Climate modification: 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 considered waste, so when they are used to make biodiesel it saves carbon emissions by displacing fossil oil.

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

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

Without any screening of what's can be found in, experts believe it is likewise ripe for fraud.

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

They've motivated making use of biofuels as a crucial methods of curbing carbon from automobiles and trucks.

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

The fact that these crops can be re-grown and absorb more CO2 suggests they cancel out the carbon released when utilized in engines.

Soy and palm oil were once widely used as parts of biodiesel but this practice has been widely challenged due to the fact that it motivates deforestation.

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

Chip fat and other waste oils have actually become an essential part of biodiesel with a reliable market emerging across Europe to gather and process the product.

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

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

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

While UCO is thought about a waste product 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 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 available however the flow of UCO is most likely to be similar.

With a population of around 33 million, that's close to 3 litres per head of utilized oil that's gathered and exported to the UK and Ireland alone.

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

"Because we are buying it, they have less used cooking oil to utilize on the things that they were formerly utilizing 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 readily available.

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

Another significant issue with UCO is the suspicion of fraud.

Because of need from Europe, the rate of UCO is typically greater than palm oil. The worry is that some deceitful traders are just diluting shipments of UCO with palm.

As oils of various types are mixed in bulk for transport, and no screening of the products is performed, some specialists believe scams is rife.

The tip of scams anywhere along the chain of supply is declined by the European Waste-to-Advanced Biofuels Association (EWABA), who state there are robust certification plans in place.

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

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

"The mix of modified certification schemes 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 worried that the database idea, which was first mooted in 2018, may not work in stemming suspected fraud.

The report from Transport & Environment mentions that with shipping and aviation looking to decarbonise by utilizing biofuels, need for UCO might double over the next years.

"Rising the demand beyond sustainable supply levels would increase these issues, and dangers of using 'phony' UCO, possibly causing indirect effects such as deforestation."

Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc, external.

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