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Climate change: Growing doubts over chip fat biofuel

21 April 2021

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New research study concerns the environmental impact of increasing 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 for majority of the UCO that's made into fuel.

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

Without any testing of what's can be found in, experts think it is also ripe for scams.

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Reducing emissions from transport is showing to be among the toughest challenges for federal governments all over the world.

They've motivated making use of biofuels as a crucial ways of curbing carbon from vehicles and lorries.

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

The reality that these crops can be re-grown and take in more CO2 implies they counteract the carbon discharged when utilized in engines.

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

So for the last years approximately, using used cooking oil has actually expanded enormously as an alternative feedstock for fuel.

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

But with the quantity of biodiesel made from UCO increasing by around 40% every year because 2014, there just isn't enough chip fat to go around.

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

Their study suggests this is extremely troublesome when it comes to influence 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 people in these nations 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 available but the circulation 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 gathered and exported to the UK and Ireland alone.

By contrast, Thailand, which has a population of 70 million individuals, managed to collect around 5 million litres of UCO in 2019.

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

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

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

Another major problem with UCO is the suspicion of scams.

Because of demand from Europe, the price of UCO is often higher than palm oil. The concern is that some unscrupulous traders are simply diluting deliveries 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 fraud is rife.

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

"It is widely known that the European Commission has actually taken appropriate actions to entirely curb 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 ensure that trading, certification and sustainability data on all bio-liquids will have to be signed up.

"The combination of modified certification plans and the pan-EU track and trace database will make sure that no sustainability problems develop 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 be effective in stemming presumed scams.

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 dangers of using 'fake' UCO, possibly causing indirect impacts such as deforestation."

Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc, external.

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