Climate change: Growing doubts over chip fat biofuel

21 April 2021

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New research concerns the ecological effect of rising 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 conserves carbon emissions by displacing fossil oil.

But such is the need across Europe that imports now account for more than half of the UCO that's made into fuel.

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

Without any screening of what's being available in, professionals believe it is likewise ripe for scams.

Used cooking oil imports may increase deforestation

Consumers present 'growing risk' to tropical forests

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

They've motivated the usage of biofuels as an important means of suppressing carbon from cars and lorries.

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

The fact that these crops can be re-grown and soak up more CO2 indicates they counteract the carbon released when used in engines.

Soy and palm oil were once extensively used as elements of biodiesel however this practice has been commonly rejected because it encourages deforestation.

So for the last decade approximately, the usage of used cooking oil has actually expanded enormously as an alternative feedstock for fuel.

Chip fat and other waste oils have actually become a crucial part of biodiesel with an effective market springing up throughout Europe to collect and process the item.

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 walk around.

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

Their study recommends this is extremely problematic when it concerns influence on the environment.

While UCO is considered a waste material in the UK, in China, Indonesia and Malaysia it has long been utilized to feed animals. The report raises the concern 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 readily available but 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 collected and exported to the UK and Ireland alone.

By contrast, Thailand, which has a population of 70 million individuals, handled to gather around five million litres of UCO in 2019.

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

"And they're just purchasing more virgin oil and that virgin oil is largely palm oil, because that's the most inexpensive oil offered.

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

Another significant problem with UCO is the suspicion of fraud.

Because of demand from Europe, the cost of UCO is typically higher than palm oil. The worry is that some deceitful traders are merely watering down deliveries of UCO with palm.

As oils of various types are blended in bulk for transport, and no screening of the products is performed, some experts think scams is rife.

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

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

He states a new database being developed by the EU will make sure that trading, certification and sustainability information on all bio-liquids will have to be registered.

"The mix of modified accreditation plans and the pan-EU track and trace database will make sure that no sustainability problems arise 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 first mooted in 2018, may not work in stemming thought scams.

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

"Rising the need beyond sustainable supply levels would increase these issues, and dangers of using 'phony' UCO, possibly resulting in indirect impacts such as logging."

Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc, external.

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