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Climate modification: Growing doubts over chip fat biofuel

21 April 2021

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New research questions the environmental effect of rising imports of utilized 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 saves carbon emissions by displacing fossil oil.

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

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

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

Used cooking oil imports might increase logging

Consumers position 'growing hazard' to tropical forests

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

They have actually motivated making use of biofuels as an important methods of curbing carbon from cars and trucks and trucks.

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

The truth that these crops can be re-grown and soak up more CO2 implies they cancel out the carbon discharged when utilized in engines.

Soy and palm oil were when commonly utilized as parts of biodiesel but this practice has been extensively discredited because it motivates logging.

So for the last years or two, using used cooking oil has broadened enormously as an alternative feedstock for fuel.

Chip fat and other waste oils have become a key component of biodiesel with a reliable market 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 since 2014, there just isn't sufficient chip 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 research study suggests this is extremely bothersome when it comes to effects on the environment.

While UCO is considered a waste material in the UK, in China, and Malaysia it has long been utilized to feed animals. The report raises the question 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 however the flow of UCO is most likely to be similar.

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 people, managed to collect around five million litres of UCO in 2019.

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

"And they're just buying more virgin oil which virgin oil is mostly palm oil, since that's the least expensive 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 merely diluting deliveries of UCO with palm.

As oils of different types are mixed in bulk for transport, and no testing of the materials is carried out, some professionals believe fraud 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 accreditation plans in location.

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

He says a brand-new database being developed by the EU will ensure that trading, certification and sustainability data on all bio-liquids will need to be signed up.

"The mix of revised certification 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 informed BBC News.

Others in the field are concerned that the database idea, which was first mooted in 2018, may not work in stemming believed fraud.

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

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

Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc, external.

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