Climate change: Growing doubts over chip fat biofuel

21 April 2021

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New research study questions the ecological impact of rising imports of used cooking oil (UCO) into the UK and Europe.

Chip fat and other oils are thought about waste, so when they are utilized to make biodiesel it conserves carbon emissions by displacing fossil oil.

But such is the need throughout Europe that imports now represent more than half 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 screening of what's coming in, professionals think it is also ripe for scams.

Used cooking oil imports might improve logging

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Reducing emissions from transportation is proving to be among the hardest challenges for governments all over the world.

They have actually encouraged using biofuels as an essential means of suppressing carbon from automobiles and lorries.

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

The reality that these crops can be re-grown and take in more CO2 suggests they cancel out the carbon emitted when utilized in engines.

Soy and palm oil were when extensively utilized as parts of biodiesel however this practice has actually been extensively rejected due to the fact that it encourages deforestation.

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

Chip fat and other waste oils have actually become a key part of biodiesel with an effective industry springing up across Europe to collect and process the product.

But with the quantity of biodiesel made from UCO increasing by around 40% every year since 2014, there simply isn't 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 recommends this is highly problematic when it pertains to effects on the environment.

While UCO is thought about a waste material in the UK, in China, Indonesia and Malaysia it has actually long been utilized to feed animals. The report raises the question of what individuals in these nations 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 readily available but the circulation of UCO is likely to be similar.

With a population of around 33 million, that's close to 3 litres per head of used 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 collect 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 formerly utilizing it for," stated Greg Archer with Transport & Environment.

"And they're just buying more virgin oil which virgin oil is mainly palm oil, since that's the cheapest oil available.

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

Another major issue with UCO is the suspicion of scams.

Because of demand from Europe, the rate of UCO is typically greater than palm oil. The concern is that some unscrupulous traders are simply watering down deliveries of UCO with palm.

As oils of different types are blended in bulk for transport, and no screening of the materials is performed, some professionals think fraud is swarming.

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

"It is commonly known that the European Commission has taken relevant actions to totally 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 signed up.

"The mix of modified accreditation plans and the pan-EU track and trace database will ensure that no sustainability issues 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 be effective in stemming thought scams.

The report from Transport & Environment points out that with shipping and aviation aiming to decarbonise by utilizing biofuels, need for UCO might double over the next decade.

"Rising the need beyond sustainable supply levels would increase these issues, and threats of utilizing 'fake' UCO, potentially causing indirect effects such as logging."

Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc, external.

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