there are robust certification schemes in location.

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

He says a brand-new database being established by the EU will guarantee that trading, accreditation and sustainability data on all bio-liquids will need to be registered.

"The mix of modified accreditation plans and the pan-EU track and trace database will guarantee that no sustainability problems emerge 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 thought scams.

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

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

Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc, external.

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